So, One Is Entirely Based on Fantasy, Whereas the Other . . .

An article by John B. Breslin in the April 17 edition of the U.S. Catholic magazine America contrasts the two different approaches to writing about Jesus adopted in two recent novels. Jesus: A Novel, by Walter Wangerin Jr., succeeds, Breslin says, largely because Wangerin has remained faithful to the contours of the Gospel genre, and also because he is an exceptional writer. In contrast, Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, by Anne Rice, is necessarily largely fabrication, due to the miniscule amount of New Testament material. There are some powerful passages in Rice's novel, he points out, but 90 percent of it has no basis whatsoever in the Gospels and can therefore only be called fantasy.

Hmm. I believe J.G. Ballard doesn't like excessive accuracy and attention to detail in novel writing either.