I recently read Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice. While it’s been long proven that the book is a classic, the novel delves into the relationships between creator and created, similar to Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. In Rice’s world, vampires are disconnected from the fear of death, and therefore, the fear of God (or the Devil for that matter). Without this such fear, modern morality disintegrates; her vampires are often amoral, with little care for human life. They are already immortal and have no need for promises of eternity. Her main character, Louis (played by Brad Pitt in the film), is at odds with these beliefs, being the only vampire with a ‘conscience’.

Rice has since renounced the vampires and witches, and rejoined the Catholic faith, dedicating all future writing to God. Her choice poses an interesting question: what responsibility do Christians have to write about religious things? And can religious people still write about the supernatural and the occult without being branded a ‘heretic’ or compromising their faith?

The fact is, that the Bible contains both good and evil – to deny one would be to deny all. Most religions are about the supernatural coming to earth and interacting with humans, whether it be the angel speaking to Muhammad or the resurrection of the son of God. In fact, most supernatural creatures in modern fantasy and horror have developed from religious texts; parts of the Bible and Torah contain giants, leviathans, fortune telling stones and even talking donkeys (no ogres though).

Well known fantasy author CS Lewis, was another reluctant convert to Christianity, however used fantasy as an expression of his faith. The Narnia series is a thinly veiled recreation of the main narratives of the Bible, going from creation (The Magician’s Nephew) to Armageddon (The Last Battle). In modern science fiction, Philip K. Dick expressed his beliefs about the Tao in The Man in the High Castle, as did Ursula K. LeGuin in many of her works, despite remaining steadfastly atheist. More recently, the Indian author, Ashok K. Banker has retold the Ramayana in contemporary English. Many of the western fantasy concepts have been replaced with Indian equivalents; magic is now the power of the Brahmin and the monsters are fascinatingly original, drawn from Hindu mythology.

While faith is an ever personal question to an author, religion often provides the mythological background for many fantastic stories. I personally don’t believe it’s wrong for a Christian to write about vampires; Rice’s book certainly wasn’t heretical, it actually raised questions that we face in our search for meaning.

I’d be interested to hear what others think about this topic.