Annnd...NO! I'm not talking about the kind of rice you eat with shrimp egg foo young or jambalaya. I'm talking about Anne Rice. Famed author of the vampire novels featuring Lestat who is credited for ushering in the Gothic vampire era of the nineties. The same author whose books were turned into movies starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, and Aaliyah. Yes, her. She keeps cropping up around me. It's not actually a bad thing. Anyway, let me tell you something about me and my fascination with vampires.

I credit my mom for introducing me to the blood-sucking fiends of the night. Well, my mom read a lot of vampire books. I mean A LOT. Anne Rice was one of the writers she read. Now, let me take you back a bit. I can’t remember what movie it was that started it, but my mom always watched creature features. Now, she was born in 1951, so she would be watching Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, etc., and of course, Dracula. That wasn’t all. She also watched Blacula, the funky seventies movie with the black Dracula with an afro. So, this is the eighties and nineties now and I’m a little kid. BAM! Elvira! BAM! Fright Night! BAM! The Lost Boys! BAM! Subspecies! BAM! Once Bitten (LOL!)! BAM! Vamp! BAM! Dracula (the nineties TV show)! BAM! Forever Knight! BAM! Dracula (Francis Ford Coppola version)!, BAM! Blade BAM! Interview with a Vampire…Am I forgetting any?

Being the baby, I’ve always looked up to my mother and sister, even though my sister loves werewolves (that’s a story for another day). I don’t know exactly why I got attracted to vampires, but they just did it for me. I think it was their elegance, regality, poshness, style, and sophistication. They were beautiful, alluring, and evil. I never liked the good vampires. A bunch of pussies if you ask me. I developed a thing for men with long black hair and fair skin all because of vampires and black became my favorite color. Well, one of them, the other being purple.

So, now, my mom really loved Anne Rice. She was reading her books and all that. She then got Interview with a Vampire on audiobook, back then it was on cassette tapes. She was listening to the audio, and my sis and I were in the room too. Now, my sis, the lycan lover, says, “Man, he sounds like a gay Julian Sands.” Julian Sands was the actor who played in the movies Warlock and Warlock: The Armageddon. Beautiful, blond, and English…Okay, anyway…Anne Rice, right?

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I can’t honestly say that I cared for Anne Rice. I was turned off by Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt playing in the movie because they were not my type of guys and still aren’t. I watched the first movie and thought it was okay. I don’t remember much about it, except for Kirsten Dunst’s character. I thought she was so cute and funny. Anyway, I think what turned me off with Anne Rice was Lestat becoming a rock star…I was like…yeah, no…

Now in 1997, I’m fifteen watching VH1 and chilling. I think I was in my grandmother’s bedroom on her huge bed and BAM! I hear all this funky futuristic-sounding music, beeping and bopping, and this pretty face pops up. I see fair skin, a full bottom lip, huge pretty blue eyes, and long black hair. Then he parts his lips, and he has the voice of an angel. I immediately fell in love. I had to know more. Savage Garden’s debut single in America was “I Want You.” I had to know everything about Savage Garden.

Now, I remembered that their one song, “Carry On Dancing” was about vampires, but I forgot something. This is where the getting old thing comes into play. Now, it’s about five AM and I’m looking at videos on YouTube. I found this one video of Savage Garden on Rosie O’Donnell’s show. It’s old and from the nineties. So, they performed and did their thing, then sat down and chatted with Rosie.

BAM! The name of the group is from a quote from one of Anne Rice’s books. I’m like, okay, I knew Darren Hayes liked vampires, but I didn’t know about where the name of the group came from. I’m like, I was in the fucking fan club, how the hell could I not know this? I keep thinking and keep thinking, then I’m like…Oooh, yeah…I remember that shit! Yeah, he did do that shit and he did like Anne Rice. See, that’s where the getting old part comes in. I’m telling you all, young folk, don’t get old. Don’t do it. Honestly, I never wanted to stay young. So, now I have to write this Savage Garden fact into my story.

Anyway, the thing is, Anne Rice keeps popping up in my life. I did the little I Write Like activity, which said I write like Anne Rice. People have been saying that this fanfic reminds them of Anne Rice’s work. Now, I did try to read one of her books when I was younger, but I didn’t like her writing style. Well, I guess I will be trying again.