Fear Itself

by Stan Rice

"In his new collection of poetry, Rice is an expert practitioner of the paranoiac-surreal . . . . His true subject is the uneasy equation between horror and beauty, the 'liquification of flame' and the 'liquid of order.' He is often capable of delivering the instructive surprises of the best poetry."

--Graham Christian, Library Journal

Genres: Poetry

112 pages, Paperback

First published November 28, 1995

About the author

Stan Rice was an American poet and artist and husband of writer Anne Rice (married 1961). He was a Professor of English and Creative Writing at San Francisco State University and retired as Chairman of the Creative Writing Department in 1989. Stan Rice died from brain cancer and was survived by his wife, novelist Anne Rice and son, author Christopher Rice.

It was the death of the couple's first child, daughter Michele (1966-1972), at age six of leukemia, which sparked Stan Rice's becoming a published author. His first book of poems, based on her illness and death, was titled Some Lamb, and was published in 1975. He encouraged his wife to quit her work as a waitress, cook and theater usher in order to devote herself full time to her writing.

Both encouraged their son, Christopher, to write as well.

He is entombed in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.

Reviews

[Steven Foley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certainly a great collection of poetry. This is the first collection, or anything I have ever read by Stan Rice. I picked up this first edition copy at Dauphine Street Books last year. Upon opening it, someone had clipped Stan's obituary and placed it in the book. It was a morbid, but pleasant surprise...kind of like his poetry...he certainly was vocal about his sexuality.

[Kylie Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. The imagery felt forced and overly complicated and I didn't conect to the themes as they felt muddled and unfocused.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic. Stan Rice is an excellent and underrated poet. I love that he paints too. I'm going to try to read everything this man has written.

[SmarterLilac · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really think poor Mr. Rice got a bad rap from being in the shadow of his more commercially successful spouse. These are perfectly excellent poems.

[Alan Catlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stan is the Man!