Anne Rice

Anne Rice's new novel is Angel Time: The Songs of the Seraphim. From a Q & A at her publisher's website:

Q: You've written about many kinds of immortal or supernatural beings. What inspired you to turn to angels in this new book?

A: I have always been fascinated by the idea of angels—these perfect beings who are God's messengers, sinless, bold, and unfathomable to the human mind. I was deliciously challenged to be biblically correct about them, and theologically correct: to present Malchiah as truly perfect, yet sent to interact with my hero Toby, and commissioned therefore to take a human body and reflect human emotions and respond to Toby's human emotions.

Q: How did imagining a character like Malchiah the angel differ from creating one like the vampire Lestat?

A: Well, again, Malchiah is perfect and sinless. And to make such a character appealing is a challenge; he has to reflect God's love for human beings, God's compassion. He's not sent to judge Toby; he's sent to guide him to salvation, and to enlist Toby in working for the angels on earth. He must feel things; he must have a personality, but with marvelous theological constraints. Doing Lestat was entirely different: Lestat is sinful and ferociously human, a rebel who wants to be good at being bad; a rebel who is seeking redemption but turning away from it all the time. There is a certain joy in writing about Malchiah because he is sent from God. There was never a perfect joy in writing about Lestat: Lestat...[read on]

--Marshal Zeringue