Christopher Rice's original calling card might have been his famous novelist mother, Anne Rice. But with three bestselling thrillers to his name, Rice has firmly established himself as a formidable talent. This month, he is poised to top the lists again with Blind Fall, a murder mystery about a Marine who avenges the death of his gay colleague. Here, Rice muses on the commonalities of straight Marines and gay men, his struggles as a writer, and why it's just fine to be Anne Rice's son.

Watch!: In Blind Fall, a Marine finds out that his murdered buddy, with whom he served in Iraq, was gay. How did you dream up that character?

Christoper Rice: I've known gay Marines since I moved from New Orleans to Los Angeles. One of the only positive things about the "don't ask, don't tell" policy is they stopped doing sweeps of gay bars, so I met them there. I started thinking, "What if the victim of a horrible gay bashing turned out to be a Marine and his best friend had no idea he was gay? How would he avenge the crime? And how would he relate to the boyfriend?"

W: Was it challenging for you to write from the point of view of a heterosexual Marine?

CR: It was definitely scary. What does a gay writer living in West Hollywood know about being a straight, battle-scarred Marine? Ultimately, a friend told me I was being a bigot in the other direction, acting like Marines were aliens, so I found commonalities. First, every gay guy starts off homophobic because he doesn't want to be gay. Also, both groups have a sense of being outsiders, both apart and superior to society. Then I researched the book for a year and a half, because this guy has to sound like a Marine. One wrong move, and I'll be getting 20 letters a day. Actually, I only hope I have that many readers.

W: Your first novel, A Density of Souls, was published when you were only 22 and went on to become a bestseller. So did your next two novels. Have you ever struggled as a writer?

CR: The second book, The Snow Garden, was so hard. It's like you've been waiting to write the first novel your whole life so it just spills out. The second one is the trial-by-fire where you either put up or shut up. And the third one, Light Before Day, had such an amazingly complicated conspiracy it was exhausting for me. I think with every book you realize how much you can't do.

W: Do you feel like you have more to prove as Anne Rice's son?

CR: It may be naïve of me but I've always hoped my work was distinctive enough to separate us. I don't engage in the same cosmic conversations that my mom is involved with in her books; I write more about every day realities. I still sometimes hear, "Oh, you waltzed into your first book deal because you're Anne Rice's son," and I say, "Yeah, that's right babe, but get some new material. It's four books later. I've shown up and done the work." Christopher Rice has three bestselling novels to his name.