new anne rice novel Blood Canticle

Well, it's good to see that your standards for an "artist" aren't too
high. It's a good thing for Rice that she fans that unquestioning love
everything she puts how regardless of how lacking in coherency,
editing, or creativity it is. Lucky for her with a fan-base made of
people like you she never has to worry about her royalties falling off.

Ashe
 >> Stay informed about: new anne rice novel Blood Canticle 

ashe.winterwolf.DeleteThis@verizon.net wrote:
 > Well, it's good to see that your standards for an "artist" aren't too
 > high. It's a good thing for Rice that she fans that unquestioning
love
 > everything she puts how regardless of how lacking in coherency,
 > editing, or creativity it is. Lucky for her with a fan-base made of
 > people like you she never has to worry about her royalties falling
off.
 >
 > Ashe

Brilliant! Thanks for the giggle this morning. I agree that Anne is
very lucky she has fans like hasansprincess, although one can admit
that their numbers are dwindling. When I first started reading this
group in 1994 it was swamped with posts, something like 50-100 a day.
Now it sees one post a day on a good week, often less. I wonder what
folks like the princess think about that reality? I see Anne's books
in the remainder bin at bookstores all the time. There is just no
denying that the quality of her work has diminished *greatly*, and her
readership has diminished in proportion. It's really too bad, because
she used to be my favorite author. It's no fun when you lose a great
friend like that, especially when one gets the sense that she could do
better if she really wanted to. In the end, Anne's attitude (as
expressed so "eloquently" in her Amazon diatribe) that readers should
love what she writes no matter what and, if they don't, there's
something wrong with *them* is what finally lost me. Insulting your
audience is never a wise action to take, but it seems to be part and
parcel of Anne's hubris concerning her worthiness as an author.

dragon
 >> Stay informed about: new anne rice novel Blood Canticle 

Dragon,
I started reading this list in about 1998, and even then it was pretty
busy. I think there was an average of about 30-50 posts per day. It sad
to see how slow it has gotten, but then the newer books aren't worth
discussing, especially, rehashments such as Blood and Gold and TVA.
To be fair, I liked Blackwood Farm, it reminded me of the effort Rice
used to put into her books and I thought she was back on track. Then I
read Blood Canticle and felt like throwing it up against a wall. Right
from the get-go it was bad with Anne/Lestat's bitch-fest about fans who
didn't think Memnoch the Drivel was the most brilliant book ever
published, and it only got worse. Sorry, but I don't think a rehashment
of Goethe, which is what Memnoch was, was worthy of praise. Besides,
Goethe did it better.
And poor Lestat, the guy has undergone so many personality transplants
to make him fit into some of these messes opps...stories, I have to
wonder if he even knows who he is anymore. Can't you just hear him
bitching: First you make me a sniveling, whining, born-again Catholic,
then you turn me into a ghetto tramp with bad English. Enough already!
Like you, Rice's diatribe on Amazon was what finally put me off her.
Neil Gaiman is, probably, my favorite author now. I absolutely loved
American Gods and Neverwhere, and I look forward to reading his other
stuff. Btw, American Gods is an excellent, creative example of what
could be done with the idea of meeting Gods.
Take care,
Ashe




 > Brilliant! Thanks for the giggle this morning. I agree that Anne is
 > very lucky she has fans like hasansprincess, although one can admit
 > that their numbers are dwindling. When I first started reading this
 > group in 1994 it was swamped with posts, something like 50-100 a day.
 > Now it sees one post a day on a good week, often less. I wonder what
 > folks like the princess think about that reality? I see Anne's books
 > in the remainder bin at bookstores all the time. There is just no
 > denying that the quality of her work has diminished *greatly*, and
her
 > readership has diminished in proportion. It's really too bad,
because
 > she used to be my favorite author. It's no fun when you lose a great
 > friend like that, especially when one gets the sense that she could
do
 > better if she really wanted to. In the end, Anne's attitude (as
 > expressed so "eloquently" in her Amazon diatribe) that readers should
 > love what she writes no matter what and, if they don't, there's
 > something wrong with *them* is what finally lost me. Insulting your
 > audience is never a wise action to take, but it seems to be part and
 > parcel of Anne's hubris concerning her worthiness as an author.
 >
 > dragon
 >> Stay informed about: new anne rice novel Blood Canticle 

ashe.winterwolf RemoveThis @verizon.net wrote:
<snip>
 > Neil Gaiman is, probably, my favorite author now. I absolutely loved
 > American Gods and Neverwhere, and I look forward to reading his other
 > stuff. Btw, American Gods is an excellent, creative example of what
 > could be done with the idea of meeting Gods.
 > Take care,
 > Ashe

Sounds like fun! I'm always looking out for new reading, so methinks
I'll hunt these books down. Thanks for the recommendation!

dragon
 >> Stay informed about: new anne rice novel Blood Canticle 

Hello this is the princess and i'm sorry if i upset you Dragon and Ash it's
just that Rice has been the only one in my life that i can relate too as
far as her writing. I'm M.P.D. and my doctor told me that Anne was to and
Bi-polar and I write almost the way she did. I know people are saying that
her work has gone down hill, but you have to look at it this way, if your
mate became ill and all you could do was sit there and watch them die, How
would your work be? could you but you heart and soul into your writing if
the one person in the world that you loved and charished was dying and you
couldn't do any thing to stop it! i personally would end up in a mental
hospital in a padded room. i would wish that i would die just so i
wouldn't be alone and with out the one peron that i had loved all my life.
so when you judge her writing look at what she has just lost and what she
couldn't stop from happening. How would you react to a loss like that? and
i pray that you never will. good night sweet dragon and sweet ash. love
always princess
 >> Stay informed about: new anne rice novel Blood Canticle 

hasansprincess wrote:
 > Hello this is the princess and i'm sorry if i upset you Dragon and
Ash it's
 > just that Rice has been the only one in my life that i can relate too
as
 > far as her writing. I'm M.P.D. and my doctor told me that Anne was to
and
 > Bi-polar and I write almost the way she did. I know people are saying
that
 > her work has gone down hill, but you have to look at it this way, if
your
 > mate became ill and all you could do was sit there and watch them
die, How
 > would your work be? could you but you heart and soul into your
writing if
 > the one person in the world that you loved and charished was dying
and you
 > couldn't do any thing to stop it! i personally would end up in a
mental
 > hospital in a padded room. i would wish that i would die just so i
 > wouldn't be alone and with out the one peron that i had loved all my
life.
 > so when you judge her writing look at what she has just lost and what
she
 > couldn't stop from happening. How would you react to a loss like
that? and
 > i pray that you never will. good night sweet dragon and sweet ash.
love
 > always princess

If my mate was dying I wouldn't be churning out novels, that's for
sure! If my mate was dying I wouldn't be spending time attacking those
who offered their honest opinions of my work in a forum like Amazon. I
don't honestly care what any author or artist is going through in their
personal life. I *never* want to know what a favorite author, actor or
artist is like as a person because all too often they turn out to be
jerks or fools, and then I can't appreciate their work in the same way
I used to.

Anne spent a lot of time before and after Memnoch came out making some
very public jestures that made her look money-grubbing and arrogant.
For example, she started selling a T-shirt with her MRI scan on it.
She was selling a Lestat doll and a Lestat wine. She was ranting in
public forums about how the Clintons were God's gift to America. She
was telling folks about how much she loved to watch cock fighting
matches. She got into a public battle with a restaurant owner in New
Orleans. This was *long* before Stan got ill, by the way. Some of her
fans, like me, were horrified by these "revelations." I did not like
knowing these things about her. How could my favorite author turn out
to be such a dork? Yuk! All this, and then she dumps Memnoch the
Drivel on us....I had enough!

The attitude she displayed in her Amazon rant seems to belie your
assumption that Anne's writing is suffering due to Stan's death. It
clearly shows that she doesn't think her writing is suffering at all!
She clearly believes her fans have no ability to read think or
comprehend. I'm sorry Princess, but when someone insults me to my
face, so to speak, I remove myself from their presence. It's too bad
that Anne has shown herself to be so socially inept to think that
insulting her readers is a great way to win friends and influence
people.

And, in the end, I'm afraid your argument supports what Ashe, myself
and others have been maintaining all along. You stated "How well would
*you* do if your mate were dying?" This implies that you yourself
agree that her writing has been going downhill. You argue that we
should all keep buying Anne's poorly written and poorly characterized
books because she is struggling in her personal life. Well, sorry,
that argument don't fly. If she's struggling so much that her work is
compromised, she should stop writing until she gets her act together.

I believe that what Ashe and I found repugnant about your post was your
insinuating that there is something wrong with those who don't like
Anne's newer work--that we are mentally deficient and unable to
comprehend the wonder that Anne puts on the page. So, again, if you
come out insulting folks in a public forum, you must expect that those
you are insulting will come back with some ammunition against you.
This is a simple fact of human relations, so get a clue, OK?

dragon
 >> Stay informed about: new anne rice novel Blood Canticle 

 > Hello this is the princess and i'm sorry if i upset you Dragon and
Ash it's
 > just that Rice has been the only one in my life that i can relate too
as
 > far as her writing. I'm M.P.D. and my doctor told me that Anne was to
and
 > Bi-polar and I write almost the way she did.

Anne has never admitted to being bi-polar, and as open as she has been
with her life this is probably not something she would have hidden. She
has admited to things like depression, suicidal thoughts, and alchohol
abuse. Besides, it isn't an excuse for bad writing. If she had the
condition and it was effecting her ability to created then she should
have stopped until she was able to write again.

I know people are saying that her work has gone down hill, but you have
to look at it this way, if your mate became ill and all you could do
was sit there and watch them die, How would your work be? could you but
you heart and soul into your writing if the one person in the world
that you loved and charished was dying and you couldn't do any thing to
stop it!

I've been reading Rice since the mid-1980's and her work was
stellar...absolutely wonderful, her work didn't start going downhill
until the publication of Memnoch the Drivel in the mid-1990's, this was
well before Stan became ill...years before! This was when she started
putting about extended rehashments of previous work and started showing
a lack of coherency and a desperate need for an editor, which she
refused to use because she is "above" it even though her work says
otherwise. She finished Blood Canticle, I believe, just before Stan
became seriously ill. So that can't be used as an excuse for crappy
work either.
Namaste,
Ashe
 >> Stay informed about: new anne rice novel Blood Canticle 

Okay dragon and ash i get your point! just don't bite my lil head off!!
love princess
 >> Stay informed about: new anne rice novel Blood Canticle