My Introduction into the Alluring World of Vampires

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I've long been fascinated with the 20s, but I'm also a longtime lover of vampire lit, so it was almost natural that when I came up with a vampire novel, it was set in the 1920s - or perhaps that when I came up with a 1920s novel, it had vampires in it.

I first got into vampire lit when I read Interview with the Vampire as a quiet, geeky, bookworm teen.

One of my best friends in high school had recommended it.  This was shortly before the movie came out, although I don't know if I knew when I read the book that a movie was coming out soon.

What I do remember is being completely seduced by Anne Rice's sultry world of vampires.  Like everyone else, I suppose, I discovered that vampires could be sexy and enigmatic and altogether human, rather than monsters.  The angst in Interview appealed to me as a teen, of course, but I quickly went on to read all of the other vampire novels that Rice had published at the time (I think The Tale of the Body Thief might have been the most recent one) and later read each new one as it was published.

Even though Anne Rice quickly cast him aside in favor of her new favorite protagonist, Lestat, Louis was always my favorite.  His self-doubt spoke to me in a way that Lestat's supreme confidence didn't, at that time in my life.  I wonder if I would feel differently if I read the books for the first time now, when I would relate to Louis's angst much less.  But as a teen, it was incredibly compelling.

I was heartbroken when Anne Rice passed away earlier this year, although of course I'd known for a while that it was coming at some point.  I'd been following her Facebook page for years, and knew she communicated with her fans a whole lot less than she used to.  Most of the time, posts were made by her staff rather than herself, whereas I think she used to post herself, once upon a time.

Her legacy lives on, in the new Interview with the Vampire series that recently launched, but also in the entire vampire fiction genre that Interview launched, decades ago.  There have been so many others - Twilight being one of the more prominent (and one of the most controversial) - that I know Ruby may go unnoticed, but I hope my unique setting will attract both vampire lovers and 1920s aficionados.

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