#vampchron

I haven't read them all, so this isn't a recommendation, just information.

Since you didn't specify and I'm doing this now, you're getting VampChron headcanons 😤

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Marius has a dad bod. You guys can think he's stacked or slim or whatever, but the man is 40, he has a little soft tummy at the very least.

9. worst part of canon

Am I allowed to say all of it? 😭 The characters and the actual stories are great and compelling, but literally anyone else besides Anne Rice should have been writing it.

19. you’re mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like…

Marius/Armand and Armand/Denis. It's creepy and definitely abusive but the heart wants what the heart wants, and my heart wants to see a D/s dynamic with both parties hopelessly devoted to each other, complete with the Dom using the sub as food. (Obligatory FICTION ONLY)

20. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores (At least I assume you meant 20 from where this was in the list 😭)

Honestly? I absolutely love the voice she uses to write Lestat with, eve in the later books. Everyone else is aware they're in a gothic horror/time travel/period piece/supernatural romance/weird sci-fi books... except Lestat. As far as he's concerned, he the main character of a shounen anime and everyone else just needs to get with the program 😭

LESTAT DE LIONCOURT IS DEAD

In case anyone else is in this situation, or wants to know thls information, let me just share.

I read IWTV, and all of the other chronicles that had been published, before the movie was released in 1994. My darling husband-to-be went to the movie with me and loved it. (Your opinions on the movie notwithstanding, you are probably someone who is dealing with a person who has watched the AMC series). So, he wanted to read the books, but I am a Louis person, he is a Lestat person (not relationship-wise, personality-wise, if ya know, ya know) so he asked me if he would like the books. He absolutely was not/is not into broody, moody, existential stuff.

So, I said, don't read Interview, read this. And I gave him TotBT. It is fast-paced, a lot is going on, it is Lestat centered, and since he had seen the movie, he didn't need to know any more than that to understand the characters. He loved it! So then I gave him TVL. He loved that. Then I gave him QotD. Though it has a lot of characters, it is still a book with some action in it, and since he had seen the movie and read the other two books, he knew everybody he needed to know. Then he really wanted to read Interview, there were no other VampChron books available at the time, The Mayfair Witches books were coming out.

So I said, "Okay, this is the book of the movie, but it is a little more complicated, it is from Louis' POV, and he is pissed at Lestat through the whole thing. Remember as you're reading that everything you've already read comes after this." And he read it and he loved it. He loved it so much he started writing his own fanfiction and joined the online fandom, and it was a big part of our lives until the SpecWriters Massacre in 2000.

So if you know someone, and they are loving the series, but you know that the differences in pace and attitude between IWTV the series and IWTV the book are going to be something which would turn them off, it's okay to start with another book first.

Now I have only read through Merrick, which I really did not enjoy. And then, of course I went completely off AR. But my new friends have suggested that I read the Prince Lestat books, which I plan to do soon.

Also, if you or the person who is getting into the series, is interested in the black Creole culture of New Orleans, you could read "Feast of All Saints". It is set much earlier than the series, but it involves the culture of free people of color.

You also might want to read the Barbara Hambly books, starting with, "A Free Man of Color".

(Descriptions in alt text.)

Marius is not allowed to give candy to children, next question 😭 In an AU where he's not a massive creep, he makes his own candy and hands it out. He's even got custom wrappers for it, and spends the week before Halloween prepping everything. It's different every year--sometimes it's fruit, sometimes it's chocolate, one year it was marshmallows. He's got a reputation as the neighborhood weirdo, but the kids still love him anyway.

Armand... doesn't know what Halloween is. Once Daniel explains it though? He. Goes. Apeshit. He loves everything about the holiday, and does a full on Clark Griswold-but-it's-Halloween decorating the house. (Daniel wouldn't mind so much if he wasn't the one constantly being sent out for creepy crepe paper. He's also the one that picks out the candy, of course.)

Lestat and Louis don't just hand out candy, no no no. They run a fucking haunted house out of their home. Or maybe (probably) he rents a building. He's Lestat, he has infinite income, no sense of chill, a superb sense of aesthetics, and is the most extra bitch that has ever lived and died on this earth. 😭 Louis couldn't protest if he wanted to. There's a guy taking tickets out front, flyers around town, it's advertised on the radio and television. It's a fucking event. As people leave, they get very classy goody bags full of fancy candy. While he's doing this, Louis stays at home and hands out full bars of regular candy to all the kids who come by. (And he throws in extra for the grownups.)