About the Parlor

I wanted to put a page together that compiles everything I could find on the Internet with what I already have about Anne Rice's Lives of the Mayfair Witches.  There are some good sites and images and there's so much more that could be added that I thought it would be fun to do it.  I hope you enjoy it.

Why This Site?

Why have yet another site about characters created by Anne Rice? And what does "gothic" mean?!

Why this website when there are so many devoted to books written and characters created by Anne Rice? There are even websites devoted strictly to the Mayfair Witches in one way or another so why build another site about them? The first answer is the most simple: I have a long-standing love of the Mayfair books. Their profound impact on my life demands a tribute of some sort.

That answer doesn't really explain the need for another Mayfair site, though, or my desire to make one quite as voluminous as this one. Let me address this before you begin exploring. I will do this in three ways: by giving a short overview of the kind of sites that did exist (and still do) before I launched this site, by a discussion of the term "gothic," which figures prominently in the first part of how I address the need for a site like mine, and a discussion of the other themes and events in the book that make the characters real life people with extraordinary abilites.

Overview of Mayfairs on the Internet

If you have been to the other sites devoted to characters such as Lestat, Marius, Pandora, Armand, Louis and numerous others from Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, or Rowan Mayfair and particularly, Mona Mayfair, from Lives of the Mayfair Witches, you will see that the common denominator of the majority of these sites is the focus on the supernatural, or "gothic." In fact, a considerable amount of the criticism of particular Rice novels seems to use expected gothic elements as a barometer by which the reader gauges the book's overall effectiveness and value.

What I mean by that last statement is, if the book is not deemed "gothic" enough by readers and critics alike, it is not considered a worthy addition to the Vampire Chronicles or even the Lives of the Mayfair Witches. Consequently, you don't see much focus on those particular volumes in the Chronicles or the Lives in the numerous websites devoted to the characters in them.

One example is Memnoch the Devil. Because it has a great deal of focus on Heaven and Hell, God's role in human history and the ageless battle between Good and Evil, it was held in lower esteem because of its heavy focus on "Christian concepts." Somehow, Christianity and gothic tradition have been separated in the popular imagination and are deemed mutually exclusive. Meaning: it's not okay to write about both in the same series, let alone the same book.

A second example is Blood Canticle. In this book, Lestat as narrator does not sound "gothic" by any stretch of the imagination; rather, he sounds like he has naturally acclimated to the time he now lives in and the people he now lives among. In short, he has adapted via his speech, mannerisms and interaction with people both living and undead. Many times throughout the novel, in which he wastes no time addressing the criticism that Memnoch the Devil received (which I was devilishly amused by since I loved Memnoch the Devil), he is uproariously pranksterish and loves a good old fashioned joke.

So, to take a "gothic" character and bring in lush elements of Christianity and blatant, side-splitting humor by putting him in the middle of it? Help, murder, police! (Just had to pull that prank, folks).

Having said all of this, what exactly does "gothic" mean?

What Does "Gothic" Mean?

1Goth·ic

Pronunciation: \ˈgä-thik\

Function: adjective

Date: 1591

1 a : of, relating to, or resembling the Goths, their civilization, or their language teutonic, germanic c : medieval 1 d : uncouth, barbarous

2 a : of, relating to, or having the characteristics of a style of architecture developed in northern France and spreading through western Europe from the middle of the 12th century to the early 16th century that is characterized by the converging of weights and strains at isolated points upon slender vertical piers and counterbalancing buttresses and by pointed arches and vaulting b : of or relating to an architectural style reflecting the influence of the medieval Gothic

3 often not capitalized : of or relating to a style of fiction characterized by the use of desolate or remote settings and macabre, mysterious, or violent incidents (bold supplied by webmistress)

— goth·i·cal·ly \-thi-k(ə-)lē\ adverb

— Goth·ic·ness \-thik-nəs\ noun

~ from Merriam-Webster Online

As you can see, the term "gothic" is not a new one and it is not strictly related to how people dress, style their hair, paint their nails or choose their musical tastes. This term is often applied to fiction literature and musical styles that fit its definition both literally and in the popular imagination. Used widely to include any art or entertainment that meets the definition without measuring its qualifications based upon acceptance as such by popular culture, you could call the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, the books that the HBO series TrueBlood is based on, gothic. Bon Temps, Louisiana is fairly remote and Sookie lives in the sticks - the Southern Fried version of the European spooky manse. It's scary for a girl to live alone in a big house in the woods - especially if those woods are frequented by vampires, fairies, shapeshifters and maenads.

So, now that we have established that many fan sites devoted to Anne Rice's characters do focus on the gothic, and now that we have a basic idea of what gothic is, I can get to the business of explaining why I felt like my time was well spent building yet another site to these characters.

A Family in Crisis: The Mayfairs as a Family Unit

When I first read these books at a young age, I was impressed by the gothic parts of the story like anyone else who reads to be informed and entertained. However, what impressed me more was that the events in these books were not happening in a fantastical world that reeeeaaaally demands that you suspend all disbelief in order to even enjoy them. The elements in these books that took them into the territory of gothic genre were extraordinary events that happened to ordinary people, and ordinary people with extraordinary abilities. Their possession of these talents and abilities could largely be explained by something ordinary and mundane on one hand but just as controversial as offering a strictly spiritual explanation for their existence - the very same genetics and heritable traits that make the Mayfairs a family in the first place.

In the books, the Mayfairs, via Rowan Mayfair, the Legacy Witch, enter a time where their entire family is threatened because the foundation on which they based their very existence has been shaken. By shaken, I mean it's crumbling from beneath their feet. The Legacy Witch has returned, the main family house has been recovered from the real family witch, Carlotta, restoration is in progress directed by the bridegroom of the legacy witch and everything is just ducky - until Lasher "comes through," attempts to murder Michael, abducts Rowan and leaves everyone in the lurch for more weeks than anyone cares to count. In the meantime, Mayfair women are dropping dead of massive hemorrhaging brought on by miscarriages that defy scientific and medical explanation. Massive funds from the legacy bank accounts are disappearing and not all of the transfers were initiated by Rowan Mayfair, making it a matter of extreme urgency that Rowan Mayfair and this male she has been seen with be found immediately. The problem is, the sketchy details investigators do have make the family uncertain if Rowan will even be found alive.

What do families do in a time of extreme crisis? To what do the family leaders fall back on in order to keep a sense of comfort and peace among the more vulnerable, excitable family members? The first answer is obvious - they pull together. The second answer is one that might be familiar to people from large and/or closenit families (sadly, not everyone has the good fortune of having such a thing) - they rely on traditions and beliefs that as a collective unit, have in the past strengthened and maintained family relations and brought a sense of a "united front" when trouble has happened before. We also have to remember that while the family as a whole is in crisis, its crisis is at the critical stage because the lives of individual members have been compromised by it as well.

It is not enough to say that the only lives compromised are those of the women who were Lasher's victims. Wealth or not, people have daily lives and responsibilities that have to be put on hold when a crisis interferes and demands their immediate attention. Not only do individuals commit to the family at this time, they must mitigate any possible damage to their own lives in the process. Much of this gets handled through normal, everyday, mundane and possibly unthrilling means. This is why we see the following methods used in the story:

Legal Methods: Not only does this enable cooler heads to hire private investigators and determine the amount of cooperation with local authorities, a realistic evaluation of what is at stake both legally and financially can be done, which it is - thoroughly. Family conferences called by Ryan are attended by other, junior partners in the firm and set aside fanciful notions of ghosts being born again through human mothers in favor of practical, boring solutions.

Science and Medicine: Even though Emaleth's healing Rowan with breast milk seems miraculous and as if it could happen only in fiction, there is a quantifiable explanation for why it was possible: growth stimulating nutrients with cells designed to rapidly repair tissue damage in a Taltos would be healing of traumatic injuries in far more delicate human tissue. Rowan Mayfair attempts to define Lasher as a ghost in terms of biochemistry. Later, the tragedy of Lasher's destruction of Rowan is that his overuse of her reproductive organs causes life-threatening injury to them and ultimately, sterility. Rowan was vulnerable to Lasher from the beginning because of her belief in her own scientific knowledge and diagnostic skill - she thought she could take the upper hand this way but was mistaken.

Modern Technology: Computers, fax machines, "state of the art" phone systems (for 1989), and later, laptops, email and cell phones - the Mayfairs are no strangers to technology and in fact, depend on it to function in the world. Indeed, Rowan uses the Caller ID function on her cell phone to trace Mona's call to Lestat's home (the same home he's had since Interview With the Vampire). Mona uses her computer (running MS DOS) to build a complete Mayfair family tree and later has a laptop in her hospital room at Mayfair Medical to exchange email with Quinn Blackwood while he is in Europe.

In short, I thought it would be fun to look at the other things that are in the Mayfair books besides ghosts and legends. Clearly, these are intelligent, educated, literate people who are not completely vulnerable to the gothic side of their lives. So why not look at what they've read, listened to, watched, or places they've gone, or traditions they love?

Yer Hostess

I am a big fan of Lives of the Mayfair Witches, a series of books written by Anne Rice about the Mayfair Family and its central characters, the Mayfair Witches. I first read Lasher in the summer of 1995 and was so intrigued by the story that I had to read its prequel, The Witching Hour, and then its sequel, Taltos. I spent the fall of 1995 reading those books and poring over The Witches' Companion, which I like to credit as being my first step toward a higher education.

Obviously, I was thrilled to see the Mayfairs appear in later Vampire Chronicles, Blackwood Farm and Blood Canticle. I liked Merrick, but was disappointed that the First Street Mayfairs made little or no appearance in it. So I focus mainly on those books that the First Street Mayfairs do appear in, though I have dedicated a page to Merrick on this site.

I don't recall being a fan of any one thing for so many years (except maybe Young Guns) so I thought that in this age of Internet, there was no way I could just not share my thoughts on these books. Hopefully, I do them justice in terms of factoids and impressions.

So, please do come on in and look around! I write most of the text on the Parlor myself, and create fun graphics that I hope will help to illustrate the Mayfair Witches as Anne Rice described them in the novels. There's a lot to see, so please feel free to take all the time you want to explore and have fun!

~My Mayfair Collection~

A Little Story

I remember reading through Interview With the Vampire when I was about 17, when I learned it was going to be made into a movie.  This was the summer of 1993.  I knew nothing about the past hassles of getting it to the big screen, only that it was in preproduction and Tom Cruise was cast as Lestat.  I learned then that the book I had bought my mother as a Christmas gift one year (because I knew she had liked The Feast of All Saints) was set in New Orleans, a city I was then and continue to be fascinated with.  I hope to visit some day, even in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav.  So I picked it up out of curiosity though the story didn't really "grab" me at the time.

My mother had other titles by Anne Rice, one of which was The Witching Hour.  It was the blue mass market edition she had and I remember thinking that it was huge.  I never took the opportunity to read it then.  Unfortunately, that copy was lost in a fire the summer just before the movie Interview With the Vampire was released, but I would have recognized the book cover and title anywhere.

The movie Interview With the Vampire was released in the fall of 1994, and I went to see it twice.  Even though I had also liked Bram Stoker's Dracula (still one of my favorite films) which had been released in 1992 and which I had seen in the summer of 1993 (and read the book around the same time I read Interview), I was not a vampire fan.  I didn't really understand them or their appeal at the time.  I also felt odd about indulging in something I knew my mother was also a fan of.  It isn't that it wasn't cool; it was that my mother and I were not very close when I was a teenager because we didn't get along when I was younger.  Of course, teens feel a bit squeamish about identifying with their parents on such an important level.  As I would later learn, there is much that my mother and I have in common and I now give credit to Anne Rice and Lasher for providing the intial step for us to be closer.

In the summer of 1995, I stopped at Albertson's for some groceries and as was my habit, I stopped by the paperback stands.  I saw the title Lasher jump out at me.  That caught my attention.  The title was catchy, I saw that Anne Rice had written it, wondered if my mother had this book, and picked it up to look at it.  At first, I thought it would be a book set in the past, which is half true, in the same vein as Interview, and of course, it was about witches.  I thought it would be some medieval fantasy.  The witches were one thing, but the concept of an enduring specter with considerable influence on all aspects of the lives of living, modern women as well as ulterior motives for them fascinated me.  I bought the book, and began to read...

Someone else at the nursing home where I worked must have liked it too because that copy disappeared out of the breakroom.  I had not been issued a locker because they were "all full".  As it turned out, my mother did indeed have a trade paperback copy of Lasher for me to borrow while I saved for a new copy of my own.  I picked it up the same night she gave me some cooking utensils for my sparsely appointed, practically unfurnished apartment.

Though I had had a couple of boyfriends and various roommies live with me at the apartment/duplex I lived in at the time, I was by then mercifully alone.  I made a pallet of comforters, quilts and afghans on the living room floor in front of my TV and VCR and right before my little bookshelf with the little reading light and the night jasmine incense (how appropriate!).  There, I would take my plates of Noodle Roni and Velveeta Shells & Cheese and my teas and hot chocolate, sit or lay down on my palette, and read my books. 

Once I read Lasher, I HAD to find out what had happened before, so off I went to Fred Meyer and grabbed a copy of the same book, same edition of The Witching Hour that my mother had before the fire.  I took it right home to the designated reading spot and there I stayed excepting work, food and bathroom breaks.  Taltos followed, and I hopped in place at Waldenbooks until I could get my hands on The Witches' Companion, to the amusement of the bookstore staff.  I paid a hard earned $30.00 for it, money I would probably have been advised to spend on groceries or something, but this was food!  Food for my mind, heart and soul.  How could this not be a necessary expenditure?! 

I pored through that book, absorbing the information in it and reigniting my interest in history, religion, philosophy, and the subject that turned into my major when I went back to school, anthropology (I have a second major in philosophy, with courses in religious studies and psychology).

This was the first time in a few years that I had found something that I liked, something that I picked out on my own without any prodding or urging from someone else.  It was quite the opposite when you think about my hesitation due to not wanting to follow something just because my mother did.  I ended up loving the books for themselves and they woke me up, stimulated my mind, made me want to solve a few problems in my life.

As Michael Curry said to Mona of his favorite books, rereading my favorite books are like listening to my favorite song over and over again.  It's lovely and rejuvenating to revisit them again and again...