by Lloyd Poast

Anne Rice is about to unleash the vampire one more time. After spending more than a decade in the dark, the author’s most famous character, the vampire Lestat, is set to embark on a new journey in the Vampire Chronicles entitled Prince Lestat. It’s the eleventh entry in the series that began in 1976 with Interview with the Vampire.

Considered a sequel to the third book, Queen of the Damned, the plot of Prince Lestat involves old vampires doing the bidding of a Voice commanding that they indiscriminately burn vampire-mavericks in cities from around the globe. The novel moves from present day to ancient times as supernatural creatures rise up and seek out who-or what-the Voice is.

Anne Rice had previously stated that there would not be any new entries to The Vampire Chronicles, but her obvious change of heart will be greeted with both excitement and fear from longtime fans of the series. Many feel that Lestat lost much of his rebellious charm over time, and that despite a long string of books, Rice arguably peaked as a writer with her first three novels of immortal fiction (Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, and Queen of the Damned). All three are considered modern horror classics that added touches of humanity to the vampire mythology, while later novels such as Memnoch the Devil weren’t quite able to match their hypnotic quality.

Will Prince Lestat regain the glory of the original trilogy or be just another reason to remember the undead brilliance of what was? Fans will find out when the dust blows off the coffin on October 28^th.