Phone Message Transcript: August 29, 1998
[appearing on Anne's fan phone line]

"Hello, everybody, this is August 29, 1998.

When I made my last message to you, I was too upset about the situation with President Clinton to be coherent. I want to say again that I stand by the President, and I blame Kenneth Starr for the present scandal which has proved so embarrassing to us as a country world wide. Make no mistake, Kenneth Starr is viciously trying to bring down the President of the United States. The President is a human being with faults that need never have been made public. It is Kenneth Starr and suspect individuals like Linda Tripp, a woman guilty of taping private phone conversations for her own ends, who have disgraced our nation. As for Monica Lewinsky, it's time perhaps that she apologized to Chelsea and Hillary Clinton for her own behavior. The President, in spite of all the efforts to destroy him, will continue, obviously, to be a good and effective president, to do his part in increasing our prosperity and improving our quality of life. History will hardly remember Kenneth Starr. His name, if mentioned at all, will be inextricably bound up with stained dresses, wire taps, and other shady attempts to violate privacy and to hurt the President and all his advisors. Clinton will be remembered for his leadership during a rich and prosperous era.

On a lighter note, let me thank you for your many calls. It's marvelous to hear from all of you, from Annalise in Chicago, Michael in Sand Diego, Andy in Montreal, Lisa in Washington who wore her Lestat t-shirt when she went to get and MRI because Lestat was used to coffinlike places--Lisa, I love it--and many many more of you who've called to give me feedback on the books, and your feelings about what I will write next. Your messages are my constant delight.

In the days that follow, I will have specific information on this line about the up and coming Vampire Lestat Coven Party which will be held this year on Hallowe'en at Tipatina's Warehouse here in New Orleans. I will have a signing on the day that THE VAMPIRE ARMAND is officially published. That's October 17th. I'll sign at St. Elizabeth's and at Britton Trice's Garden District Bookstore will handle the sales. Right now, the signing is scheduled for 12 moon on that day. We hope to have numbered tickets so that you don't have to stand in line, and to have all of St. Elizabeth's open for people to wander while they wait to get books signed.

Michael Koerber, a young and brilliant pianist--he's only fourteen years old--will be playing the Appasionata Sonata for us several times during the signing. If and when you read THE VAMPIRE ARMAND, you'll know how important this sonata is to Armand.

I am deep into my new novel, and living like a recluse more or less down here in the bright sunshine and relentless heat of August. New Orleans has never been more beautiful. Oleanders as well as crape myrtles are blooming everywhere. There is a rampant vine in my back yard which has tiny orange flowers on it, that is covering everything in its path. All this is more than inspiring, and definitely embracing. As always, I want to inject the verdant atmosphere of New Orleans into my writing. Perhaps, I should say, I can't keep it out. The atmosphere is like the vine. It will not be denied.

Regarding movies, you know how much I love them, and that they are more of an inspiration to me than contemporary fiction. I want to say that I enjoyed GOOD WILL HUNTING and applaud Matt Damon and Ben Affleck for their efforts in screen writing there. It is a fine film.

I have finally seen my beloved Leonardo DiCaprio in THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK, Randall Wallace's latest effort--Randall Wallace is the man who wrote BRAVEHEART--and I loved it. It was hilarious, suspenseful, delightful, and charming. As for historical accuracy, you can throw that out the window. But the acting of Jeremy Irons, Gerard Depardeau, Gabriel Byrne, and John Malkovich was just marvelous, absolutely marvelous. And Leonardo, the adorable one, was his usual terrific self. Boy, can the boy act.

As you may know, I want badly for Leonardo to play Lestat in some upcoming movie base on the Chronicles. I poured out my heart on this score to Warner Brothers, pretty much in vain. And now, after the mega success of TITANIC, I don't know if they could get Leonardo, no matter what they might offer. The only real news for me in Hollywood is that the Vampire books and the Witching Hour books revert back in the year 2000, unless films go into production. Right now, it looks like everything will revert back to me.

I continue to dream of great films based on my books, and I do believe that in time they will come.

Speaking of Warner Brothers, did you all happen to hear about Francis Coppola winning a huge suit against the studio for trying to interfere in his development of his version of Pinnochio? I congratulate Coppola on his victory. That was sweet.

That's enough for now. I'll be checking in again very shortly with info about our fall events.

My love to each and every one of you. Leave me your messages.

Anne"