by Anne Rice
He said under his breath:
“Beloved maker, beloved Prince, I will be with you soon.”
Tuesday
November 26, 2013
Palm Desert
Appendix 1
Characters and Their Chronology
Amel—A spirit manifesting to humans six thousand years ago or in 4000 B.C.
Akasha—The first vampire, made by a fusion with the spirit Amel six thousand years ago, or in 4000 B.C. Thereafter known as the Mother, or the Sacred Fount, or the Queen.
Enkil—The husband of Akasha and the first vampire made almost immediately by her.
Khayman—The second vampire made by Akasha within the first years after the fusion.
Maharet and Mekare—Twin witches born six thousand years ago. Mekare was made a vampire by Khayman. Maharet was made by Mekare. Khayman, Maharet, and Mekare became the First Brood rebelling against Akasha and making other blood drinkers when and where they chose.
Nebamun, later Gregory Duff Collingsworth—Made by Akasha in the first few years to lead her Queens Blood troops against the First Brood.
Seth—The human son of Akasha, brought into the Blood perhaps fifteen to twenty years after the fusion.
Sevraine—A Nordic woman brought into the Blood illegally by Nebamun (Gregory) about five thousand years ago, or one thousand years after the Blood Genesis. The maker of several vampires yet unnamed.
Rhoshamandes—A male from Crete, brought into the Blood at the same time as Sevraine, to serve in the Queens Blood. Made directly by Akasha.
Avicus, Cyril, Teskhamen—Egyptian blood drinkers made by the priests of Akasha’s cult well before the Common Era, drinking the Mother’s blood but not made by her.
Marius—A Roman patrician, kidnapped by the Druids, and brought into the Blood shortly after the birth of Christ, or at the dawn of the Common Era. Made by Teskhamen, who was shortly thereafter presumed dead.
Pandora—A Roman patrician woman named Lydia, brought into the Blood by Marius in the first century.
Flavius—A Greek slave brought into the Blood by Pandora during the first century.
Mael—A Druid priest, the kidnapper of Marius, brought into the Blood by Avicus, and presumed dead.
Hesketh—A Germanic cunning woman, brought into the Blood by Teskhamen in the first century. Murdered in the eighth century.
Chrysanthe—A merchant’s wife from the Christian city of Hira. Brought into the Blood by Nebamun, newly risen and named Gregory, in the fourth century.
Zenobia—A Byzantine woman, brought into the Blood by Eudoxia (now dead), who was made by Cyril around the sixth or seventh century.
Allesandra—A Merovingian princess, daughter of King Dagobert I, brought into the Blood in the seventh century by Rhoshamandes.
Gremt Stryker Knollys—A spirit who enters the narrative in the eighth century (748).
Benedict—A Christian monk of the eighth century, brought into the Blood by Rhoshamandes around the year A.D. 800.
Thorne—A Viking, brought into the Blood by Maharet around the ninth century of the Common Era.
Notker the Wise—A monk and a musician and a composer brought into the Blood by Benedict around A.D. 880, maker of many musician vampires as yet unnamed.
Eleni and Eugénie de Landen—Fledglings of Rhoshamandes made in the early Middle Ages.
Everard de Landen—A fledgling of Rhoshamandes made in the Middle Ages.
Arjun—A prince of the Chola dynasty in India, brought into the Blood by Pandora around 1300.
Santino—Italian vampire made during the time of the Black Death. Longtime Roman coven master of the Children of Satan. Presumed dead.
Magnus—An elderly alchemist who stole the Blood from Benedict during the 1400s. The maker of Lestat in 1780.
Armand—A Russian icon painter kidnapped in the vicinity of Kiev and brought to Venice as a slave, and made into a vampire by Marius around 1498.
Bianca Solderini—A Venetian courtesan made in the Blood by Marius around 1498.
Raymond Gallant—A faithful mortal scholar of the Talamasca, presumed dead in the sixteenth century.
Lestat de Lioncourt—Seventh son of a French marquis, made a vampire in the year 1780 by Magnus. Author of the second book in the Vampire Chronicles, The Vampire Lestat.
Gabrielle de Lioncourt—Lestat’s mother, made by him in the Blood in 1780.
Nicolas de Lenfent—Close friend of Lestat, made into a vampire by Lestat in 1780 and long dead.
Louis de Pointe du Lac—A Louisiana French colonial plantation owner, brought into the Blood by Lestat in 1791. Louis began the books known as the Vampire Chronicles with Interview with the Vampire in 1976.
Claudia—An orphan, brought into the Blood around 1794. Long dead.
Antoine—A French musician, exiled to Louisiana and brought into the Blood by Lestat around 1860.
Daniel Malloy—An American male of about twenty who enters the narrative when he “interviews” Louis de Pointe du Lac about his life as a vampire, resulting in the publication of Interview with the Vampire in 1976. He is brought into the Blood by Armand in 1985, some nine years later.
Jesse Reeves—Mortal descendant of Maharet, brought into the Blood by Maharet in 1985.
David Talbot—Superior General of the Talamasca, brought into the Blood in 1992 by Lestat. David, the victim of a body switch, lost his original biological body, that of an elderly man, before being made into a vampire in the body of a much younger man.
Killer—An American male vampire of unknown origin, founder of the Fang Gang, who entered the narrative about 1985.
Davis—A black dancer from New York, a member of the Fang Gang, brought into the Blood by Killer sometime before 1985.
Fareed Bhansali—A brilliant Anglo-Indian doctor and surgeon, brought into the Blood by Seth around 1986 in Mumbai.
Benjamin (Benji) Mahmoud—A twelve-year-old Palestinian Bedouin boy, brought into the Blood by Marius in 1997.
Sybelle—A young American pianist, about twenty, brought into the Blood by Marius in 1997.
Rose—An American girl of around twenty rescued as a small child by Lestat from an earthquake in the Mediterranean around 1995. His ward.
Dr. Flannery Gilman—An American doctor and discredited vampire researcher, brought into the Blood by Fareed in the early twenty-first century.
Viktor—A human experiment conducted under the auspices of Fareed Bhansali and his maker, Seth, along with Dr. Flannery Gilman before her induction into the Blood.
Assorted unnamed fledglings, ghosts, and spirits.
Appendix 2
An Informal Guide to the Vampire Chronicles
1. Interview with the Vampire (1976)—In this, the first published memoir of a vampire within his tribe, Louis de Pointe du Lac tells his life story to a reporter he encounters in San Francisco—Daniel Malloy. Born in the eighteenth century in Louisiana, Louis, a rich plantation owner, encounters the mysterious Lestat de Lioncourt, who offers him immortality through the Blood and Louis accepts—beginning a long spiritual search for the meaning of who and what he has become. The child vampire Claudia and the mysterious Armand of the Théâtre des Vampires are central to the story.
2. The Vampire Lestat (1985)—Here, Lestat de Lioncourt offers his full autobiography—recounting his life in eighteenth-century France as a penniless provincial aristocrat, a Parisian stage actor, and finally as a vampire in conflict with other members of the Undead, including the coven of the Children of Satan. After a long physical and spiritual journey, Lestat reveals ancient secrets about the vampire tribe that he has kept for more than a century, emerging as a rock star and rock video maker, eager to start a war with humankind that might bring the Undead together and end in vampiric annihilation.
3. The Queen of the Damned (1988)—Though written by Lestat, this story includes multiple points of view from mortals and immortals all over the planet, responding to Lestat’s revealing rock music and videos, which awaken the six-thousand-year-old
Queen of the Vampires, Akasha, from her long slumber. The first book to deal with the entire tribe of the Undead around the world. This novel contains the first inclusion of the mysterious secret order of mortal scholars known as the Talamasca, who study the paranormal.
4. The Tale of the Body Thief (1992)—Lestat’s memoir in which he recounts his disastrous encounter with a clever and sinister mortal named Raglan James, a sorcerer experienced in switching bodies—a battle which forces Lestat into closer involvement with his friend, David Talbot, Superior General of the Talamasca, whose scholarly members are dedicated to the study of the paranormal.
5. Memnoch the Devil (1995)—Lestat narrates a personal adventure, this time filled with devastating shocks and mysteries as he confronts a powerful spirit, Memnoch, claiming to be none other than the Devil of Christian lore, the fallen angel himself, who invites Lestat to journey with him to Heaven and Hell, and seeks to enlist Lestat as a helper in the Christian realm.
6. Pandora (1998)—Published under the series title “New Tales of the Vampires,” this story is Pandora’s autobiographical confession, recounting her life in the ancient Roman Empire during the time of Augustus and Tiberius, including her great and tragic love affair with the vampire Marius. Though it does recount later events, the book is principally focused on Pandora’s first century as a vampire.
7. The Vampire Armand (1998)—Here, Armand, a profound and enigmatic presence in earlier novels, offers his autobiography to the reader, explaining his long life since the time of the Renaissance when he was kidnapped from Kiev and brought to Venice as a boy brothel slave, only to be rescued by the powerful and ancient vampire Marius. Yet another kidnapping puts Armand in the hands of the cruel and notorious Children of Satan, superstitious vampires who worship the Devil. Though Armand concludes his story in the present time and introduces new characters to the Chronicles, most of the account focuses on his earlier years.
8. Vittorio, the Vampire (1999)—One of the “New Tales of the Vampires,” this is the autobiography of Vittorio of Tuscany, who becomes a member of the Undead during the Renaissance. This character does not appear elsewhere in the Vampire Chronicles, but he is of the same tribe and does share the same cosmology.
9. Merrick (2000)—Told by David Talbot, this story is centered on Merrick, a Creole woman of color from an old New Orleans family and a member of the Talamasca, who seeks to become a vampire during the last years of the twentieth century. This is a hybrid novel, involving a glimpse of a few characters from another series of books devoted to the history of the Mayfair Witches of New Orleans to whom Merrick is related, but it principally focuses on Merrick’s involvement with the Undead, including Louis de Pointe du Lac.
10. Blood and Gold (2001)—Another in the series of vampire memoirs, this time written by the ancient Roman Marius, explaining much about his two thousand years amongst the Undead and the challenges he faced in protecting the mystery of “Those Who Must Be Kept,” the ancient parents of the tribe, Akasha and Enkil. Marius offers his side of the story of his love affair with Armand and his conflicts with other vampires. This novel concludes in the present but is principally focused on the past.
11. Blackwood Farm (2002)—A hybrid novel narrated by Quinn Blackwood recounting his personal history and involvement with the Talamasca, the Undead, and the Mayfair Witches of New Orleans, who figure in another book series. Set in a brief period of time in the early twenty-first century.
12. Blood Canticle (2003)—A hybrid novel, narrated by Lestat, recounting his adventures with Quinn Blackwood and with the Mayfair Witches from another series of books. This story focuses on a brief period of time in the twenty-first century.
13. Prince Lestat (2014)—The return of Lestat after years of silence. Many voices and points of view reveal the crises of the worldwide tribe of the Undead.
