A Conversation with Anne Rice
Author of The Wolves of Midwinter
Q: It’s been almost two years since The Wolf Gift was published.
What has been the most fun for you about writing this new series?
A: The new cosmology is terrific fun. Since this is a brand new
series, I’m able to evolve a whole new type of supernatural
character—the morphenkind, or man wolf—and make up an origin
story for the species and work with what powers these creatures
have and so forth. I’ve loved that. But as always the novels are
about character, and I do love the new cast—Reuben my youthful
hero, his family, and the contemporary setting. As always I like
blending a family story with a supernatural story. I’ve done this
with the Mayfair Witches and to some extent with the vampires.
But the very most fun? I guess the new cosmology—that Reuben the
Man Wolf is a comic book hero, living a double life as a reporter
and a man wolf.
Q: A defining element of your werewolves is that they are
sentient during transformation, but also that they can detect and
hunt out evil. How does The Wolvs of Midwinter begin to blur
those clear lines of good vs. evil for your main character,
Reuben?
A: Well, Reuben and Stuart—both young man wolves—are coming to
see the obvious, that there is no real objective standard in the
world of what is good or evil, much as we all wish that there
was. And in some situations, they do not see clearly what to do.
They transform into powerful beast men and can easily kill and
punish evil doers, but what happens when the evil doer is
contrite and becomes a victim himself? Do they stop in their
tracks? Their powers put an immense burden on those human beings
who know what they are. Is it moral for a good man to contact
Reuben and ask for his help with despicably evil murderers,
knowing full well that Reuben has the power to transform into a
Man Wolf and bring immediate death to the evil ones? In The
Wolves of Midwinter they confront this problem for the first
time.
Q: What was it about the unfinished nature of Reuben’s
relationship with Marchent that inspired you to bring back her
ghost in The Wolves of Midwinter?
A: Marchent was a very strong character and she left the
narrative early. She died violently. I thought what if she
lingers, confused, uncertain, an earthbound spirit in need of
guidance to the light? I think it was her character and how
strong she felt to me in the first book that prompted me to bring
her back. When I write I believe the old cliché: there are no
small parts, only small actors. And so even if a character is
going to be in a book for a very short while (as Marchent was in
the first book) I’ll go deep into that character, seeking to make
that character very real, and then when the character is
dispatched, well I miss the character. That’s what happened with
Marchent.
Q: The Wolves of Midwinter features the emergence of other
“Ageless Ones,” like the Forest Gentry, and the strange servants
who serve the Distinguished Gentlemen. How do these new
characters allow you build upon the werewolf mythology you’ve
created?
A: It’s flat out unrealistic to present a universe in which the
morphenkinder are the only preternatural inhabitants. It’s a
failure of imagination to not ponder what other supernatural or
preternatural beings they might know or interact with. I thought
it only natural that immortal morphenkinder would know a lot
about spirits, ghosts, and so forth, and other immortals. It was
fun to imagine new species. And I love writing about ghosts. I am
doing it in other books now as well as in The Wolf Gift
Chronicles. I have a mythology of ghosts and spirits that
transcends any individual series I’ve written and I just love it.
With Reuben and his friends, I feel like I’m just getting started
on their world. I may bring in other elements soon. For now
though the Forest Gentry and the “strange servants” are really
delighting me.
Q: The Wolves of Midwinter also introduces new members of other
werewolf packs, suggesting a much larger world exists beyond the
Distinguished Gentlemen. Will we learn more about the past
history of the Morphenkinder as the series continues?
A: Yes, as the series continues we will learn much more about
the history of the Morphenkinder. I already have a big surprise
brewing for book three. And of course we have only be to see
in this second book how morphenkinder from other parts of the
world can make serious trouble for Reuben, Felix, Margon and the
inhabitants of Nideck Point. I feel that in these two Wolf Gift
books I’ve opened many doors and I want this to develop into a
huge fantasy series.
Q: So much of the setting and atmosphere of The Wolves of
Midwinter is tied to traditional Christmas holiday rituals. What
experiences and research did you draw from to create such a rich
setting? Were you inspired by European holiday festivals? What
was your favorite part of creating the Festival in Nideck Point?
A: I am enthralled with Yuletide customs the world over but
particularly those of Europe and America. I did intensely
research them, seeking for material everywhere. have used intense
Christmas symbols and mythology in The W Hour and in
Lasher, and I am very interested, as you can see, in delving into
it with the wolves. I am intrigued as to why our heritage
includes belief in ghosts walking at Christmastime and so many
Christmas ghost stories, like those written in Victorian England,
for instance. I’m intrigued with the ancient European custom of
people dressing as beasts and in animal skins around
Christmastime—with customs involving bonfires and echoes of human
sacrifice. Clearly the feast of midwinter was serious business in
our past, a time when we celebrated the cycles of the earth, the
desperate hope that the warm spring and summer sun would return,
in spite of the ice and snows, and that we would see light and
growth and possibility again. That’s in our blood as human
beings. And to me all this is related to the very idea of the man
wolves—that we humans remember on some level when we were very
primitive and closer to the animal world than we are today, that
our nature is always animal and divine mixed together, that we
are mammals with souls. Christmas is the great feast at the very
heart of our cultural experience of these mysteries. God becoming
man in the Christ Child in the dark of winter is a potent symbol
for all of us—human beings who are spiritual as well as
physical—and for our great need to control our animal nature
while never forgetting it.
- Used Book in Good Condition.