A change of scenery for Anne Rice

Interestingly, Newsweek has written about the recent change in the works of Anne Rice. She has changed from her usual vampire-ish genre to writing about Christ. Her newest book, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, is about Jesus’ childhood in Egypt and coming back to Nazareth, as narrated in the first person. After a couple of near-death experiences, losing her husband, and then having property in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, Rice returned to her Roman Catholic roots and decided to change her topic approach.

“I promised," she says, "that from now on I would write only for the Lord."…Rice knows "Out of Egypt" and its projected sequels—three, she thinks—could alienate her following; as she writes in the afterword, "I was ready to do violence to my career." But she sees a continuity with her old books, whose compulsive, conscience-stricken evildoers reflect her long spiritual unease. "I mean, I was in despair." In that afterword she calls Christ "the ultimate supernatural hero ... the ultimate immortal of them all."... Rice already has much of the next volume written. ("Of course I've been advised not to talk about it.") But what's she going to do with herself once her hero ascends to Heaven? "If I really complete the life of Christ the way I want to do it," she says, "then I might go on and write a new type of fiction. It won't be like the other. It'll be in a world that includes redemption."

It’s nice to see that Rice has had a change of heart, so to speak. I hope that it’s genuine and I am interested to see how she handles her first volume regarding Jesus’ life.

Click here to hear an audio sample from her book. Click here to read an exerpt from the book. Click here to order the book.

Read some additional articles:
Anne Rice's Rebirth - Discusses in further depth about her conversion, and about her use of apocryphal and gnostic accounts of Jesus' childhood for her book.
A Boy tells of Angels, Bethlehem, and Family - A NY Times article that discusses more about the book.
Interview with a Penitent - How Anne Rice moved from fascination with vampires to renewed faith in Christ.