Christopher Rice Makes a Name for Himself with Amazing First Novel

By Jeff Walsh, Oasis Magazine. Posted December 5, 2000.

With A Density of Souls, Christopher Rice has sculpted an ambitious first novel that's deftly crafted with rich characters, an intriguing plot, and beautiful, articulate language. Unfortunately, most of the attention given to Rice in the media is due not to his creation, but to his creator: best-selling author Anne Rice.

Anne Rice, as you most likely know, is the author of Interview with a Vampire, and countless other supernatural thrillers, all of which topped the bestseller list upon their release. On a recent book tour through San Francisco, Rice spent nearly an hour talking candidly with Oasis about his famous mother, his sexuality, and his writing.

Rice is the first person to admit that he had no qualms about using his famous last name to get his manuscript read. "It helped in the beginning, because it's so hard to get attention for a first novel, that if you have a recognizable last name, it's an angle for people to play up," he says. "My attitude from the beginning was that if I felt I had finished something that was as good as I could make it and that I had the utmost confidence in, I had no ethical dilemma with having people regard me as Anne Rice's son and using that to get attention for the novel. I was always of the belief that if the book couldn't stand on its own, and wasn't good enough, that the sales would vaporize and all of the press would disappear. Luckily, that hasn't happened. The book has found a definite audience.

"So, the short and simple answer is that being Anne Rice's kid helps in the beginning and it can hurt when the book is released."

A Density of Souls is the sweeping tale of four friends whose lives change forever after one commits suicide. The story is set in the Garden District of New Orleans and one of the main characters, Stephen, is gay. Rice manages to keep this epic story flowing brilliantly, and creates a story that balances sexuality within the context of a larger tapestry of interesting characters and settings.

"The book is a psychosexual murder mystery... that's what I like to call it," Rice says. "People say it's two books in one, that it has this whole beginning high school section and then it flashes forward and turns into a murder mystery."

Rice then hesitates, takes a drag off his cigarette, and slides down in his chair. "I don't want to describe it. I feel like every time I've done it, I've done an injustice to the book. This is an author's least favorite question in the world, what is your book about? I want people to read it and tell me. I don't know what it's about, I just wrote it."

Be careful what you wish for... Rice is getting a decidedly mixed critical reaction to the book, which has become a New York Times Bestseller. "From the beginning, I was afraid that the critics would have their knives drawn, and I think they definitely did," Rice says. "But even the bad reviews of the book were surprisingly focused on the story and didn't turn into bitchsnaps about Anne Rice's son publishing a novel. There were a few reviews that were like that, and my response to them is that it was much easier to say that than to actually review the book."

Of course, Rice admits that he wasn't as thick-skinned when some of the first bad reviews hit. "The first couple bad ones I read were like train wrecks, and it would take me like a day to recover," he says. Rice has also noticed a difference between what critics are saying about the book and how actual readers are responding to it.

"There's been such a disparity between the customer reviews that get posted on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, which are mostly glowing, and the official reviews, that it's suspicious to me," he says. "There are books you know critics will not like, because there are parameters of what is acceptable. And I knew going into it that this book was over the top, fantastical and hyperbolic, and those are things that get you shot down by reviewers. But I don't think I read a single bad review that didn't at least say they found it compelling or intriguing. I remember a terrible review otherwise that called it an intriguing tale, and then going on to say nothing makes sense, and blah blah blah. But I would rather a bad review be really bad, because then at least I know I'd gotten under their skin. The worst fear would be to write something forgettable or plain."

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