My Imaginary Encounter With A Vampire
The recent death
of Anne Rice brought to mind my relationship with her novel, Interview With
The Vampire, which was both absolutely thrilling and completely terrifying.
It wasn’t the
first vampire book I’d dipped into. There was Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot
which was pretty scary stuff. But Interview With The Vampire was utterly
horrific to me. And I mean that literally. It was so chilling that it made me
afraid to walk home after dark.
I live in New York
City on a block of high-rise buildings. The street below mine has a pass-through
for cars and pedestrians, which I used almost nightly to reach my home. In
those days it wasn’t as well-lit or as busy as it is now. Every time I approached
it, I practically ran through, shaking and anxious, expecting the dangerous and
treacherous vampire Lestat to jump out at me. I didn’t tell anyone about this until
now, not even my husband. He thought my story was funny and we shared a laugh.
I know my behavior
might have seemed a little crazy, but it all felt very real to me, and the
thought that Lestat was lurking nearby ready to swoop down lingered long after
I finished the novel.
This goes to prove the power words have over our imagination, especially when wielded by a fabulous writer like Anne Rice. We will miss her and her stories.
Cathi Stoler ©2021
Cathi Stoler’s Murder On The Rocks Series features The Corner Lounge owner, Jude Dillane, and includes BAR NONE, LAST CALL, and STRAIGHT UP. She’s also written the suspense novels, NICK OF TIME and OUT OF TIME and the Laurel and Helen New York Mysteries. She is a winner of the Derringer Award for Best Short Story, “The Kaluki Kings of Queens” Her newest short story, “The Art of Payback,” was recently published in the anthology JUSTICE FOR ALL Murder New York Style 5. She lives in New York City with her husband Paul. You can reach her at www.cathistoler.com.
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2 comments:
My first encounter with it was the movie and that was pretty scary too I must say. But when I went and read the rest of the Lestat books that existed back then I wasn't afraid of Lestat anymore. I even named one of my dogs after him. If you haven't read the rest I highly recommend it. Lestat is the best vampire ever in my opinion--and this is coming from a huge "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fan lol
Sandi liked Buffy, the Twilight deals, and this. I never fooled with any of it.
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