In the Shadow of the Vampire: Reflections from the World of Anne Rice [Paperback]

Jana Marcus (Author), Katherine Ramsland (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1997

Anne Rice has single-handedly re-popularized the vampire genre for a massive international audience of every age and social class. In The Shadow Of The Vampire offers a close up view of her devotees and disciples, fangs and all. Over 100 photographs from Anne Rice's Memnoch Ball in New Orleans as well as other events serve as a portrait of this growing subculture. The photographs illustrate the themes the readers relate to in their fantasies and everyday lives and the extremes to which they will go to be close to their mentor. The subjects of the photographs, the fans themselves, explain in accompanying interviews their spiritual relationships to romance, eroticism, loneliness, bloodlust or outsider status of the characters in the book. From the people who sleep in coffins to the teenage Goth-rockers to the HIV-positive man who found a deep allegorical comfort in the vampire Lestat, their responses range from the burlesque to the sublime.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This is an intriguing concept for a book of photo interviews. But then, award-winning documentary photographer Jana Marcus has always been drawn to the fringe; And one of her earlier collections was entitled Midnight in Manhattan: A Decade of Subcultures and the Alternative Scene. In the Shadow of the Vampire, her first book, assembles portraits of and interviews with the devotees and disciples of the Queen of Vampirism herself, Anne Rice. And who are these people? Office administrators, translators, shop owners, students, and the more flamboyant (blood drinkers, S&M'ers, role-playing gamers).

"Her books allow people to think about their place in society and identify their feelings through her characters' exploration of unconventional lifestyles," she opines. "It is extraordinary how many people I've spoken to who had never read a book before they read an Anne Rice novel." Ever think of Anne Rice as an inadvertent champion of literacy? As may be expected, the reflections are a mixture of the banal and the more thought-provoking. The phenomenon of Anne Rice's celebrity is after all--well, phenomenal. The enormity of her appeal has given birth to the annual Gathering of The Coven Ball in New Orleans, movies, an Anne Rice tour company, a perfume line, a Lestat wine, and T-shirts emblazoned with an MRI of Rice's brain. And if all that leaves you colder than sleeping alone in a casket, then you might want to pick up a copy for great tips on wardrobe and make-up.

Review

Photojournalist Marcus compiles the thoughts and moody, moony photos of a hundred attendees at Rice's annual Gathering of the Coven Ball.... For every partygoer who enthuses about blood-drinking rituals, 10 more thoughtfully grapple with Rice's work, persona, and commercialism (they're not thrilled with her Lestat-themed restaurant). This passionate subculture comes, if not quite alive, then certainly undead on the page. -- Entertainment Weekly

Product Details

• Paperback: 140 pages
• Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Pr; 1 edition (November 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560251476
• ISBN-13: 978-1560251477
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,938,085 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jana Marcus has been creating award-winning documentary photography for over 20 years. She is a professional photographer in the California Bay Area focusing on the documentary, editorial and performing arts genres. Her work has been exhibited across the United States and extensively published in newspapers and magazines. Jana received the UC Berkeley Center for Photography's International Photojournalism Award for her series After Midnight: Youth Subcultures of New York City and she was recently named one of 50 Exceptional International Photographers by Exposure of New York.

Her award-winning work Transfigurations, originally a 58-piece exhibit which toured galleries and universities across the U.S. from 2004 to 2010, was included in the prestigious Best Photos of The Year in both 2004 and 2005 by Photo District News of New York, as well as The International Photography Awards, The Phelan Art Awards, The Excellence in Photography Award from San Jose State University's School of Art & Design, and The Center for Photographic Arts Awards.

Jana's first book, In The Shadow of the Vampire: Reflections From The World Of Anne Rice, was published by Thunder's Mouth Press of New York. She frequently lectures on the subject of documentary photography. For more information please visit www.janamarcus.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating read!, November 12, 2002

By 

cinemagirl (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Shadow of the Vampire: Reflections from the World of Anne Rice (Paperback)

This book gives an interesting glance into the world of Anne Rice fans; however, it may either affirm or disprove the notion that her fans are "weirdos." The book features college students, accountants, writers, exotic dancers, make-up artists, etc. While it features intriguing people from all walks of life, I don't believe it's an entirely accurate view of her fans, and I feel that the book still tries to perpetuate a certain fan stereotype, as though reading Anne Rice makes you estranged from the rest of society.

As a previous reviewer noted, Anne Rice is mainstream. Admitting you are a fan is not a taboo like declaring you are a dominatrix. There are fans who never made it to the ARVLFC balls when they were still going on; there are fans who have no interest in exploring New Orleans outside of the books; and there are fans who detest "Goth" culture but still devour every single book Rice releases. It would have been a far more representative book had it featured a larger diversity of fans. I have met prudes who are uneasy watching kissing scenes on television, yet they read the books over and over again without flinching. Now, if that isn't a testament of Rice's enormous talent and gift, I don't know what is.

However, the book is still wonderfully constructed. The photographs are nothing short of superb, the fan accounts a delight to read, and one really does walk away feeling that maybe those stereotypes are wrong.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars first hand, June 19, 2006

By 

marla singer - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Shadow of the Vampire: Reflections from the World of Anne Rice (Paperback)

i am in this book as well and would like to say that the demographic that it covers is indeed accurate and diverse. i attended anne's booksigning for "violin" just minutes after i attended my own at britton trice's store. anne herself asked if our intentions were pure by participating in this conglomeration, and i assured her that we were sincere indeed. she read and embraced the book, and that's all the proof i need. it was a pleasure being involved with jana and the others back in '96 and '97; truly an experience that i will forever cherish.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I was there., August 25, 2005

By 

Admirer (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Shadow of the Vampire: Reflections from the World of Anne Rice (Paperback)

This book features stories and photography of people and events around the 1995 Memnoch Ball that Anne hosted at a home she used to own called St. Elizabeth's, a former orphange and one of the settings of Memnoch the Devil. I was an ARVLFC fan club member and volunteer worker at that party and I must say that this book is a good representation of the people you would have run across there but more importantly it is a window to a place in time that burned brightly and served its purpose in creating good memories. This book and its photographs take me back to those magical moments like any good photo album should. Perhaps you just had to be there to appreciate all the stories this book has to offer but it is definitely worth the read. The fan club and the big parties officially ended in 2000 but we have been having a more intimate Ball in New Orleans every Halloween weekend since 2002 known as Les Temps des Vampires and the Vampire Lestat Ball. Through this event we keep a little of the spirit seen in this wonderful book alive.