In my humble opinion Anne Rice, author of 'The Vampire Chronicles', amongst other books, has to be one of the most instantly knowable names for Gothic novels.

I have to admit that I stumbled on to two of her books, Interview with the Vampire, and The Queen of the Damned, by accident.

I was given about 5 crates of books for free when an aquaintance was leaving the country, and had no space to take the books with her.

Having seen the film, and not being too impressed, I thought that I wouldn't think much of the book either.
But, I was wrong.
With every page turned I got drawn deeper into Louis' pain and suffering. I couldn't put it down, and finished the book in an evening!
I saw the film again after that, and have since added it to my dvd collection.

When I read The Queen of the Damned however, I wasn't quite as enamoured of it. (Haven't seen this flick, if any one here has, let me know if it's any good or not please).

But being a stubborn person, I decided that I'd get the second book in the series, as Interview was book 1, and Queen was book 3.
Book 2 The Vampire Lestat, was very nearly on par with book 1.
Thus started my Anne Rice collection.
To date there are 12 books in The Vampire Chronicles series, of which I have 11, 12 should be here any day now!

The Vampire Chronicles
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Interview with the Vampire
The Vampire Lestat
Queen of the Damned
Tale of the Body Thief
Memnoch the Devil
The Vampire Armand
Pandora
Vittorio the Vampire
Merrick
Blood and Gold
Blackwood Farm
Blood Canticle