Anne Rice is famous for her gothic bestsellers, including Interview with the Vampire and The Witching Hour. About a decade ago, however, she returned to the Catholic church after a 38-year hiatus, and in 2002 she committed all of her future writing to Jesus—a vow she’s kept without losing her edge. With her new novel, Angel Time, in stores now, she evaluates her supernatural past.

I don’t regret…
...lying to the nun in grade school.
I told her my name was Anne when really it was Howard, my father’s name. I love the name Anne; it’s pretty. I can’t imagine going through life as Howard!

...being square when I lived in the Haight in the 1960s.
I didn’t take LSD or smoke much grass, so I didn’t fit in with the hippies. I’ve never fit in with anybody, really. But I’m glad I was in the dead center of it; I got to see an important part of history.

...writing about dark topics in the past, even though some Christian readers now call those works satanic.
I didn’t move away from these works because they were sinful. They aren’t just fantasy, they’re about human life, good and evil, and I am very proud of them. The vampire is a powerful metaphor for the outsider, and if you’re writing about your unhappiness and your search for God, as well as your confusion about not being able to believe in him, that’s hardly sinful. That’s a rich, interesting theme.

...quitting vampires before they were all the rage, with Twilight and True Blood.
I told all the stories I had to tell: 11 books, that’s a lot! I find True Blood very entertaining, but it’s not something I could do now. I’ve changed, and the world I live in is one in which salvation and the grace of God are realities, so I can’t imagine returning to that framework.

...going to confession for the first time in 38 years.
I grew up Catholic, so I knew that was expected of me. But it took hours!