Anne Rice has been teasing fans of her creation, the vampire Lestat, asking them on Facebook, "If you want Lestat to come back, can you tell me why in one sentence?", and provoking a frenzy of excitement. I'm not, other than in the case of Interview with the Vampire, a reader of the Vampire Chronicles, but many, many are – and obsessively so, at least judging by the 8,000-plus comments on Rice's Facebook page.
"Because he is far too spectacular to not introduce to the new generation," writes one fan. "To remind Stephenie Meyer and her legion of idiot fans how vampires should be done," says another. And, rather poignantly, "So that this disgusting world has some light return to it."
No word yet as to whether the outpouring of love will prompt Rice to return to the world of Lestat, and what she'd do with him if she did. I'm loathe to mention JK Rowling, because I am thoroughly Casual Vacancy-ied out, but she did a similar thing to her equally die-hard fans yesterday, telling them that there was a possibility she might go back to Harry Potter at some unspecified point in the future.
I, meanwhile, am still reeling from my return to the world of Colin, the child protagonist of Alan Garner's The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath novels, in Boneland. Very much a book for adults, Boneland is bemusing and brilliant – like Ursula Le Guin, I'm still not quite sure I've worked out what was going on. It's a discombobulating, disturbing experience, going back to a character you'd adored as a child to see them as a thoroughly damaged adult, and I don't believe anyone other than Garner would have taken the route he does.
But anyway, attempts to get to the bottom of Boneland aside, are there any beloved characters you'd like to see return to the page? I'm not suggesting we take up Annie Wilkes-style campaigns to bring them back, but perhaps a gentle groundswell of opinion might help ...
I'm going to start the ball rolling with an appeal for Philip Pullman to get a move on and finish The Book of Dust because, well, Lyra is just so very excellent. What about you?
