I’ve never, ever read a work by Anne Rice. As someone prone to “moods” (read: depression), I am far too suggestable to read certain genres of literature. I’ve made a serious point of avoiding the work of Rice, Stephen King, and other wildly popular writers whose characters fall into the demonic or the psychotic.

So it was with great shock and delight I found a news link that says Anne Rice is about to publish her first religious novel. Out of Egypt is a fictionalized/speculative account of the life of Christ as a young boy, and it is said to reflect Rice’s return to the Catholic Church.

According to MSNBC, a series of deep personal crises — including the death of her husband of more than 40 years and her own serious illnesses — has led Rice to rediscover a deeply-rooted Catholic faith of her childhood. She expects an outpouring of outrage from her long-time fans of the vampire and “soft-core S&M” novels she’s written for decades —

I, for one, applaud the change and eagerly await the opportunity to read my first novel by Anne Rice. May God bless her and direct all her steps!