Christopher Rice

Last updated
Christopher Rice
BornChristopher Travis Rice
(1978-03-11) March 11, 1978 (age 45)
Berkeley, California, U.S.
OccupationAuthor
Education
GenreSuspense, crime, supernatural thriller, erotic romance, historical
Parents
Relatives Alice Borchardt (aunt)
Website
christopherricebooks.com

Christopher Travis Rice (born March 11, 1978) is an American author. Rice made his fiction debut in 2000 with the bestselling A Density of Souls, going on to write many more novels, including The Snow Garden, The Heavens Rise, The Vines, as well as the Burning Girl series. His work spans multiple genres, including suspense, crime, supernatural thriller, and erotic romance. [1] With his mother Anne Rice, he is the co-author of the historical-horror novels Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra and its sequel, Ramses the Damned: The Reign of Osiris. [2] [3]

Contents

Biography

Christopher Rice comes from a family of authors. His parents were renowned horror novelist Anne Rice and poet Stan Rice; [4] his aunt, Alice Borchardt, was a noted writer of fantasy and historical fiction. Rice had an older sister named Michele, who he never met as she died of leukemia in 1972 when she was five years old. Rice was born in the San Francisco Bay Area and spent the first ten years of his childhood in the Castro District. In an interview with The Advocate after the publication of his first novel, A Density of Souls, Rice describes the culture shock that resulted from his family's move to New Orleans when he was ten years old. "...being dropped in New Orleans, it was completely different. I went from a school in San Francisco where we called our lesbian teachers by their first names to this uptown, private elementary school where we all had to go to chapel in the morning." [5]

Rice has lived in New Orleans and is a 1996 graduate of the Isidore Newman School, which he attended during the same time period as future NFL stars Peyton Manning and Eli Manning. He has stated that while he was never physically threatened during high school, his knowledge of his own sexuality and his failure to play athletics made him feel like an outcast. Of this time in his life, Rice said, "I had money, had a nice car, was white. I could have fit in, but I knew I didn't belong. I knew I didn't share their dreams and ambitions and their values". These experiences ultimately inspired his first novel, A Density of Souls. Rice began visiting gay bars and clubs during his senior year of high school, but he did not come out to his parents until he met his first boyfriend. His father had no trouble accepting Rice's sexuality, but his mother believed he was bisexual based on the number of intimate relationships he had enjoyed with the opposite sex during high school. Rice went on to attend Brown University, an experience which inspired his second novel, The Snow Garden. At Brown, he was not cast in a single theatrical production his freshman year despite his extensive high school theater experience and his determination to be an actor. He transferred to Tisch School of the Arts where he completed a semester in their Dramatic Writing Program. He did not graduate from either school; instead, he moved to Los Angeles to explore writing screenplays. [6]

As of 2020, Rice lived in West Hollywood, California. [7]

Sexuality and its role in work

Rice is gay [8] and some of his works contain descriptions of contemporary American life for the gay male. When asked in 2002 about "being pegged a 'gay writer'", he replied:

That's not what I do. I might be more open to that label if I hadn't introduced ensemble casts of characters. Granted, A Density of Souls is as close to a gay book as you can get. It revolves around a character's homosexuality and others are described in terms of their reaction to the one character's sexuality. In that sense, it's at the core of the book. The Snow Garden is about identity. With this book, I'm trying to shrug off the term "gay" author. [9]

Nonetheless, Rice is proud of the reaction of the gay community to his writing, explaining "it was incredibly rewarding when I got a huge positive response from the character Stephen in A Density of Souls. More than a thousand young gay men contacted me and said that I captured what it was like for them going through those years. That means everything to me." [10]

Early Novels

In December 1998, Anne Rice had a medical crisis and nearly died when she fell into a diabetic coma. Her son Christopher wrote his first novel, A Density of Souls, upon returning home to New Orleans during her recuperation. Published the following year, Souls generated buzz in the gay and mainstream press, and became a New York Times Best Seller. [11] His second novel, The Snow Garden received a Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Men's Mystery. [12] For many years, Rice wrote a regular column for the LGBT-related biweekly news magazine The Advocate called "Coastal Disturbances," in which he discussed various topics. [13]

Supernatural Horror

Early in his career, Rice distinguished himself by saying that unlike his famous mother, he did not write horror novels, instead considering his books to be thrillers. However, as years went by, Rice became more comfortable experimenting in different genres, exploring his own version of the supernatural with works such as The Heavens Rise, published in 2013, and The Vines. Both of these novels met with critical acclaim, and each were nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel but lost to Dr. Sleep by Stephen King and Blood Kin by Steve Rasnic Tem, in their respective years. [14] [15] On the publication of The Heavens Rise in 2013, Rice told The Advocate magazine that part of his motivation for writing the novel came from a desire to tell a New Orleans-set story with a more sympathetic ensemble of characters than the one featured in his debut, A Density of Souls. "I said my first novel put the city through such hell, both figuratively and literally, at least certain neighborhoods. But honestly, what happened to me is that I grew up. And I saw my perspective on the city and some of its communities in A Density of Souls to be youthful and unforgiving. And I had a desire to back and write a kinder, gentler New Orleans story, which, because I'm a Rice, turned into a horror novel." [16]

The TDPS Network

In 2012, Rice launched a streaming Internet radio show called The Dinner Party Show [17] with Eric Shaw Quinn, his producing partner and co-host, who was known for having ghost written two books by celebrity Pamela Anderson and a 1992 novel about gay adoption called Say Uncle. The show describes itself as "the Internet's first live comedy variety show" and became known for its hard-hitting satire and celebrity interviews [18] Guests have included Patricia Cornwell, Dan Savage, transgender activist Chaz Bono and Tales of the City author Armistead Maupin. [19] In 2019, after placing the show on hiatus to begin development of The Vampire Chronicles television series, Rice and Quinn returned with a new podcast entitled TDPS Presents CHRISTOPHER & ERIC, which included a regular series focused on true crime television documentaries they called Christopher & Eric's True Crime TV Club. [20]

Erotic Romance

In 2014, Rice announced through his social media channels that he was scheduled to publish several works of erotic romance. The first of them, The Flame, was published in November 2014 as part of the 1,001 Dark Nights series. [21]

In 2021, Rice announced a new "acknowledged" pen name devoted to tales of romance between men, C. Travis Rice. Between 2021 and 2023, he published the first three novels in his Sapphire Cove series, SAPPHIRE SUNSET, SAPPHIRE SPRING and SAPPHIRE STORM. "After years of being pressured to convert my gay men into either a heroine's brother or best friend," he wrote, "Sapphire Cove became a place to tell the stories I'd always wanted to tell about the men I've loved." A fourth novel in the series, SAPPHIRE DAWN, is slated for publication in 2024. [22]

Collaborations with Anne Rice

On November 26, 2016, Anne Rice announced that the film and television rights to her entire Vampire Chronicles franchise had reverted to her after unsuccessful attempts to launch them as a film franchise with Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment. Her announcement included the detail that she and Christopher would be executive producers on a planned TV series based on the franchise. [23]

On February 28, 2017, the Rices announced their first novel written in collaboration, Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra . It was published on November 21, 2017. [24] [25] Of the collaboration with his mother, Christopher said, "I had to be taught how to write...scenes from an immortal's point of view in a way that fits with an Anne Rice book because immortals don't engage or interact with everyday ordinary stimuli the way we would. They have an absence of fear and an absence or reactivity, and that's something Mom really counseled me on." Anne would publicly state that Christopher was largely responsible for inventing the origin story for The Elixir of Life, first introduced in the first novel in the series and responsible for giving Ramses and Cleopatra their immortality. Anne would also reveal that Bektaten, an ancient African queen responsible for inventing the elixir, was almost entirely Christopher's invention. [26] Publishers Weekly called Ramses The Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra a "slick sequel" to The Mummy, noting that its "immortals gifted with virtual indestructibility scheme as nastily against one another as the similarly endowed characters in Anne Rice's celebrated Vampire Chronicles." The publication added, "In their first literary collaboration, the Rices, mother and son, configure these subplots into an entertaining soap opera replete with romantic alliances, betrayals, and ends left tantalizingly loose as grist for sequels."

In early 2020, Anne revealed she had sold the studio rights to both The Vampire Chronicles book series as well as her Lives of the Mayfair Witches series to AMC Studios, the home of such shows as The Walking Dead and Killing Eve , with her and Christopher as executive producers on all films and television series produced under the deal. [27] In a May 13, 2020 announcement of the deal Christopher Rice said, ""AMC Studios is responsible for creating some of the most iconic television series of the modern era and has, at times, single-handedly defined this era we call 'peak TV'. All the members of Team Anne, including my long-term producing partner, New York Times Bestselling novelist Eric Shaw Quinn, are both thrilled and comforted to know that some of our most cherished kin, from the vampire Lestat and the witch Rowan Mayfair, to the paranormal investigators at the Order of the Talamasca and the powerful spirit Lasher, are now safely in the hands of these vastly accomplished innovators who possess both global reach and deep reservoirs of experience." [28]

Bibliography

Early novels
Erotic romance (1,001 Dark Nights / The Desire Exchange series)
Collaborations with Anne Rice
The Burning Girl series
Recent and Upcoming Works
  • Decimate (2022)

Related Research Articles

<i>Interview with the Vampire</i> 1976 novel by Anne Rice

Interview with the Vampire is a gothic horror and vampire novel by American author Anne Rice, published in 1976. It was her debut novel. Based on a short story Rice wrote around 1968, the novel centers on vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac, who tells the story of his life to a reporter. Rice composed the novel shortly after the death of her young daughter Michelle, who served as an inspiration for the child-vampire character Claudia. Though initially the subject of mixed critical reception, the book was followed by many widely popular sequels, collectively known as The Vampire Chronicles. A film adaptation was released in 1994, starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, and a television series premiered in 2022. The novel has also been adapted as a comic three times.

<i>The Vampire Lestat</i> 1985 vampire novel by Anne Rice

The Vampire Lestat (1985) is a vampire novel by American writer Anne Rice, the second in her Vampire Chronicles, following Interview with the Vampire (1976). The story is told from the point of view of the vampire Lestat de Lioncourt as narrator, while Interview is narrated by Louis de Pointe du Lac. Several events in the two books appear to contradict each other, allowing the reader to decide which version of events they believe to be accurate.

<i>The Tale of the Body Thief</i> 1992 novel by Anne Rice

The Tale of the Body Thief is a vampire novel novel by American writer Anne Rice, the fourth in her The Vampire Chronicles series, following The Queen of the Damned (1988). Published in 1992, it continues the adventures of Lestat, specifically his efforts to regain his lost humanity during the late 20th century. Chapters from the book appeared in the October 1992 issue of Playboy.

<i>The Vampire Chronicles</i> Series of gothic horror novels by Anne Rice

The Vampire Chronicles is a series of gothic vampire novels and a media franchise, created by American writer Anne Rice, that revolves around the fictional character Lestat de Lioncourt, a French nobleman turned into a vampire in the 18th century.

<i>Blackwood Farm</i> 2002 novel by Anne Rice

Blackwood Farm is a 2002 vampire novel by American writer Anne Rice, the ninth book in her The Vampire Chronicles series. The novel includes some characters who cross over from Rice's Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy (1990–1994), continuing the unified story begun in Merrick (2000).

<i>Blood Canticle</i> 2003 novel by Anne Rice

Blood Canticle is a 2003 vampire novel by American writer Anne Rice, the tenth book in her The Vampire Chronicles series. The novel includes some characters who cross over from Rice's Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy (1990–1994), concluding the unified story begun in Merrick (2000) and continued in Blackwood Farm (2002).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lestat de Lioncourt</span> Fictional character created by Anne Rice

Lestat de Lioncourt is a fictional character from Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles novel series. Born in the late 1700s, Lestat is an immortal vampire and the antihero of the franchise.

<i>Lives of the Mayfair Witches</i> Series of supernatural horror novels by Anne Rice

Lives of the Mayfair Witches is a trilogy of supernatural horror/fantasy novels by American novelist Anne Rice. It centers on a family of witches whose fortunes have been guided for generations by a spirit named Lasher. The series began in 1990 with The Witching Hour, which was followed by the sequels Lasher (1993) and Taltos (1994). All three novels debuted at No. 2 on The New York Times Best Seller list.

The Talamasca, sometimes known as the Order of the Talamasca, is a fictional secret society featured in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles and Lives of the Mayfair Witches supernatural horror novel series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis de Pointe du Lac</span> Fictional character created by Anne Rice

Louis de Pointe du Lac is a fictional character in Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles series. He begins his life as a mortal man and later becomes a vampire. He is the protagonist who tells his story in Interview with the Vampire. He also features in The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned, The Tale of the Body Thief, Memnoch the Devil, The Vampire Armand, Merrick, Prince Lestat, Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis and Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat

<i>The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned</i>

The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned is a 1989 horror novel by American writer Anne Rice. Taking place during the early twentieth century, it follows the collision between a British archeologist's family and a resurrected mummy. The novel ends with the statement, "The Adventures of Ramses the Damned Shall Continue", and twenty-eight years later, Rice fulfilled this promise with Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra, written in collaboration with her son, novelist Christopher Rice. A third jointly-authored novel in this series, Ramses the Damned: The Reign of Osiris, was released on February 1, 2022, two months after Anne Rice's death.

<i>Interview with the Vampire</i> (film) 1994 film directed by Neil Jordan

Interview with the Vampire is a 1994 American gothic horror film directed by Neil Jordan, based on Anne Rice's 1976 novel of the same name, and starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. It focuses on Lestat (Cruise) and Louis (Pitt), beginning with Louis' transformation into a vampire by Lestat in 1791. The film chronicles their time together, and their turning of ten-year-old Claudia into a vampire. The narrative is framed by a present-day interview, in which Louis tells his story to a San Francisco reporter. The supporting cast features Antonio Banderas and Stephen Rea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Rice</span> American author (1941–2021)

Anne Rice was an American author of gothic fiction, erotic literature, and Christian literature. She was best known for her series of novels The Vampire Chronicles. The first book became the subject of a film adaptation—Interview with the Vampire (1994).

<i>Prince Lestat</i> Novel by Anne Rice

Prince Lestat is a novel by American writer Anne Rice, the eleventh in The Vampire Chronicles series, published on October 28, 2014. Rice had originally stated the novel Blood Canticle was meant to conclude the series, but in March 2014 she had announced a forthcoming novel that would be a sequel to the first five books and the start of a new series. She also announced via her personal Facebook that she had begun writing a follow-up novel to Prince Lestat, tentatively titled Blood Paradise, then retitled Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis.

<i>Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra</i>

Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra is a historical horror novel by American writers Anne Rice and her son Christopher Rice, published by Anchor Books on November 21, 2017. It a sequel to Anne Rice's 1989 novel The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned. A third jointly-authored novel in this series, Ramses the Damned: The Reign of Osiris, was released on February 1, 2022, two months after Anne Rice's death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Rice bibliography</span>

The following is a complete list of books published by Anne Rice, an American author of gothic fiction, Christian literature, and erotica. She has sold nearly 100 million copies. Rice has published 37 novels, including four under the pen name A.N. Roquelaure, two under the pen name Anne Rampling, two with her son, Christopher Rice, and one non-fiction book.

<i>Interview with the Vampire</i> (TV series) 2022 American gothic horror television series

Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, or simply Interview with the Vampire, is an American gothic horror television series created by Rolin Jones for AMC, based on the 1976 novel of the same name and elements from The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. The series begins with the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac recounting his past life and tumultuous relationship with his maker and lover, Lestat de Lioncourt. The series embraces the queer elements of Rice's work, which are only insinuated in the 1994 film adaptation of the novel, and deals with themes such as race and abuse. It is the first series set in the Immortal Universe, a shared universe based on Rice's novels.

<i>Mayfair Witches</i> 2023 American drama television series

Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches, or simply Mayfair Witches, is an American supernatural thriller drama television series created by Esta Spalding and Michelle Ashford, based on the novel trilogy Lives of the Mayfair Witches by Anne Rice. The series stars Alexandra Daddario as Rowan Fielding, Harry Hamlin as Cortland Mayfair, Tongayi Chirisa as Ciprien Grieve, and Jack Huston as Lasher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immortal Universe</span> Shared fictional universe and media franchise

Anne Rice's Immortal Universe is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on the 2020s AMC television series adaptations of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles and Lives of the Mayfair Witches supernatural horror novel series. The books, which originated with the 1976 novel Interview with the Vampire, follow vampires and witches in the ancient and modern world. The franchise includes two television series, Interview with the Vampire and Mayfair Witches. A third is in development, focused on the Talamasca, a secret society in Rice's novels who investigate the paranormal.

References

  1. ↑ "Christopher Rice". Goodreads. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  2. ↑ "Anne and Christopher Rice Announce Sequel to THE MUMMY: RAMSES THE DAMNED | Nerdist". Nerdist. 2017-02-28. Archived from the original on 2018-11-24. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  3. ↑ "Ramses the Damned: The Reign of Osiris by Anne Rice, Christopher Rice: 9781101970331 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books".
  4. ↑ "Christopher Rice leaves Anne Rice off list of '5 Scariest Reads for Halloween'".
  5. ↑ Kaczorowski, Craig. "Rice, Christopher (b. 1978)" (PDF). GLBTQ Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  6. ↑ Kaczorowski, Craig. "Rice, Christopher (b. 1978)" (PDF). GLBTQ Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Issue Number 948 - Death and rebirth - Advocate.com". February 26, 2006. Archived from the original on February 26, 2006.
  8. ↑ "Friends Like These" ~ The Advocate November 8, 2005. Archived.
  9. ↑ "Christopher Rice - Identity Theory". March 15, 2002.
  10. ↑ "Wordsmith Profile: Christopher Rice - Entertainment - The Empty Closet Archives". February 11, 2006. Archived from the original on February 11, 2006.
  11. ↑ Walsh, Jeff (December 4, 2000). "Christopher Rice Makes a Name for Himself with Amazing First Novel". AlterNet.
  12. ↑ "15th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". lambdaliterary.org. 10 July 2003. Retrieved October 31, 2020.
  13. ↑ "Author Christopher Rice". September 30, 2007. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007.
  14. ↑ "Bram Stoker Awards Nominee List - Horror Writers Association BlogHorror Writers Association Blog". 11 May 2014.
  15. ↑ Publications, Locus (10 May 2015). "Locus Online News » 2014 Bram Stoker Awards Winners".
  16. ↑ Scuglia, Ben (8 October 2013). "Christopher Rice Enters The Supernatural Realm". advocate.com.
  17. ↑ "A Fairy Home Companion With Christopher Rice and Eric Shaw Quinn" ~ The Advocate
  18. ↑ "A Fairy Home Companion With Christopher Rice and Eric Shaw Quinn". The Advocate. Feb 21, 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-02-23. Retrieved Oct 20, 2020.
  19. ↑ "Guests - The Dinner Party Show". thedinnerpartyshow.com.
  20. ↑ "The Dinner Party Show Podcasts". Archived from the original on 2020-06-18.
  21. ↑ "The Flame (Desire Exchange, #0.5)".
  22. ↑ Rice, Christopher (June 8, 2023). "Christopher Rice Recommends 9 LGBTQ Historical Fiction Titles". BookTrib.
  23. ↑ "Anne Rice Plotting 'The Vampire Chronicles' TV Series Adaptation". Entertainment Weekly . November 26, 2016.
  24. ↑ Moore, Debi (February 28, 2017). "Anne Rice and Christopher Rice Announce Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra". Dread Central . Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  25. ↑ Anne, Rice (February 28, 2017). "An important announcement" (Video). Facebook . Retrieved March 1, 2017.
  26. ↑ Fessier, Bruce. "Anne Rice Seeking 'Game of Thrones'-like home for 'Vampire Chronicles'". The Desert Sun. Retrieved October 31, 2020.
  27. ↑ Porter, Rick (May 13, 2020). "Anne Rice 'Vampire Chronicles' Lands At AMC". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved Oct 16, 2020.
  28. ↑ "AMC Networks Acquires Rights To The Iconic Works Of Anne Rice". amc.com.
  29. ↑ "Ramses the Damned: The Reign of Osiris by Anne Rice, Christopher Rice: 9781101970331 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books".
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