[MUSIC PLAYING]
ANNE RICE: Every prediction I have ever heard about the future of the novel has been wrong. Every single prediction I have ever heard has been wrong. People were saying back in the '50s that the novel was dead. They were saying in the '60s that it was dead. They were saying in the '70s that it was dead. It's never going to die. There are more novels being written and published today than ever before. And nothing is ever going to change that. And e-books aren't going to change it, and websites aren't going to can change it. I do think people are using all different kinds of media in this new age in which we live, where the internet is so powerful. And I, for example, really do enjoy having a website, and I enjoy all the emails I get from my readers. I enjoy going back and forth with them in the emails, answering their questions. I get, every day, you know, so many emails from readers, and I answer them all, if at all possible, no matter what they ask. And it's quite a range. The biggest problem for the novel, I think, all during the '60s, '70s, '80s, was finding the audience. I mean, often, novels were reviewed by people that were not part of the audience for the novel. They didn't tell you what the novel attempted. They didn't tell you what it accomplished. And they certainly didn't make any intelligent comment on the endeavour. But now, we have power over all those people. We have the power of the internet. We can publish all those responses. But the novel itself, that novel that they want to hold in their hands on the subway, or lie in bed and read at night, that is as popular as ever. It's more popular than ever. There are more novels out, there are more people reading than ever before. You go into little bitty towns in Texas, and you go into junk shops, and you'll find just stacks and stacks and stacks of all kinds of novels in there for sale for $0.50 or $1. I mean, people are reading everywhere in the country. And I look back on the '50s and '60s when they said television was going to kill the movies, and television and the movies were going to kill the novel. All these predictions were shortsighted. There's no telling what's going to happen. You know, every tool we get, like the computer, it helps us write better. It helps us do something better. The website helps us to reach our readers. It helps us to do better what we really want to do, which is to write stories, and stories with meaning, stories that will grab you by the throat, stories that will shake you up, stories you will never forget, stories maybe that'll change your life.