Unabashedly (or abashedly, depending entirely on my mood) I created a short, somewhat amateurish video to give all my blog readers a glimpse of things to come not just for the Lestat Book Coven, but also for my blog as a whole! Watch the above video, and enjoy my nerdy awkwardness and ineptitude put out on full display.

This video might feel familiar to some Buffy fans, for sure!!

 

Hi Coven Members!

As you have seen already above, I am obviously hard-at-work on all the new renovations on this blog! I have many author guests in the pipeline, whom I plan to feature via Google Hangout on my YouTube Channel.  From the comforts of your house, you will have the opportunity to both interact with and converse with an eclectic variety of different writers; each of who specialize in a different genre.

More information about Lestat Book Coven Weekly Live Chats!!!!!

**Another silly, rather embarrassing V-log about all the format changes for our discussions! Yes, self-deprecating comments, aimed at myself, is part of my personality*

Now, here is the bit that is a bit more pertinent to members of the acclaimed “Lestat Book Coven” (or as Andrew, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer,  would incorrectly say: The Coven of the Literary Vampyre).  The Lestat Book Coven will be having weekly live chats either through TinyChat, Google-Hangout (with a live chat mode activated), or Skype. Please,I implore you, members of the coven, to leave either a comment below on this blog post, post on the Lestat Book Coven’s Meeting Room page (either through the email form for private messages, or the comment area of that particular page). All these chats will be embedded into the Lestat Book Coven Meeting Room under a sub-page (which will be appearing tomorrow, once I have properly set everything up)

The chat will last about an hour (never more, due to respect for your time constraints).  Specific time and date for all upcoming chats will always be posted on the Lestat Book Coven’s Meeting Rooom Page on this blog (for members of the coven that are not Facebook members) and Lestat Book Coven Facebook Group page for those that are Facebook members.

Tentative Time and Date for Lestat Book Coven Weekly Live Chats: Right now, Wednesday looks to be the best day (for me, at least) for live chats. And, I think 9 or 10 pm. (Eastern time) would be best, allowing everyone from the west coast and beyond to participate. I apologize, if you live in a time zone where this time is still highly inconvenient. That is why I am willing to record these chats (none of you will ever be featured on video, due to respect for your privacy), so that people that are unable to participate are still able to view it. If we have guests and we happen to use Google Hangouts (once I fine-tune everything, that is!), all successive chat video recordings will always be “unlisted” on Youtube (again to respect everyone’s privacy), which means only those with the link are able to watch the video!!

I know that we are at a time, where the internet technology exists for everyone to chat simultaneously using video and voice chat. I am not even going down that alleyway, because everyone is going to have unique privacy concerns, and any form of live chat, which consists of one video moderator and text-based communication from everyone else will automatically, by nature of the format, never show any of your messages on the video.

If I address your question or comment, I will make every effort to only address you by “first name” or pseudonym. I highly recommend people with privacy concerns use a pseudonym, maybe a cool Latin vampire name (or something)!!

Here is the important piece: Discussion posts will remain! I am keeping these here, as many coven members or faithful readers of my blog seem to greatly enjoy them, as it gives them an opportunity to participate in the discussion within some small space of their exceedingly busy lives. During some semesters of college, I have been in the same boat, and sometimes; the very last thing you want to do after a day’s worth of incessant busy work is to participate in a book discussions group. Of course, other people love carving out the time to discuss within their busy lives as well.
I guess I am saying that I greatly respect the different ways people are participating in the coven’s discussions. There are many that are not reading, and they are always welcome nonetheless. Please, Please never feel that you are somehow disqualified from not participating, because you neither have the time to leave comments, interact with the coven’s Facebook page or participate in our future live chats.

Guests for our Lestat Book Coven Live Chats!! I had no idea that Anne Rice was diligently working on making the last, final edits to the proofs for Prince Lestat, so I feel guilty for emailing her about all the various updates about the latest events for the coven. For that reason, I am holding off another two-three weeks to formally invite her to one of her chats to respect the solitude and time needed to work hard on her proofs.

So, I apologize to Anne Rice for those unsolicited invites! But, our coven is waiting patiently and respectfully, for when the time does come for when you feel you want to pay a visit to the group.

Many of our possible guests do have busy schedules of their own, so I will be very careful and professional, when inviting them to a chat, and respecting their time constraints (which means some chats might be shorter). Right now, I am keeping the guest list a complete mystery for now on to make you minds run amok with times of wild ideas about different guests.

Perhaps, we might have Sue Q., of the Official Vampire Lestat Fan club; Victoria Wilson (editor for Anne Rice,a talented  author in her own right of the recent, densely written biography-A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940); and one of the coolest, self published writers- Greg Wilkey– author of the Mortimer Drake series (an awesome, YA vampire book series)

Again, all these guests are still “hypothetical” guests, nothing more or nothing less. Any confirmations of guests will be announced a few days prior (though I kinda want to keep up the whole guise of mystery guest, but for promotional purposes, declaring the guest’s name a few days prior works better).

So keep your insomniac, vampire eyes peeled on this blog for further announcements about guests and Vampire Lestat Book Coven related things!!

Reading Assignment for Week #7 of our Discussion:

This week we are finally getting one of my personal favorite sections of the book, which is a stylistic departure from the core story of the series. We are entering the world of vintage horror,in many ways, as Louis and Claudia travel through Europe in search of evidence of other vampires.

We are reading this entire section, which begins at pg. 166 (in my Barnes and Noble omnibus edition) or at “The vampire sighed. The boy was resting on his elbow, his face cradled in his right palm; and his avid expression was incongruous with the redness of his eyes…”

Our reading for week #7 ends at Part 3!

Discussion Questions:

1. What conventions or tropes of the classic, vintage horror movie or story do you observe in this entire section of the book? Where are there moments of obvious contrast between the way Anne Rice’s more romanticized vampires clash with the portrayal of the more conventional, monstrous vampire?

2. Why do you think this entire segment was omitted from the film? Could this entire section have been filmed, perhaps, as a black and white short film?

3. Is there anything else that strikes you, as an observant reader, about this entire section? Are there any more incidences of foreshadowing?

Again, you will have the opportunity to discuss these questions and more this coming week either here on my blog (in the comment area of the discussion post), the Lestat Book Coven Facebook Group Page!!

Can’t wait to see some of you either here in the comment area of my blog posts, the Facebook Group Page, or our live chat this Wednesday.

All those subscribed to my newsletter (via email) for the coven will always be told instantly where and when the Coven Live chats are first! So, if you haven’t signed up yet, fill out the form on the Lestat Book Coven Meeting Room Page 

 

*By clicking the photo below of the Prince Lestat cover, you’ll find details on the Barnes and Nobles online website about pre-ordering your own signed edition of this  much-anticipated novel!*

Here are some other exciting tidbits from the page:

**Watch Sumiko’s lovely video, about #PrinceLestat!!**

Check out this rather exciting novel, from one of our own members of the coven:

William Massa’s Fear the Light: Who Murdered Dracula?
Also, we have this #PrinceLestat contest from editor and regular contributor on Anne Rice’s Facebook Fan Page: Todd Barselow (freelance editor for many self-published writer’s novels). He is also a venerated member of the Talmasca!! (unofficially)

**Click the banner below to access details about this giveaway of copies of Prince Lestat!!**