April 19, 2008
Rices linked by blood and words

Mom and son writing, but on different themes

By MARCO R. DELLA CAVA
Gannett News Service

Streets named for Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope. Hundreds of lush golf courses. Brilliant sunshine blasting through a cloudless sky. This is no country for Anne Rice.

Or so you'd think.

In truth, the onetime literary queen of darkness and mother to the vampire Lestat ("Interview With the Vampire") adores her new home here, where she moved two years ago after a lifetime in New Orleans and one too-chilly year in coastal San Diego. This tamed desert retiree retreat reminds her of God's country.

"I look out and immediately think of the Jordan Valley in Israel," says Rice, 66, her petite frame swallowed by an oversized sofa. "I instantly felt at home here. And it's nice to be closer to him."

By "him" she doesn't mean a higher power but her only child, Christopher, 29, who smiles as he sips a Diet Coke at the end of the couch.

These are good times for the writing Rices. Although still sorely missing their patriarch - poet and painter Stan Rice died of a brain tumor in 2002, and his image and works line the house - mother and son are releasing new and wildly different novels.

Anne Rice's "Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana "(Knopf, $25.95) is the second of four planned works chronicling the life of Jesus Christ, intriguingly told from the protagonist's point of view. The series is the result of a church-pew epiphany in 2002 when Rice decided "all my future work would be dedicated to the Lord."

By contrast, Christopher Rice's "Blind Fall" (Scribner, $26) is a story of murder and gay love among Marines shattered by the Iraq war. Rice, who has been out for a decade, says his mission is to "weave gay themes and characters into universal stories."

In fact, his protagonist is straight.

Christopher's attempt to bridge both worlds is well-timed given that "younger gay people increasingly see less of a distinction between gay and straight," says Aaron Hicklin, editor of "Out "magazine.

Hicklin says Rice "is not seen as someone riding his mother's coattails, but as a writer who's really struck out on his own."

Different writing routines

On a winter day that is channeling summer, both Rices open up about their writing and relationship, about politics and religion. They laugh about how Anne, who famously used to write all through the night, slowly has taken to Christopher's afternoon routine.

And about how despite her temptation to weigh in on her son's work, Christopher has a rule: No reading his stuff until it's finished.

When Anne does read it, she's impressed. "He writes so well about the people and places that surround him, which I can't do," she says. "I have always been about going away to another time and place."

The surroundings Christopher had to explore for "Blind Fall," his fourth book, included gatherings of Marines, an experience he walked into with some trepidation. "I wasn't quite sure how that whole world would relate to a gay writer," he says.

In a rare move, he decided to take advantage of his celebrated name.

"It turns out Anne Rice is very popular with military men and women, because they're all such big readers," he says. "So let's just say when I mentioned who I was, the Marines I met were eager to talk."

Getting into the military head of his main character, John Houck, proved more difficult than getting into the mind of a heterosexual.

"Forget writing straight, writing Marine was like learning a whole other language. What was great, though, was finding that attitudes among Marines (about homosexuality) were really generational. The young guys don't have an issue. It's the higher-ups, the generals, that often have the problem."

Mom's personality

While Christopher is no wallflower, he often cedes the floor in his mother's presence. Rice's outsized persona precedes her. Her frank nature - whether weighing in on Mel Gibson, Barack Obama or the possibility of another Lestat book - defines her.

Asked whether his beach-fare novels deliberately skew pop in contrast to his mother's explorations of the soul, Christopher tosses a boyish blond head back and lets out an are-you-kidding-me laugh.

"She has created her own mythology," he says. "There's no following in those footsteps. So I keep my work a lot smaller and more focused. I would go insane comparing myself to her."

For her part, Anne says some vampire-book fans continue to e-mail, asking if her return to the church isn't downright loony.

Her response is calm and measured. She was a practicing Catholic until she started drifting away in her late teens; Stan, an atheist, was an influence. When a daughter, Michele, died in 1972 at age 5 of leukemia, Rice conjured up Lestat out of her grief.

"In the vampire books I was writing about lost souls looking for answers, so in a sense I was always on this journey back," she says, looking like a younger Joan Didion with her shoulder-length hair, pressed black skirt and red turtleneck. A large gold cross hangs from her neck, symbol of the faith she returned to about 10 years ago.

"I do get people saying, "How can you be such a fool to believe in God?' I sense many are young Goth kids who feel abandoned. I just say, look, you're looking for the same things that I was, transcendence and redemption. I found what my characters were looking for."

Ellie