"Hi this Anne Rice, it's August 30th, 2002, another one of those beautiful summer days in New Orleans; but it's wretchedly hot outside, probably. I don't have any way of knowing from inside this house because the walls are 18 inches thick. I wish I had good news today, but I don't have really good news when it comes to us and Stanley. Let me just mention some answers to questions first: My novel BLACKWOOD FARM will be out at the end of October. Unfortunately, I've had to cancel my tour for the novel, so I won't be seeing you guys in all the different cities, as I had planned. I'm real excited about BLACKWOOD FARM, it's the most Southern novel I've written since THE WITCHING HOUR, really, and my heart and soul are in it. I just feel really strongly about it. Some novels I feel better about than others. BLOOD AND GOLD was a very grim novel, I was proud of it; but somehow or another I feel more proud of BLACKWOOD FARM. Anyway, it's coming. And as I told you in my last message, "The Witching Hour" is scheduled to be an NBC miniseries. They are working on the script now. John Wilder, my beloved John Wilder, is working on the script. It's 12 hours and it will be on NBC prime-time, when it finally comes to television. I'm very excited about that project. I'm also very excited about John doing the script.
Now let me get to the dark shadow that has entered our lives, with which we have to cope. I could say these things vaguely, I could just imply, I could just keep silent, I could just let people speculate "Why did she cancel her whole tour?", I could say nothing...but I'd rather just tell you and ask for your prayers. Stan, my beloved husband of 40 years, the man I have been married to for two-thirds of my life, is very ill. The culprit is a brain tumor. A very serious brain tumor, that starts it's growth right above the spinal cord and goes up the top of the brain, and now apparently there is a second tumor forming on the other side of the brain. Stan has opted for very aggressive treatment with radiation and chemotherapy, and of course we are praying that this will work, and knock out this tumor, and Stan will be able to go on with his poetry and his painting. But, this is a very serious illness, and I ask for your prayers. I ask all of you please to pray. I, of course, am praying for Stan. And Stan is wonderfully courageous about this. Nobody knows, really, what might happen. Nobody knows what the prognosis is for something like this. A person can have a very short time with this illness, or may go on for years and years. And sometimes there's a total cure. It's a real unknown. Anyway, Christopher, our son, is home with us, and we're all working things out with regard to Stan's treatment. My tour I've had to cancel, as I've said, I can't leave Stan at a time like this.
I send you my love. Keep calling and leaving me messages, I love to hear from you guys. I love to hear your movie recommendations, I love to hear your t.v. show recommendations, I just love to hear from you. All your messages get to me, don't think that they don't. You're most welcome to log onto annerice.com . The transcript of this message will appear on annerice.com and I'll try to get more messages on the website soon. I'm advertising the website in a number of new publications as to try to reach new readers. I want to reach them, frankly, I don't think there is an author alive who doesn't want to reach new readers with their books. I love hearing from you. Take care everybody. Bye bye."
