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Library | Call Number | Status |
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Searching... Monmouth Public Library | Fic Rice, A. 2002 | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Amity Public Library | FIC RICE Vampire Chronicles # 9 | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Salem Main Library | Rice, A. | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Silver Falls Library | FIC RICE | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Perennial bestseller Anne Rice fuses her two uniquely seductive strains of narrative--her Vampire legend and her lore of the Mayfair witches--to give us a world of classic deep-south luxury and ancestral secrets.
Welcome to Blackwood Farm: soaring white columns, spacious drawing rooms, bright, sun-drenched gardens, and a dark strip of the dense Sugar Devil Swamp. This is the world of Quinn Blackwood, a brilliant young man haunted since birth by a mysterious doppelgänger, "Goblin," a spirit from a dream world that Quinn can't escape and that prevents him from belonging anywhere. When Quinn is made a Vampire, losing all that is rightfully his and gaining an unwanted immortality, his doppelgänger becomes even more vampiric and terrifying than Quinn himself.
As the novel moves backwards and forwards in time, from Quinn's boyhood on Blackwood Farm to present day New Orleans, from ancient Athens to 19th-century Naples, Quinn seeks out the legendary Vampire Lestat in the hope of freeing himself from the spectre that draws him inexorably back to Sugar Devil Swamp and the explosive secrets it holds.
A story of youth and promise, of loss and the search for love, of secrets and destiny, Blackwood Farm is Anne Rice at her mesmerizing best.
Author Notes
Anne Rice was born Howard Allen O'Brien on October 4, 1941 in New Orleans, Louisiana. She received a bachelor's degree in political science in 1964 and master's degree in English and creative writing in 1972 from San Francisco State University.
She published her first short story in 1965 called October 4, 1948. Her first book, Interview with the Vampire, was published in 1976. It was made into a film starring Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, and Tom Cruise in 1994. She wrote various series in the same genre including the rest of the Vampire Chronicles, the Mayfair Witches books, and The Wolf Gift Chronicles. Her novel, Feast of All Saints, became a Showtime mini-series in 2001. Her other works include Cry to Heaven, Servant of the Bones, and Violin.
In 1998, Rice returned to the Catholic Church and for some time only wrote for Christ or about Christ. These works include Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana, and Called Out of Darkness.
Anne Rice died on December 11, 2021 at the age of 80.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Just in time for Halloween, Rice's latest gothic epic blends her beloved Vampire Chronicles with her Mayfair Witches series. Near the dank Sugar Devil Swamp, sinister bayou country where critters far more fearsome than gators lurk, overheated Quinn Blackwood suffers a protracted case of adolescent angst driven by his violent love-hate relationship with Goblin, his spirit-world doppelganger. As heir to Blackwood Farm and an enormous fortune, Quinn enjoys every luxury the decadent Deep South of Rice's imagination can provide, from culinary delicacies to Jasmine, his equally satisfying mulatto housekeeper. Seemingly hell-bent on seducing everyone within range, regardless of gender, age or consanguinity, he falls into a passionate but fatal relationship with 15-year-old nymphomaniac Mona Mayfair, offshoot of the Mayfair clan of witches. But he cannot control Goblin's ferocious jealousy or his nefarious double's taste for blood, particularly once Quinn is made into a Blood Hunter by Petronia, a malignant bisexual spirit who stalks the haunted family cemetery at the edge of the swamp. Rice fleshes out her slim plot line with gory set pieces of vampire history in ancient Athens, Pompeii and 19th-century Naples. She excels at vivid descriptions of macabre landscapes, gloomy estate houses and the lust that motivates her Blood Hunters and propels her ghoulish narratives. Her dialogue and characterizations, however-even of the durable Vampire Lestat, called upon by Quinn for deliverance from Goblin and Sugar Devil Swamp's unholy spirits-are flat and predictable here. But it's intrigue, eroticism and obsession that fans want, and they'll find plenty of all three. (Oct. 31) Forecast: With a first printing of 500,000, a major ad/marketing campaign (TV, radio and print) and a four-city author tour, this title-a dual main selection of BOMC and an alternate selection of Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club, Mystery Guild, Science Fiction and QPB-is poised to continue Rice's legacy of stellar sales. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
The Vampire Chronicles Annual Rice Report on vampirism in Louisiana (Blood and Gold, 2001, etc.) finds Queen Anne's tiara firmly in place for a sweeping plot. Lestat and his new protege, Tarquin "Quinn" Blackwood, 22, six feet four, fly over clouds, then feast luridly on a pair of heroin-addicted whores who've murdered for money. As Lestat says, drinking the blood of evildoers, sucking their sins and lives into one's own blood, lends vampires a certain usefulness, though not humanity. Lestat has a fresh problem: the good, gray, ever namby-pamby scholars of the Talamasca have issued a Declaration of Enmity against him, which he wants rescinded. Quinn's problem is that since earliest childhood he's been hounded by a doppelgdnger named Goblin who grows only stronger as Quinn ages and sucks out tastes of Quinn's blood after Quinn feasts. Quinn lives with Aunt Queen at Blackwood Manor, deep in Sugar Devil Swamp. His Maker turned him only two years ago, and now the novice bloodsucker seeks Lestat for help with monstrous, supervampiric Goblin (Lestat can't see Goblin, only the floating droplets of blood Goblin has drunk). Quinn is the bastard of Patsy Blackwood, a wannabe country-western singer, who conceived him at 16, father unknown. Now, the incorrigible Goblin keeps the child Quinn from attending school. For many years Quinn has young Lynelle as his teacher-until she dies in a road accident, Goblin crazed by her loss. At18, Quinn, who thinks he may be queer, finds himself having sex with an attic ghost named Rebecca. And the house has other ghosts as well. He later falls for red-haired, star-crossed Mona of The Mayfair Witches, famous from the earlier novel for sleeping with all her cousins, and now with Quinn. Then an androgynous telepathic stranger demands that Quinn refurbish the Hermitage in the swamp, after which he meets Arion and Petronia, who-but let's not give that away. With a little nip in the night, Anne's fangs offer us the Dark Gift. First printing of 500,000; Book-of-the-Month Club dual main selection; Literary Guild/Doubleday Book Club/Mystery Guild/Quality Paperback Book Club alternate selection
Booklist Review
Rice breathes new life into the long-running Vampire Chronicles with the tale of Quinn Blackwood, a young vampire haunted by a menacing doppelganger. Tormented by his familiar, Goblin, who has been with him since his birth, Quinn seeks out the famous vampire Lestat, hoping that Lestat can help him control Goblin. Lestat accompanies Quinn to his family estate, Blackwood Farm, and meets Quinn's great-aunt, Lorraine, who is known as Aunt Queen. Encouraged by Lestat's interest, Quinn shares his family history, beginning with Manfred, who built Blackwood Farm and also a mysterious mansion on nearby Sugar Devil Island. Quinn was raised by his grandfather, Pops, after his mother, Patsy, a selfish country singer, refused to have anything to do with him. At first, Goblin is Quinn's only friend and companion. The other members of Quinn's family are concerned, but eventually they begin to acknowledge Goblin. As the years go by, Goblin grows stronger and becomes jealous of other people in Quinn's life. When Quinn falls in love with Mona Mayfair, a beautiful young witch, he has to grapple with Goblin's jealousy as well as Mona's forbidding family. Not until Quinn becomes a vampire does Goblin become a truly dangerous threat to Quinn and those he loves. Rather than extrapolating from previous Vampire Chronicles, the latest presents a completely fresh story, a gripping gothic yarn that revives the series. --Kristine Huntley
Library Journal Review
Fledgling vampire Quinn Blackwood makes a desperate appeal to the older, stronger Lestat to save his loved ones from Goblin, a doppelganger out to destroy them. Since Quinn entered the dark world of the undead, the once caring and protective Goblin has amassed tremendous strength and a ruthlessness that cannot be controlled. Lestat is intrigued but refuses to make a decision until Quinn tells his life story. Slowly, the dark, Gothic settings and eccentric characters that make Rice's fiction so fascinating emerge. Quinn, along with his mirror image, Goblin, resides on Blackwood Farm, an immense Louisiana estate. His was an isolated childhood but not an unhappy one. Then, while in his teens, he learns of an ancestor's horrifying crime, one that continues to attract vengeful ghosts. The brightest light in Quinn's life is Mona Mayfair, a delicate, pretty girl who blithely admits to being a witch. With the introduction of Mona, Rice deftly brings together her two popular series, the "Vampire Chronicles" and the "Mayfair Witches." The result is at least as good as Rice's earliest novels because she centers her story on new characters with interesting stories of their own. Using lush, voluptuous prose, Rice tells a complex and mesmerizing story. Recommended. [BOMC, Literary Guild, Doubleday, Mystery Guild, Science Fiction, and Quality Paperback Book Club selections; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/02.]-Patricia Altner, Information Seekers, Columbia, MD (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.