ain't NOBODY that good...

[anotheranon]

Ran across this at Metafilter yesterday - Anne Rice slams her critics, while suggesting she's too good for an editor (scroll down to "Blood Canticle", her latest).

Uhm, puhleese! Some further thoughts:

I've been an on-again, off-again Anne Rice fan since ninth grade. Like every good baby goth I cut my teeth (pun intended) on "Interview" and "Lestat" and read each repeatedly, obsessively. I also enjoyed the first couple of the "Witching" series. "The Mummy" was rather lackluster, but I rationalized that it was originally written as a tv movie script and was therefore sellably cheesy. I even read "Belinda", but found myself at the ripe old age of 16 rather put off by the underage sex. Last year I finally read part of the Beauty series, but am not interested enough to finish just yet. No problem - not even the most talented among us is 100% all of the time.

But I find it very, very hard to believe that there is a talented author writing who does not need extra pairs of eyes to bring their script to it's absolute best. If, as she says, she's not had an editor since "Queen" I can honestly say that IMHO her work has suffered - "Tale of the Body Thief" tended to ramble and the New Vampire Chronicles - frankly I figured she was writing them just to milk more $ out of the characters :P

Her rant is just... sad to read. For someone who claims to be able to ignore criticism, this just seems terrifically thin-skinned. Also, her high opinion of her own writing just screams of someone who has surrounded themselves by yes-men and is genuinely shocked - shocked, I tell you! - that she isn't as fabulous as she thinks she is! :P

For my own part, I'm not going out of my way to get her latest books; I started "Armand" and wasn't interested/fast enough to finish it in the one week the library gave me (an indication that enough people DO like her current writing enough for her to be on the 7-day/no renewals stack). I'll always love the first three, and be grateful that it opened my mind to vampire fiction by other authors.

And I'm sure not going to take her ventings personally - it's not like I know this person.

But yes, she should get an editor - can't hurt and if it can take her back to the quality of writing shown in "Lestat", it will emphatically help!

Comments

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

Laurel Hamilton is the same way. The first few books were fun, but then something started to lack. Endings were rather abrupt, as if she said "Oh - I'm running out of paper - better wrap this up!" I saw her at a con, and it turns out that the book I started getting irritated with was the first one she had NOT run by with her local writer's workshop. It shows. They are still fun, but I can wait for paperback now, or at least the 1/2 price SFBC editions.

And I don't think I've bought an Anne Rice book in years. Have the first 3 vampire novels on my shelf for rainy days, but I bought them used. I got bored with Lestat before the end of QOTD, and nothing has measured up since then for me. And I like the first "Witching" book, though when I go back for a re-read, I only read the stuff in italics - the stuff frm the Talamansca files.

Though I did enjoy 'Blackwood Farm' more than I had expected to. It seemed to hang together better than the last bunch of "Character" vampire novels.

[geekchick]

As betnoir said, and editor would make you use things like paragraphs. ;)

My favorite review so far is the one by "Lucifer" that starts out with:
I've tried reading the novel from a different perspective as Miss Rice stated, but I got a bit lost as to which perspective was the 'right' perspective.

I read the book upside down, but it was still a lousy read, albeit a bit more difficult to read, but still dull. I tried reading right to left but that didn't make much sense. I tried angling the book diagonally, and then attempted to shift it out of focus and then back into focus as I'm one of those unfortunates who must wear glasses.

Nothing seemed to work and I was most disappointed! I thought I'd never get the right perspective and thus, could never fully enjoy the book as it was meant to be enjoyed.

Too funny, it made me snarf my ice cream. ;)

[ragdoll.livejournal.com]

I'm with you all the way. I stuck through Lasher and Taltos and some of the others but...bleah. I still like the original Interview trilogy, the Mummy and The Witching Hour but that's about it. I stopped caring about the characters years ago, sad but true.

I read the Sleeping Beauty trilogy before I knew who she was - my copies are so old (about 20 yrs-ish) that they just say A.N. Roulequare (sp?) on it. It was my first real introduction to BDSM so I thought they were pretty hot. Not brilliant but good for cheap thrills.

It does explain a lot that she's not even being edited anymore. I find that most artists who self-produce/self-edit are missing the boat because anyone who truly believes that they can't be helped by someone objective pointing out flaws, plot holes or general problems has an ego the size of Nevada. Most musicians who self-produced seem to have the same problem with their work -- no one to tell them when they're being self-indulgent or just plain crap. What a shame -- when Anne Rice was good, she was really good (oh, Cry to Heaven is another GOOD book). Now she's just an overrated hack.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

I can't remember that I ever read "Cry to Heaven" - maybe I should, if it's still among her early (edited) works!

[ragdoll.livejournal.com]

I think it must be edited -- I know it was written somewhere in the 80s (give or take) because I bought it used around that time. It's all about castrati opera singers in Italy (I think around the 1600s but it might've been later. It's been a while).

[jlsjlsjls.livejournal.com]

Definitely add "Cry To Heaven" to your reading list ... excellent (edited) story and it'll have you salivating over costume descriptions. ;-)

[geekchick]

I think I ditched all my Anne Rice books in a recent purge of the bookshelves (mmm, store credit to get *different* books) with the exception of a signed first edition of "Taltos" that was a gift. I read them all once (except "Interview", which I read more than once), and that was pretty much enough for me; very little of her stuff seemed to stand up to repeated readings. So much for the "virtuoso performance" idea.

[tommdroid.livejournal.com]

Mrs Rice has never been among my favourites. I have read three books and own the Interview with the vampire, that's all. though I fancy the movie I'm not too impressed. I want my vampires evil and brutal and smelly and beasty.

I also read that rant yesterday, and to me it screamed rabid fan-fic writer. the worst kind. I'm not 100% sure it actually is her but it suits the previous descriptions I got of her view on her writings. abit sad.