2026 marks fifty years of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, easily one of the most influential vampire books since Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Rice’s first novel, published in 1976, arrived in a very different era for horror fiction. A time when mainstream publishers often dismissed supernatural novels out of hand. But Interview helped change that narrative. Now, the book that made the Vampire Lestat an icon is getting re-released in a new fiftieth-anniversary edition. It arrives with a new foreword and afterword, the latter from Anne Rice’s son Christopher Rice, himself a successful author. Releasing in October, just in time for Halloween, you can now pre-order the new hardcover Interview with the Vampire fiftieth anniversary edition by clicking here.
Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire 50th Anniversary Edition
This special edition hardcover arrives decadently styled, with a foil-printed case, blood-red sprayed edges, and marbled endpapers. The new foreword comes from Leigh Bardugo, author of the Shadow and Bone trilogy. Rice wrote this lush novel in the wake of her young daughter’s tragic death. She channeled all her grief into the character of the vampire narrator, Louis. He describes his eternal life in Antebellum New Orleans, where he becomes enthralled with the dashing and cruel vampire, Lestat. Together, they create a vampiric daughter, Claudia. But as the decades roll on, this volatile undead family unravels violently.
Interview with the Vampire became a cult hit, ultimately finding great success in paperback. This led to Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series, which lasted thirteen volumes and forty years. Rice’s first novel finally became a successful film in 1994, starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Kirsten Dunst. In 2022, after years of development, AMC reimagined the novel as a television series. It launched AMC’s Anne Rice Immortal Universe, which continues still. But it all began with Anne Rice’s novel, which you can rediscover in this new edition, or read for the very first time, just to see what all the fuss is about.
Once again, the 50th anniversary version of Interview with the Vampire can be pre-ordered via this link. The book will release on October 6, 2026.
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