Anne Rice Philippines Book Meet- Servant of the Bones

                For a time it felt like The Gathering that was never going to happen.

                After a long hiatus since our last meet at A Different Book Store in Serendra, Fort Bonifacio for the 5^th Vampire Chronicle, Memnoch The Devil, meeting up for the next book in focus was a done deal. Apparently we were wrong for events and different life plans for all members got in the way up until it was decided that August 27 was the date and I would be seeing my fellow Vampires once more and we’d get to feast on coffee and cake and chat another late Saturday afternoon away. But once more, the Vampiric order of things was thrown in disarray for a typhoon set in that day and only me and Lynn were able to make it. Penny, on the other hand, whose back problem was acting up joined us on Skype as we tried to make some sense of a discussion and catch up on each other’s lives. With just us two (or 3), we decided to move the Book Meet to another Saturday that looked feasible for all. Fast forward to last night.

                I got in at around 5pm at the new designated place which was now Cravings restaurant in Shangri-La Edsa Plaza. As per the conversation thread in our Facebook page, this was place was suggested because of their ongoing promo of unlimited cake and coffee for only P150 (roughly $3.45), that begins at 4pm and ends at 8pm. With our love for blood and coffee (interesting book title, if it be used), the excitement to gather once more and make do on that postponed promise to meet up loomed into reality until I got there. Penny was the first to arrive and looking fabulous and made up ordered her share of salad and take home Cordon Bleu. I, on the other hand, disciplined myself to stay away from cakes and started first with a cup of Cappuccino, before ordering their Hungarian sausage by the time Lynn came from after having an exhausting workload of tutoring.

 I didn’t want to think that it would be only the 3 of us again who were arriving because Jestat was glad of the postponed book meet the last time and expressed desire to join this time and even sent me a text message yesterday morning inquiring if the Book Meet was pushing through. Now, Lynn was still finishing the book by the time we got there and that gave us some more time to enjoy our food and by the time the discussion was under way, I realized that it was too late for anyone else to come and “make habol”.

         First off, Penny felt the book didn’t grab her on the onset. Having been accustomed to seeing Lestat drive things in a narrative was an Anne Rice staple and no other character had the stamina and the bratty wit to keep us enthralled. So for us who all read the book ages ago when it first came out (and after Memnoch, mind you), we didn’t really catch onto the character of Azriel.

                To give you a summary, the story tells of Azriel, then a man living in Babylon, whose narrates his life to a Jewish scholar named Jonathan. Azriel, now a powerful spirit or dybuk, appears to this aging man during a self imposed writer’s retreat in his mountain cottage, nurses him back to health and reveals his story. We are introduced to Azriel’s life in Babylon during 539 B.C. and living under the rule of King Cyrus the Persian. Azriel was someone marked as special for during his young age, he is able to hear and converse with the golden Babylonian god, Marduk; to which the priests have already singled him out as someone to be reckoned with and later on to be used to appease the god himself in their glorification of their deity. Marduk for Azriel became his confidant, accomplice and best friend. And because of that, Azriel was craftily selected by the Babylonian witch Asenath, to participate in a celebration to personify Marduk by having himself painted in gold, re-enact the god’s slaying of a lion and paraded throughout the city with the conquering King being blessed on and thus bringing Cyrus closer to acceptance by the populace. But Asenath had an alterior motive.

She knew that this act meant Azriel had to sacrifice himself to the cause and take part in a ritual that involved boiling him into a pot of Gold and bonding his soul to the gold-encrusted bones and making him a genie or dybuk that would obey the whims and wishes of the one who possesses his bones; his Master; thus successfully creating the legendary Servant of the Bones. Lucky for Azriel, he only felt the boiling gold touch his skin momentarily as his soul rose to evade the pain and witness his own transformation as a spirit that can be sent to inhabit the bones and summoned back out whenever needed. His creation thus led him to be sent to his first Master, the Magician Zurvan in the Greek city of Miletus. Zurvan proved to be the Master who had the most profound effect on him; teaching and guiding him to fully realize the extent of his powers. His lessons carried and guided him from one master after another until he appears in present day New York City during the murder of a woman named Esther Belkin, who just happens to be the daughter of his current master, Gregory Belkin.

But Belkin was not the Master that Azriel can learn wisdom from. He may be rich, powerful but was also the fanatical leader of his own new age organization called The Temple of the Mind. With it, Gregory exerted much influence and planned to genocide the world’s population by way of a manufactured virus; a combination of new and old strains of the dreaded Ebola. Part of his plan is to use his twin brother, Nathan, whose existence was unknown the public, assassinate him thereby successfully faking his death and later rise 3 days after as a Messiah. Azriel fools him and spoil his plans, thus saving humanity from genocide.

I remember excitedly getting this novel first in 1996, the preferred Chatto and Windus version with a golden skull in front rather than the US cover that was all gold with embossed figures. Read it then and then most recently and found that although it wasn’t Anne’s best, it still had the potential to slowly draw you in and let you take part in the peeling process of characterization and layering of the plot till you reach the end.

Here are some points that were discussed:

1.       We started by identifying the first issue that we had about Azriel and that was his pacificity. How could one, a loving son at that, so readily accept his father’s decision of allowing him to take part in the ritual and not have one ounce of anger and bitterness for it. Azriel knew that he was going to die and that the process will kill him. Was Azriel’s unconditional love for his father that deep or was it justified in the book by Azriel himself that no matter what he said about the issue, his father, being the parent of gifted son, would still be in danger from the Babylonian priests. Better to appease them than see my own father suffer. Should that be the case, then we would understand but his lack of emotion about the situation was just one of the things that had us scratching our heads.

2.       Having kept his emotions in check, we were surprised to see Azriel cry at the death of Esther Belkin on the day that he re-appeared in New York. Could Esther have summoned him? Perhaps not a formal summoning. But having no concept why he was there and to see him break down as if he knew her and had some profound bond with Esther was another thing if not flaw that we found most puzzling. If we were to base it on the fact that seeing a woman murdered in front of you in cold blood was tragic enough to make one weep as such, then perhaps Azriel should’ve have had an issue regarding the taking of another life even way back then when his first Master, Zurvan ordered him to kill a group of Bedouins in the desert when they stole Azriel’s golden bones from him. Where was this sudden outpouring of emotion coming from?

3.       According to the lore, the Servant of the Bones was not supposed to be able to touch his bones, but because the process of his own making was already flawed, the consequences could not have been the same. What the evil High Priest, Remath and Asenath wanted to make was a powerful genii that would be able to perform any task appointed to it. Although Azriel is indeed able to do that, his selection in itself was already a mistake. You see, the candidate needed to make a ruthless spirit was one that was already inherently bad in his human life. Azriel, was inherently good. A direct opposite of the prime candidate and perhaps it is that reason that we as a reader were getting mixed results.

4.       Penny pointed out and asked why did Anne’s characters need a scribe to tell their tale? The Vampire Lestat spoke directly to the reader and didn’t need a scribe up until his adventures in the 5^th Vampire chronicles. By then, Lestat, bound in chains needed David Talbot to transcribe his tale. But was it more “fashionable” to have one’s characters tell their story via a Scribe or does it have any purpose in lengthening and fleshing out the narrative in this manner?

5.       For someone regarded as a god, Marduk certainly didn’t fulfil his end of the bargain by being a friend to Azriel. In fact, he was at a loss once Azriel became a spirit and proved useless to him by not being able to give comfort or wisdom to his plight. Did Marduk come off as all-knowing because Azriel didn’t share the same “status” as his because he was “beneath” him, as he was human? And once made like him, the mystery is unveiled; the truth revealed? The deception complete?

This by the way, reminds me of the Nihilistic themes of Anne in her earlier Vampire works. Her protagonist Louis, in Interview With The Vampire, was on the search for his purpose because he didn’t understand what was his nature in being a Vampire. Akasha, the antagonist in Queen of the Damned, could find no meaning to her own purpose and sought to make one by proclaiming that the male species should be annihilated and only the females are to be glorified and put on a pedestal. Was Marduk, equally exhibiting signs of a Nihilist nature by being unable to provide sense and comfort to Azriel because he was only putting up a front. To paraphrase Louis in describing Lestat’s absence of guidance, He knew nothing because there was nothing to know.

6.       Like in her previous novels, our Anne has enjoyed writing and incorporating characters who have embraced their individuality or varied sexuality. Our favorite, Vampire Lestat was the first. And Azriel was no different as he felt no qualm in kissing his Master on the lips and loses himself to physical pleasure and abandon as he sleeps with Gregory Belkin’s wife, who already was dying from her ailment, just before she killed herself by jumping from the balcony of her Florida mansion. We wonder what fuelled Anne to add such textured but passionately written scenes into her works. Where does perhaps, carnality, lie in the essence of her writing?

7.       We also were wondering who was it really that called Azriel to New York. The novel purports that Azriel came into his own and learned not to depend on a Master to constitute himself as opposed to the given that whoever possesses the bones has the power and authority to summon Azriel from the golden bones.

Could it have been Esther herself, for she recognized him in the few moments just before her death as she was ambulanced out after her murder. But then again, Azriel knew that no one called him. He was just drawn to the scene to witness a cleverly and made-to-look casual killing of Gregory Belkin’s step daughter.

We thought about it and referenced an earlier incident wherein Zurvan unconsciously summoned Azriel during his sleep by just thinking of him when he didn’t even need him during that moment. Could it be that Azriel, by this time, and after 4 Masters in his current incarnation, have become so well tuned, that even the slightest thought or reference of him by anyone who knows of the lore of his making can instantly summon him without his knowing and thus led him to believe that he has done so by his own will and volition?

8.       The casting of an actor for the role of Azriel was also bandied and tossed about. We all agreed that the ideal person to play this if ever was Iranian actor, Oded Fehr. He was Zankou in the 6^th season of Charmed, was the leader of Guardians looking after the tomb in Imhotep in the first 2 Mummy movies of Brendan Fraser and was also in Resident Evil 2 and 3. He is also my ideal actor to play my favorite Marvel comic character, Dr. Strange. I know I am digressing but indulge me in this a bit.

9.       We also found that it was tragic that Azriel, for all his sacrifices and good intentions, has not been rewarded entry into Heaven. True that as Nathan was killed and he saw the similar stairway to Heaven which Rachel Belkin went up to, and he himself went on as it appeared, he was urged by Rachel to go back and inhabit Nathan’s dying body in order to stop Gregory. Azriel’s master, Zurvan, even urged him to see the “rationale” in this act even if it meant damning himself back into mortality and risk the possibility of not ever seeing the freedom again that he so relished in, as a spirit.

Could Anne have thought of a possible sequel and reworked her narrative to keep Azriel on Earth for another adventure back then? It certainly felt that his presence as a wanderer can lead to another story but then again, there was no guarantee of that. A door was potentially open. But unless one steps through it, it will always be ajar and not a true doorway that would certify its use to deliver a promise after having been crossed.

By the time we covered most points that got us enthralled, confused, laughing with cross references to other books, the restaurant started to close down, shut it lights and it was time to go home. And even though we were only a handful of members who attended all 3 of us still had fun and look forward to the next discussion, of which the next book we decided was the most unlikely of choices and yet one that would hopefully get more of the members talking and attending at the same time. It’s book 1 of Anne’s erotic trilogy, The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty.

Middle of a Vampire Trilogy - The Fall

                To say that reading The Fall would remind one of the movie 28 days and 28 days later but with a “Bite” is perhaps close to how reading the book would feel but of course any cinematic medium still can’t compare to the cinema of images and sound that runs and rules the mind when gripped by a good book. Such, for me, is this one.

                Following the events detailed in the first book, The Strain, its sequel, The Fall aptly titled, metaphorically works on different levels for the reader upon finishing the last chapter. When last seen our hero, (CDC) Center for Disease head, Ephraim Goodweather together with Jewish Pawnshop broker and Vampire expert, Abraham Setrakian, has just faced the Master and lived to tell the tale. Along with rat exterminator, Vasilly Fet, they have traced the Master’s lair to the tunnels underneath Ground Zero in New York, flushed him out and even wounding him after facing him head on following an attack on their home. But surviving that was just the beginning as The Master’s human partner in this pandemic crisis, billionaire cripple, Eldritch Palmer have begun to infiltrate people in government, and turned the tide against Ephraim and made him look like the bad guy for having uploaded a video of a Vampiric transformation and blamed him for the death of fellow CDC officer.  Apparently in wanting to warn the public and do good, he has done more harm.

                By the time the crisis was addressed by Congress, numerous raids by newly turned Vampires have begun in different neighbourhoods and being not warned, local enforcement officers have fallen both as prey and have become turned victims by the monster themselves. If this wasn’t enough, Ephraim had to deal with his wife being newly turned and is hunting them as they move from one sanctuary after another. One silver lining amidst all this was the revelation of The Ancients, a group of 6 Vampires who are opposed to what the Master is doing and have rescued Book 1 survivor, Gus and added him to their roster of exterminators and contracted humans to fight against the Master’s increasing forces.

                Like the first book, and in spite of the wait for its release, The Fall, succeeds in keeping the pace and twists of the storyline and even add more glimpses into some of the characters past like how Abraham and Eldritch Palmer have been rivals in the Vienna University, and it is rivalry that has characterized their relationship ever since. We also learn that being a survivor in a Nazi concentration camp, Setrakian’s commanding officer was currently the Master’s right hand man, Thomas Eichhorst. Add to that is the revelation and search for a mysterious book called the Occido Lumen, a silver lined tome that holds the key to the Vampiric origin and greatly desired by both the Master and Abraham himself. And you know how Silver is poisonous to Vampires. Well, in this book, that is.

                The title works for me on all levels as it refers to different beats in the story. On the surface, it does mean the fall of different key cities in the book like New York, Washington, Korea, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Paris and others as well as the fall of Man to these beings who clearly declare that they are at the top of the food chain by way of their actions. But in certain places, it also covers the fall of the Ancients themselves, by falling into hubris and not protecting their own ranks from the Master’s infiltration as well as Man’s own fall into the abyss of his own dark side and turning against his fellowmen when push comes to shove.

                (Spoiler)

                So clearly on all levels, the book is a good read for me in spite of some scenes that didn’t explain why some of the Ancients were just dropping down like flies and turning into a pile of white ash while Abraham was in conference to them when he brought them the book. Clearly it was the doing of the Master who by this time in the book we know was part of this Ancient Coven and was also the 7^th and the youngest member of the circle who rebelled and waged this war; this infection of the food supply in bitter protest against the Ancients who have not given him his due. But I would’ve wanted a clear insight as to how the Master was doing this. Or we left to assume that the silver-lined photo flash that Fet and Abraham rigged underneath the tunnels have been copied by the Master? (scratches head)

                With that said I hope that I have given this book its due and warrants enough interest for you to either pick it up or begin reading the book that began it all. Like Empire Strikes Back, Two Towers, our heroes are battered, bruised, pushed to hell and back but there is definitely still some fight left in them. Till then like you, I will be awaiting the 3^rd and final installment of this hi-tech vampire epic and like the Master and picking up on his own line, I look forward to “The Night Eternal”.

Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

Stephanie Meyer wrote in this book’s prologue that “no two writers go about things in exactly the same way. We all are inspired and motivated in different ways; we have our own reasons why some characters stay with us while others disappear into a backlog of neglected files.”
Now, if you have read Eclipse, 3rd book in her bestselling Twilight Saga, you would wonder why did she even bother to write about Bree as we all know her fate in the books. But as Meyer says, some characters just take on a life of its own; and vie for attention. I guess this is what happened to Bree. 

One would have to have read and be familiar with the saga in order to appreciate the novella. Lucky for me, National Glorietta had a major sale and I saw this novella on hardbound and scooped it up.
Basically this is a short retelling of Bree Tanner and how as part of the newly born vampires who fought the Cullens in Eclipse, she had to learn the hard way about truth, vampire politics and burgeoning attraction, if not love, by way of Diego.

Both Bree and Diego were part of a coven that Riley, another Vampire made by Cullen nemesis, Victoria, was breeding and training to be part of the group that is to attack Edward and his family. Victoria has an axe to grind with Edward as he killed her Vampire Boyfriend James in Twilight. 

Now, creating and deceiving Riley at the same time to breed an army for her to distract & dispose of the Cullens while focusing all her efforts on Edward and Bella was her plan all along. So, no need to tell Riley the truth and no need for Riley to give details about their “mission” for “her” to these newly born/made vampires and let them wait at her beckon call. Lucky for Diego and Bree, they found each other in all this, but sadly for these two, circumstances kept them apart and they found out about the lies a little too late.

Oh and which lies were these?

That Vampires like them will burn in direct exposure to sunlight. Wrong. They won’t for they will only be sparkling like, “disco balls”. That their Coven in Seattle is being threatened by the arrival of the Cullens who were originally from Seattle and they have come back to lay claim and ownership of their turf. Wrong. The Cullens are living a peaceful existence in Forks and have no knowledge of these newborns and have firsthand historical experience how unpredictable and untamed newborns are. That Victoria, who is unnamed to these newborns and only referred to as “her” or “Maker”, is devoted to the newborns welfare. Wrong, of course. She only wants revenge on Edward and on Bella. A eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. In this case, a mate for a mate; Bella for James.

I’m giving this a meager 3 stars. I liked it but felt Meyer could have done more with it. But perhaps, knowing how Bree’s life fared in the books, why give it your all? Why even bother to tell her tale when according to her it would be just in one of those hidden folders in her hard drive. Had she created another Vampire that lived to tell the tale with the Cullen skirmish and currently is going through their own Vampiric life, then perhaps that would have prompted her to dig a little deeper and paint a more fully envisioned tale; if not spun another one with a darker edge. But since she is writing for the young adult market, I suppose Meyer felt she should adhere to the parameters of that readership as well.

So, it’s a good thing I am an Anne Rice loyalist and that I am typing this review from my flat in Rue Royale close to Louis and Lestat’s while hearing Violetta’s waltz from La Traviata blaring from Julien Mayfair’s Victrolla as its being turned and wound up by Mona and Lasher up until the wee hours of the morning. 

Viva Lestat!

2nd Meeting - Anne Rice Philippines - March 25, 2006

And just when some thought it would not happen again, lo and behold, we
had our second meeting last Saturday at Powerbooks Megamall.
Admittedly, its been a long time coming, but as the old adage says, better late
than never.

First
off, I would like to thank those who went. I know how important most of
our Saturday nights are to each and every one of us, but you still came
and I’m so glad and thankful that you all were there. Those who were in
attendance were Pinky, my Rowan Mayfair for life; Boots, who missed out
the last time but whose enthusiasm for what we do is infectious as
always; Lynn, our Talamascan representative who
came in black and whose accessories stole the rest of the evening
(ehem!); Ruby Mae, who had to come after her curiosity was aroused
after much persuasion. She is also my colleague from “Echoes of the Heart”, the radio talk show I do every Saturday afternoon with our one and only Ms. World, Ms. Evangeline Pascual;
Eman, Boots’ friend and manager of Kenny Rogers Megamall; and a new
recruit named Letty, who along with her 11 year old son, Lester simply
sat in our area and didn’t think that a discussion was going on prior
to when we started.

Sadly
those who were not in attendance were missed namely Toby, Powerbooks
Megamall Book Club leader and facilitator, Babette and Marie, both dear
friends and fellow Powerbooks Book Club members. 3 members of
CharmedPinoy, Penny, Deks and Jo were also missed as they had their own
meeting to be at as well. Jonatz, a fellow Terry Brooks fan and finally
Beng, the sister of Boots responsible for our logo and hard at work
with our website too.

And
so we started as everyone was coming in and kicked off with the usual
introductions and updates. Ruby Mae, starting it by revealing that she
had to come and see for herself what transpires in Book Club
discussions like these. No doubt that after tonight, she would be
attending more and has become Anne-curious. Boots who was also a former
colleague from DWIZ, came with Eman and was so happy to be finally
attending.

She added that although her sister Beng, was absent from our gathering, she is nonetheless hard at work at our groups website. I just can’t wait.
In fact, she is also responsible for our “logo”. Before moving on to
Pinky who sat beside me, the turn fell to our new “recruit”, Letty.

She
was merely seated at our area to have a little reading time of her own
when our Vampire books laid for everyone to see on the low-rise center
table caught her attention; not to mention that we, beautiful Children
of the Millenia simply could not be anything but noticeable. Pardon my
indulgencies. If we don’t do that, then who better than ourselves lest
we wait for the promise of a compliment from others who cannot give it.
Ha, ha. Lestat speaking. Ah, Le Attention. Oui.

Little
did she know that she would be in for a treat and this automatically
warrants her invitation and eventual inclusion into our coven; the
mother of 1 and an entrepreneur at that. This just reminds me of the
other parent who initially joined us the last time we met. I would be
hard pressed not to think that meeting other people who just happen to
discover us is merely an accident. And at the risk of waxing a little bit of fatalism here, nothing is of course is an accident.
And after Pinky introduced herself as well, who happens to be a former
colleague of mine from the now defunct, SVI, we were well on our way.

To
say that what they discovered about the Lestat in this second helping
of the Chronicle as being different and not the abrasive, impetuous
vamp everyone got a taste of in Interview is an understatement.
Lestat in his own tell-all book, redeems himself to a point and sheds a
little more light into his own life before becoming a vampire as well
as a take on the mythology of vampires in Anne’s universe.

You see, Lestat was the son of a marquis in the French province of Auvergne.
His title doesn’t exclude him from certain accordance of respectability
and affluence but he certainly doesn’t feel that way. Reclusive and
always searching for the meaning of his own life, he displayed a
restlessness that was unchanneled and shelved. From his father’s
blatant disregard and prohibition of a proper education, to his
mother’s indifference and ironic display of voracious reading, Lestat
only had his dreams and the quest to find meaning in his dismal
existence to contend with.

This clearly marks the foundation of a certain degree of bitterness that we see in Interview.
His quest to find meaning finds him single handedly going out into the
woods and killing a pack of wolves that have been terrorizing the
village. His brave act earned him the nick, Wolfkiller and the
attention of Magnus, the degenerate Vampire who turned him and Nicholas
de Lenfrent; another marquis son and who would later be his lover and
friend and at the same time an antithesis to Lestat’s own positive
quest.

Lestat’s
quest has extracted consequences as he had to make decision after
decision. From both turning his mother and best friend Nicholas into
vampires after escaping to Paris to become an actor and be turned into
a vampire by Magnus; to meeting Armand, the auburn-haired vampire who
lives below the Paris catacombs, Les Innocents; to abandoning them both
in search of new mentor, an older Vampire named Marius who both sired
Armand and keeper of the 1^st vampires, the Mother and
Father. The book has successfully reworked the vampire mythos and its
subsequent stereotypes and simultaneously give us an origin that is
both supernatural and scientific; not to mention, original.

Most
of us in the group also agreed that Gabrielle, Lestat’s mother was not
a sympathetic character, as she would in her own way tease Lestat with
her books and yet lift not a finger to openly challenge his Father’s
ban for him to get a proper education. Ironically in the book she would
be seen reading to herself in her room or if not, foster his "street
smart” capabilities, and urging her own indulgencies through him or in
support of his very own.

What mother would deny her
own child the one thing that would make him happy and give resonance of
a meaning in his life? What parent would do that? Of course, this
brought rise to the prohibitions that our own parents imposed on us as
we were growing up; from urging us to take a different course at
school, to the restriction of certain types of people to be with and
befriend as well as to the imposing of certain living conditions as we
stay with them under the same roof.

Anne’s
take on Gabrielle was certainly a far cry from her own mother who
actually allowed her to have her own way as she grew up; from changing
her name to Anne from a previous masculine name of Howard, to just
writing and scribbling words and phrases on the wall with the use of
crayons as she ran around the house with her other siblings. Clearly,
Gabrielle would not have tolerated that.

But
more than tolerate his own mother did Lestat do. Rescuing her from
certain death as she was suffering from consumption, a fatal disease,
he turned her into an Immortal to be his longtime companion, after he
himself was made into one. She was ideally the perfect mate for him;
however she became mad and went on to travel the world, mingling with
tribes and living in the forests, and learning from nature what it can
about beauty and peace, in search of her own aesthetics.

Lestat’s
action of turning her mother can certainly be viewed as selfish in the
modern world and with our current and ever changing sense of norm and
values would still frown upon an affront display of self preservation
and blinded love and affection.

And because Lestat
was not given a choice by Magnus, his absentee maker when he turned him
into a vampire, our hero makes it a point to give his victims a choice
that he was never given; to either be an immortal or simply be fodder
for their folly, in short a victim to their never ending hunger.

And
certainly ‘twas the hunger for company, knowledge, and good
conversation that has brought this group together as we feasted on ensaymada and empanada
as our discussion, albeit short, flourished and detoured from issues of
Machiavellian and Nihilistic concepts that Anne has woven into her
works to outrage over the movie version of the Chronicles.

We
knew then as we know now that we are all still in for a further treat
as we plan for our next gathering next month where, the 3^rd book of the chronicle, Queen of the Damned will be the book in focus.

Till
then my fellow Immortals. Let’s keep the fire burning and alive by
properly taking stock of our own light. And may it shine for ourselves
to remind us who we are and who we can be but also a beacon for others
to take the same lead and affect others as positively as we know how;
the very same way how Anne was able to do that and more.