To: Anne Rice From: The People of the Page

Dear Mrs Anne Rice,

No that’s not good enough for the Queen of modern literature . . .

Dearest A.N. Roquelaure,

Still not right . . .

How would she start this out? In her interviews she always says the beginning is the hardest. I have to agree.

I am the writer Jessica Bugg. I am mortal, more or less.

I discovered your work when I was sixteen years old in small town Kentucky. My grandfather was a regular at a store called “Dale’s Tobacco Book ‘N Nook”.

The store as the name implies sold tobacco, books, and in the ‘Nook was where the porn was sold. My grandfather would head to the back of the store past a glass door where a sign designated that particular area was for those “18 and older” which left me out while I was left to make my selections amongst the chapter books.

I had always loved fairy tales and imagine my happiness when looking for a new chapter book to read came across a book with a white cover entitled The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by A.N. Roquelaure. I was an avid reader and blossoming writer, my family never turned me down when I asked to buy a book.

So my sixteen year old self walked out of the Tobacco Book ‘N Nook with what would be my first erotic novel. I had thought it was a fairy tale and in a way, it was. I distinctly remember pulling the book down and looking side to side at the community pool just in case anyone somehow knew the words I was reading.

I had read many books before but nothing like the Beauty book. My mother was the queen of the paperback romance and owned no less than all of them ever printed. But this book made hers look like a beginners course in sexuality. I considered letting her read my copy of your book, but I was too afraid she would take it away.

Instead, I passed it around to all of my girlfriends in tenth grade. Ironically, I am still friends with all of these girls, and I must say the 50 Shades of Grey frenzy was lost on us because we had been introduced to Beauty all those years ago. Christian Grey had nothing on A.N. Roquelaure, and as a result, seemed pale and lackluster in comparison.

Now I have teenage daughters, and one is a reluctant reader. Her own copy of the Beauty Trilogy changed that real fast. Lol.

I think if I had lived my life the way I should have, I would have become a writer sooner. I beat myself up about that for a long time. Until I stumbled upon a YouTube interview of yours. You were discussing the writing of Interview with a Vampire and how it helped you through the death of your daughter. I can’t imagine what that pain must have been like but from that great loss you have inspired so many, myself included.

I find myself at least once a week talking to my best friend Sarah about you. Usually in the terms of “Anne Rice is such a badass bitch. I hope I can be half as badass as she is.” When I am struggling on what to write or how to write it, I reference an interview you posted about finding your own voice and telling your own story.

I love that you refuse to let editors change your stories and that you weren’t a great speller lol. I admire you for blazing the trail for women writers and readers. You took niche genre and did it so well that it is now mainstream.

You covered taboos and challenged social norms both through paranormal and fantasy stories. You gave humanity to what people perceived as monsters. And you gave dignity to the savage. You explored the dark part of the human psyche to expose beauty.

You are an inspiration to every writer who comes after you. Especially me. Thank you for being so determined when you wrote Interview with a Vampire that you said you were willing to mimeograph it yourself and sell it on the streets of New York if no one picked it up.

Hearing your personal story, pushes me forward everyday. I find myself measuring my characters to Lestat, Louis, and Claudia from the Vampire Chronicles. Not to replicate, but in your absolute knowing of them as if you had channeled them. I think they come alive for the reader because they are very much alive to you.

And because your characters were alive, you helped me feel alive. Through some of the darkest times of my life I have found myself coming back to your work. Right now, I am working my way through the Vampire Chronicles for the umpteenth time, drawing inspiration from the way you write a story as if talking to a dearest friend, and pausing to reflect and hope that I do the same for my readers.

I just want to genuinely thank you for being bold, brazen, and just so much yourself. For writing in your voice, no one else’s. And for inspiring other writers to do the same.

But most especially me.

Sincerely,

Jessica Bugg and all of the People of the Page