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Book Review: Anne Rice’s ‘Blood Communion’ is Decadent and Intense

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Anne Rice’s Blood Communion hits shelves today, and everyone’s favorite vampire is back with a Court to run and a story to tell.

It has been four decades since Interview with the Vampire was released and we first read the name Lestat, though he is quick to point out at the beginning of this latest work that he is still sore about the way that Louis told his tale.

“And it was Louis’s outrageous lies about me, intentional and unintentional (some people should not be granted a poetic license),” he explains, “that prompted me to write my own autobiography and tell the secrets of Marius to the whole world.”

Ah yes, our old Lestat is back in fine form, and yet…this may be his most human tale yet. More human than his time, even, trapped in a human body in The Tale of the Body Thief. As fans will remember, this is the third book since Lestat was named Prince of the Vampires, and as Shakespeare penned so many centuries ago, “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.”

Lestat has begun to question not only why he should be the Prince, but also what it means to be so called, and that struggle and its accompanying doubts makes this quintessential vamp more relatable than he has ever been.

He coins the term “Blood Communion” to denote the growing number of vampires who gather at the newly minted Court to live in peace together without fear of discovery. They have become his family, and family is at the very heart of his tale.

Family is important. Family defines us, makes us stronger, gives us purpose, and yet, as Lestat comes to know all too well, it can test us to the point of breaking when they are threatened and we are powerless to save them.

Rice has honed her storytelling prowess to a fine point. Unlike many authors who have built their own worlds, when she decides to introduce a new character or suddenly give the reader information that we’ve never had before, she takes her time explaining who they are, how they fit, why they’ve never been spoken of in the past.

This process brings these characters more fully realized to her readers, and though we’ve never heard their names, somehow they perfectly weave into the tapestry that she has painstakingly created in these Vampire Chronicles. It almost makes the reader wonder how long she’s known their names before she finds the chance to introduce them to us.

Regardless, it has become the highlight of reading Rice’s books and she does not disappoint in this new novel introducing both bookish and lovable Fontayne and another, far more ancient and powerful, that I will not name to avoid spoilers.

Telling you more than that would spoil the surprise and deny you the joy of meeting them on your own, but believe me when I say that they are well and truly met and are fine additions to Lestat’s ever-growing family.

Rice also proves in Blood Communion that she is not afraid to dangle her readers on a spiderweb over flames in new and frightening ways. There are more genuine moments of horror in Blood Communion  than we’ve seen in the last several books.

The Court at Lestat’s chateau has been opened to the entire vampire population of the world. All are welcome, but such a great congregation only reinforces that though they come from every caste and economic class and though many have discovered and cultivated refinement throughout the ages, they are still creatures who live by taking life–as the Roman Marius points out repeatedly to Lestat.

Their rituals are foreign to us, and their call for bloody justice seems archaic and violent. They give in to their primal natures and can become frenzied in their lethal passions calling for punishing wrongdoers and those who would break their laws and peace.

Yet, on any given day our news feed is filled with primal screams for justice and blood, and if we reach into ourselves deeply enough and admit real truth, we are not so far removed from their tribal drums and ecstatic dancing.

Which brings me to a final point in this review. It’s a point that comes with a challenge.

Rice has fondly written over the years of her love of music and on many occasions, includes titles of songs, classical pieces of music, etc. that her characters listen to or experience during important moments or turning points in her novels, and I’ve often found her selections echoing in my mind as I read.

This time, however, rather than relying upon my own fallible human memory, I pulled out my phone, opened YouTube, and played the music she names only to discover that I should have been doing this all along.

(Okay, I started reading her books long before the advent of YouTube and phones with access to it, but you get the idea.)

Therefore, my challenge to you, readers, is that when you reach a moment in Blood Communion where a specific piece of music is mentioned–“Gaudete Christus Est Natus” or “O Fortuna” from Orff’s Carmina Burana, for instance–play the music while you read! I assure you, now that I have experienced it first hand, that each piece of music had to have been chosen with special care.

Blood Communion is available now in stores and via Amazon and other online booksellers. Pick up a copy today!

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‘Alien’ is Being Made Into a Children’s ABC Book

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Alien Book

That Disney buyout of Fox is making for strange crossovers. Just look at this new children’s book that teaches children the alphabet via the 1979 Alien movie.

From the library of Penguin House’s classic Little Golden Books comes A is for Alien: An ABC Book.

Pre-Order Here

The next few years are going to be big for the space monster. First, just in time for the film’s 45th anniversary, we are getting a new franchise film called Alien: Romulus. Then Hulu, also owned by Disney is creating a television series, although they say that might not be ready until 2025.

The book is currently available for pre-order here, and is set to release on July 9, 2024. It might be fun to guess which letter will represent which part of the movie. Such as “J is for Jonesy” or “M is for Mother.”

Romulus will be released in theaters on August 16, 2024. Not since 2017 have we revisited the Alien cinematic universe in Covenant. Apparently, this next entry follows, “Young people from a distant world facing the most terrifying life form in the universe.”

Until then “A is for Anticipation” and “F is for Facehugger.”

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Holland House Ent. Announces New Book “Oh Mother, What Have You Done?”

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Screenwriter and Director Tom Holland is delighting fans with books containing scripts, visual memoirs, continuation of stories, and now behind-the-scenes books on his iconic films. These books offer a fascinating glimpse into the creative process, script revisions, continued stories and the challenges faced during production. Holland’s accounts and personal anecdotes provide a treasure trove of insights for movie enthusiasts, shedding new light on the magic of filmmaking! Check out the press release below on Hollan’s newest fascinating story of the making of his critically acclaimed horror sequel Psycho II in a brand new book!

Horror icon and filmmaker Tom Holland returns to the world he envisioned in 1983’s critically acclaimed feature film Psycho II in the all-new 176-page book Oh Mother, What Have You Done? now available from Holland House Entertainment.

‘Psycho II’ House. “Oh Mother, What Have You Done?”

Authored by Tom Holland and containing unpublished memoirs by late Psycho II director Richard Franklin and conversations with the film’s editor Andrew London, Oh Mother, What Have You Done? offers fans a unique glimpse into the continuation of the beloved Psycho film franchise, which created nightmares for millions of people showering worldwide.

Created using never-before-seen production materials and photos – many from Holland’s own personal archive – Oh Mother, What Have You Done? abounds with rare hand-written development and production notes, early budgets, personal Polaroids and more, all set against fascinating conversations with the film’s writer, director and editor which document the development, filming, and reception of the much-celebrated Psycho II.  

‘Oh Mother, What Have you Done? – The Making of Psycho II

Says author Holland of writing Oh Mother, What Have You Done? (which contains an afterward by Bates Motel producer Anthony Cipriano), I wrote Psycho II, the first sequel that began the Psycho legacy, forty years ago this past summer, and the film was a huge success in the year 1983, but who remembers? To my surprise, apparently, they do, because on the film’s fortieth anniversary love from fans began to pour in, much to my amazement and pleasure. And then (Psycho II director) Richard Franklin’s unpublished memoirs arrived unexpectedly. I’d had no idea he’d written them before he passed in 2007.”

“Reading them,” continues Holland, “was like being transported back in time, and I had to share them, along with my memories and personal archives with the fans of Psycho, the sequels, and the excellent Bates Motel. I hope they enjoy reading the book as much as I did in putting it together. My thanks to Andrew London, who edited, and to Mr. Hitchcock, without whom none of this would have existed.”

“So, step back with me forty years and let’s see how it happened.”

Anthony Perkins – Norman Bates

Oh Mother, What Have You Done? is available now in both hardback and paperback through Amazon and at Terror Time (for copies autographed by Tom Holland)

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Sequel to ‘Cujo’ Just One Offering in New Stephen King Anthology

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It’s been a minute since Stephen King put out a short story anthology. But in 2024 a new one containing some original works is getting published just in time for summer. Even the book title “You Like It Darker,” suggests the author is giving readers something more.

The anthology will also contain a sequel to King’s 1981 novel “Cujo,” about a rabid Saint Bernard that wreaks havoc on a young mother and her child trapped inside a Ford Pinto. Called “Rattlesnakes,” you can read an excerpt from that story on Ew.com.

The website also gives a synopsis of some of the other shorts in the book: “The other tales include ‘Two Talented Bastids,’ which explores the long-hidden secret of how the eponymous gentlemen got their skills, and ‘Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,’ about a brief and unprecedented psychic flash that upends dozens of lives. In ‘The Dreamers,’ a taciturn Vietnam vet answers a job ad and learns that there are some corners of the universe best left unexplored while ‘The Answer Man’ asks if prescience is good luck or bad and reminds us that a life marked by unbearable tragedy can still be meaningful.”

Here’s the table of contents from “You Like It Darker,”:

  • “Two Talented Bastids”
  • “The Fifth Step”
  • “Willie the Weirdo”
  • “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream”
  • “Finn”
  • “On Slide Inn Road”
  • “Red Screen”
  • “The Turbulence Expert”
  • “Laurie”
  • “Rattlesnakes”
  • “The Dreamers”
  • “The Answer Man”

Except for “The Outsider” (2018) King has been releasing crime novels and adventure books instead of true horror in the past few years. Known mostly for his terrifying early supernatural novels such as “Pet Sematary,” “It,” “The Shining” and “Christine,” the 76-year-old author has diversified from what made him famous starting with “Carrie” in 1974.

A 1986 article from Time Magazine explained that King planned on quitting horror after he wrote “It.” At the time he said there was too much competition, citing Clive Barker as “better than I am now” and “a lot more energetic.” But that was almost four decades ago. Since then he’s written some horror classics such as “The Dark Half, “Needful Things,” “Gerald’s Game,” and “Bag of Bones.”

Maybe the King of Horror is waxing nostalgic with this latest anthology by revisiting the “Cujo” universe in this latest book. We will have to find out when “You Like It Darker” hits bookshelves and digital platforms starting May 21, 2024.

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