I've added some additional resources to the Anne Rice Commentaries page. In addition to books written about Anne Rice and her work, there are several where one chapter or section discusses Anne's work.
There are also a few books listed that give tours or are meant to be used for self guided tours of Anne Rice's New Orleans.
The images of book covers are also links, so you can go to where the book is listed on Amazon.com.
I have wanted to update this page for quite a while, and like anything else on the Parlor is a work-in-progress. I've also been meaning to do more with the Suggested Reading page, because that is a page I'd like to use to show how Anne's work has influenced other authors.
Sometimes, I've shared some books and series I've read that I liked for one reason or another. But there is one series I've listed that I understand Anne Rice herself liked. The Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, which was also adapted to television in the series, True Blood.
With that being said, this allows me to point out a favorite of mine from the book series. I love it when this happens. This favorite was so hilariously deranged I just have to mention it.
The Sookie Stackhouse novels are, of course, mainly about vampires, but also includes all kinds of other supernatural or preternatural creatures who either double or masquerade as humans. The series was set in rural Louisiana, but on occasion, the characters took field trips to New Orleans.
This was a location where witches surfaced in Sookie Stackhouse's world.
One such witch was a young witch named Amelia--and Amelia had a "major eff up". It seems Amelia...sort of...turned her boyfriend...Bob...into...a cat.
Yessir.
A cat.
Now, I suppose it might have been embarrassing for Bob to have gone into a Wal-Mart still...scratching...and...grooming...like a cat...
But my money's on Bob having fathered a...litter...of...kittens...
Oops.
Insert LOL cat animation here.
I admit, reading that was like reading a Stephanie Plum novel, another series I love. I laughed so hard I had to put the book down!
Now that I have mentioned the Stephanie Plum novels, I can also mention another book series by the same author, Janet Evanovich. There are only a handful of books in this series, the Lizzy and Diesel series.
That series, set mainly in Marblehead, Massachusetts, also involves characters who come into contact with the supernatural. The character of Diesel has also appeared in some of the Stephanie Plum novels, and he in turn brought a character from one of those Stephanie Plum novels into the Lizzy and Diesel novels.
Carl the monkey.
Heather Graham (not to be confused with the actress of the same name) is an author known for her romance novels, and for her Krewe of Hunters series. The Krewe of Hunters series mainly focuses on ghosts, but she has also written some vampire fiction. Graham's supernatural fiction could be called "gothic romance" or something similar.
Some of Graham's Krewe of Hunters characters have also appeared in short stories--novellas--included in some of the 1001 Dark Nights anthologies.
Many of Heather Graham's supernatural novels are set in New Orleans. Graham has also collected several of her blog posts and put them in a book of their own, Why I Love New Orleans: A Collection of Blogs.
I believe I've already listed some books by both Charlaine Harris and Heather Graham on the Suggested Reading page. What I hope to achieve with that particular page as I update it is show just how much Anne's work resonated with so many, including other authors.
Whether it's serious or it's screamingly funny, Anne Rice's work has had a profound influence on many authors. That influence is part of Anne's literary legacy. This is what I hope to show on the Suggested Reading page of the Parlor.