Sure, But Can She Give Us Back the Hours of Our Lives?

Anne Rice is fed up with all you nay-sayers who think she's been coasting for years and years, so if you hated Blood Canticle, she'll personally refund your money. "And how glad I am," she adds, "that this book is the last one in a series that has invited your hateful and ugly responses."

As Judy Stoffman notes in her article, "Rice praises herself for the effort she puts into polishing her prose and reveals that she refuses to be edited." Which, frankly, explains a lot. I mean, let's face it, one of the best things that happened to Stephen King's career was the move to Scribner, where serious attention from editors resulted in some of his best work. If Anne Rice thinks she's too good for editing, well, my opinion as a reader is that she's been short-changing herself for about a decade. But if she's happy, and her publisher's happy, and disgruntled fans can get their money back, then I guess everything's jake. I just wonder if those of us who gave up on her years ago can get refunds for, say, Exit to Eden.