The literary world is mourning the loss of famed author Anne Rice, the mind behind Interview With the Vampire.
The gothic fiction writer died on Saturday, Dec. 11, two months after she celebrated her 80th birthday. Anne's son, Christopher, also an author, announced his mother's passing.
"It breaks my heart to bring you this sad news," he wrote on Anne's social media accounts. "Earlier tonight, Anne passed away due to complications resulting from a stroke. She left us almost nineteen years to the day my father, her husband Stan, died."
Anne's husband and Christopher's father, poet and painter Stan Rice, died from brain cancer at age 60 in 2002. Anne is also preceded in death by their daughter Michele, who died of leukemia at age 5.
"The immensity of our family's grief cannot be overstated," Christopher wrote. "As my mother, her support for me was unconditional — she taught me to embrace my dreams, reject conformity and challenge the dark voices of fear and self-doubt. As a writer, she taught me to defy genre boundaries and surrender to my obsessive passions."
Anne was born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien in New Orleans.
She was best known for her book series The Vampire Chronicles, whose first installment, the 1976 novel Interview With the Vampire, was adapted into a 1994 film of the same name starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Kirsten Dunst.
The third book, Queen of the Damned, inspired a standalone movie starring Aaliyah. It was released in 2002, six months after the R&B star and actress' death.
Anne's 13th and last book in the Vampire Chronicles series, Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat, was released in 2018. She was also known for writing serials such as Lives of the Mayfair Witches, Christ the Lord and Ramses the Damned, whose third book Ramses the Damned: The Reign of Osiris, co-written with Christopher, is scheduled for publication in 2022.
Rice is also known for the books The Feast of All Saints—which was adapted into a 2001 Showtime miniseries—and Cry to Heaven, plus three erotic novels.
During the last few years of her life, Anne opted to promote her books in person solely in California, her final home, due to health concerns. In her 50s, the author was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease Type-1 diabetes, typically first discovered in adolescents, after falling into a coma.
"I'm very brittle. I can't have meat in my diet any more, and I get very sick when I travel," she told the U.K. newspaper The Sunday Times in 2009. "There'll be no more book tours. I do Skype appearances instead."
Anne passed away while surrounded by her surviving family. In his message, Christopher wrote, "In her final hours, I sat beside her hospital bed in awe of her accomplishments and her courage, awash in memories of a life that took us from the fog laced hills of the San Francisco Bay Area to the magical streets of New Orleans to the twinkling vistas of Southern California. As she kissed Anne goodbye, her younger sister Karen said, 'What a ride you took us on, kid.' I think we can all agree."
Christopher said in his message that Anne will be interred in their family's mausoleum at Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans in a private ceremony, while a public celebration of her life will take place in New Orleans in 2022.
The message continued, "Let us take comfort in the shared hope that Anne is now experiencing firsthand the glorious answers to many great spiritual and cosmic questions, the quest for which defined her life and career."