Anne Rice, your Christian writer?

The name you associate with vampire lit wants to be known as a serious Christian  writer. Cool? The latest piece of the puzzle coming from the prolific writer is her new memoir, ‘Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession. This new book from her is another indication that the writer really wants to reinvent herself as a serious Christian writer. Remember that in 2002, the writer broke away completely from Atheism, and this came after four decades after she gave up her Roman Catholic faith. During that time, Rice believed that religion was too restrictive and too out of step. Not anymore. In this memoir available now in the market, the writer didn’t actually disavow her work focused in books about demons, vampires and witches with some S& M erotica. But the more important thing is that the writer has set her sights on new things, like writing about religion and Jesus.  Anne Rice in an interview regarding her objective said;

To be able to take the tools, the apprenticeship, whatever I learned from being a vampire writer, or whatever I was-to be able to take those tools now and put them in the service of God is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful opportunity.

The writer added that she hope she can redeem herself in that way. The memoir will present Rice’s life as a soul searching wanderer in the deserts of atheism, that can be likened to one of her creations, Lestat, Louis and my fave Rice creation, Akasha, the mother of all vampires. For her, the books that she authored were in fact talking about religion as well- about the grief of the lost faith.

But reviewers are taking the newest work of Rice lightly, in fact some reviewers have slammed the book as lightweight. But for Anne Rice, it isn’s about pleasing the critics but to be able to write something about Jesus.

The complete article is taken from this.

Kafka of Murakami on stage

There is now a stage version of the Kafka on the Shore novel by Haruki Murakami. In fact the world premiere of the stage play was launched September 18 this year and this play was made as the initial play for the launching of the Steppenwolf Theater Company’s 2008-09 Season. The production featured Francis Guinan and John Michael Hill with Christine Bunuan, Gerson Dacanay, Mary Ann de la Cruz, Christopher Larkin, Aiko Nakasone, Andrew Pang, David Rhee and Lisa Tejero. Hmm from the looks of it, at least three could be Filipino names. Are they Filipinos? The show’s stsory was summed up in these lines;

A young boy’s coming of age parallels an old man’s search for destiny in modern day Japan where the borders between everyday reality, dreams and imagination are constantly crossed. In this world premiere adaptation of the popular novel, encounter talking cats on the streets of Tokyo, World War II soldiers trapped in time, Colonel Sanders and Johnnie Walker. Experience the unexpected in this fantastical tale about waking up to your own life.

The play that was based on the Haruki Murakami book was developed as part of Steppenwolf’s New Play Initiative.