Rice, Anne

It is the beginning of December. Oak fires are burning in the stately flickering hearths of Nideck Point. It is Yuletide. For Reuben Golding, now infused with the wolf gift and under the loving tutelage of the Morphenkinder, this Christmas promises to be like no other . . . as he soon becomes aware that the Morphenkinder, steeped in their own rituals, are also celebrating the Midwinter Yuletide festival deep within Nideck forest. From out of the shadows of the exquisite mansion comes a ghost - tormented, imploring, unable to speak yet able to embrace and desire with desperate affection . . . As Reuben finds himself caught up with the passions and yearnings of this spectral presence and the preparations for the Nideck town Christmas reach a fever pitch, astonishing secrets are revealed, secrets that tell of a strange netherworld, of spirits - centuries old - who possess their own fantastical ancient histories and taunt with their dark, magical powers.

Collects Anne Rice's "Pandora," in which an ancient vampire shares her experiences since her days as one of the living during the time of Christ before being changed into the undead; and "Vittorio, the Vampire," in which a five-hundred-year-old vampire relates how he was seduced, at the age of sixteen, by Ursula, a supernatural creature who saved him from being killed.

Anne Rice reflects on her life, focusing on her religious transitions which went from Catholicism to atheism and back to Catholicism, but also discussing her childhood, years in Berkeley, writing career, family, and other related topics.

Azriel, Servant of the Bones, tells the story of how he was transformed from a young Jewish scholar in ancient Babylon into a spirit that is neither demon nor angel, but subservient to whoever possesses his mortal remains. His saga climaxes in present-day New York when, for the first time ever, he appears without being summoned and witnesses the murder of a girl who knows what he is.

Dramatizes Jesus' life from his last winter before his baptism in the Jordan River to his turning water into wine at a wedding feast in Cana.

The death of Triana's husband marks the beginning of her haunting by the tormented spirit Stefan, a Russian nobleman who died for his music. He gives his stradivarius violin and the gift of his talent to Triana, but she is unaware of the price she must pay for music she loves.