A letter to Anne Rice fans, from the creator of the Official Anne Rice FAQ
The time has come for a changing of the guard. After maintaining the Anne Rice FAQ for nearly seven years I've decided to no longer do it.
The decision was admittedly bittersweet for me. I can still remember the day when I created the FAQ - back when the only FAQ of its kind was so small it could literally fit into someone's plan file (and that will tell you just how long ago it was - a concept like a plan file was commonplace back then; now, not so much). I was a die-hard Anne Rice fan and eager to give something back to the online community. I put together everything I knew about Anne (which was a scary amount of knowledge considering it was mostly remembered off of the top of my head), put it into my usual witty and sarcastic style and posted it. It was good, people liked it, and a job was born.
I loved maintaining the FAQ and I won't be scared to admit it was definitely an ego-boost. Any online arguments? Hey, I'm the bitch who maintains the ONLY OFFICIAL FAQ, I don't THINK you were trying to argue with me. Scoops from inside of Anne's world? Sent directly to my mailbox. I've still got a few treasures set aside courtesy of her publisher that I'll probably not share with anyone because I know they were only sent to me in great trust.
If I had to point out highlights of my little FAQ maintainer career - such as it was - I'd probably have to say it was an even split between the bonuses I got from bookstores who would ask me to advertise their signings with it (or on my web page) and the time when the FAQ was put up on Anne's own site as the truly official Anne Rice FAQ. Admittedly the latter proved to be frustrating when Corbitt Design never took me up on my offers to provide them with updated copies to keep the information current, but it was still neat all the same and gave me the final little bonus that a FAQ maintainer could hope for - official recognition.
But time moves on. I became the Anne Rice guide for the Mining Company (hack/spit) and that started taking up my time as a fan. This proved to be ironic because my creation of the FAQ was one of the reasons why they approached me. In the end, though, I spent so much time being an "official" fan there that the FAQ fell by the wayside. I did my best to try to keep up with it but I knew I was starting to loose my touch.
Then came some changes in the fandom. Anne's new books, while fun, weren't as great to me as the old ones were. And while I could still enjoy them and get good fanfic ideas out of them, I knew I didn't feel as passionately about them as I did her eariler works, nor did I feel as strongly about it as newer fans did.
So, much though it did hurt me to think of giving my baby up - my first big introduction and place in the Anne Rice fan world - I knew that if I really cared about it as a project I would have to let it go.
But to who? Who could I get to truly take care of it? Who would maintain it in the style to which it had been accustomed? Who would match my earlier ability to know any minor bit of Anne Rice trivia while at the same time maintaining that all-important smart ass atitude that made the Anne Rice FAQ what it was?
Enter Dark Angel. She and her companion, Father of Lies, maintained a website of Anne Rice information and trivia that was mind-boggling in its detail and in its dedication. She had a passion for the new material that I couldn't match on my own and she was a member of the new guard of online fans - a fresh face and opinion to bring new blood into the realm of online Anne Rice information. Add on top of that the fact that she had a killer sense of humor and knew better than to try to kow-tow to Anne's party line and I knew I had a winner.
A few months ago (as of my writing this on March 9, 2000) I wrote to Dark Angel and begged her to become the new FAQ mom. She was understandably wary at first, realizing that there was probably a good reason why I have a nervous tick everytime somebody asks "Are they ever making a movie about TVL?", but finally agreed. She took the files onto herself, updated them in ways that had never even occured to me, and here we are.
So, without further ado, I give you the new maintainer of the one and only Official Anne Rice FAQ. I think you'll be as pleased with her as I am, if not moreso.
In the meanwhile, it's been great being the FAQ maintainer for this community for so many years. Thanks to everyone who ever helped me out with it from the fans to Random House. I couldn't have done it without you.
I'm now off to become an "unofficial" Anne Rice fan. I'll miss my baby, but I think I'm going to like this all the same.
Thanks so much for having me.
Sincerely,
The Brat Queen, the former Anne Rice FAQ maintainer.
