Christopher Moore is the rare writer who can take what is normally a weighty topic (like, say, the life of Jesus Christ) and make it funny. And not the kind of funny where you lightly chuckle at the foibles that his characters get into; no, this is knee-slapping, watch-out-you-might-snort funny. A combination of brilliant satire, ridiculously implausible scenarios, supernatural characters, and Moore’s own particular brand of silly humor makes his stories some of the most amusing – and compelling – being told by an American author today.
Moore is the author of ten novels, which are beloved by critics and fans alike. He is perhaps best known for Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal, his 2002 novel that imagines the life of Jesus Christ through the eyes of his best friend.
Moore is also known for having a large and rabid fanbase; he even enlisted the help of fans while writing his upcoming novel, You Suck: A Love Story, to ensure that it would be a crowd-pleaser. He is also the recipient of two Quill Awards: the award for General Fiction for A Dirty Job in 2006, and the award for Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror for The Stupidest Angel in 2005. Moore also maintains the fan forum on his website, which is constantly active.
Moore’s next novel, You Suck: A Love Story, is a sequel to 1995’s Bloodsucking Fiends. The novel continues the love story of Jody, a vampire, and C. Thomas Flood (otherwise known as Tommy), her unwitting boyfriend who she has now successfully turned into a vampire. Aided by an uber-perky goth girl, the pair tries to find some measure of peace and sanity in San Francisco. Moore’s aptitude for storytelling keeps the story moving at lightning speed. It’s a talent that he uses in all of his novels.
In an e-mail interview with Moore, we discussed his views on religion, his fanbase, and his love for the supernatural.
R&T: Tell us a little bit about A Dirty Job. It deals with pretty heavy topics like death and single parenthood, but in your typical humorous fashion.
MOORE: Basically it’s the story of a guy who loses his wife and has to raise his baby daughter by himself, and incidentally gets the job of being death, which he runs out of his San Francisco second-hand store.
R&T: Was there anything in particular that inspired the novel?
MOORE: I was the caretaker for my mother when she was dying in 1999, then I was secondary caretaker for my girlfriend’s mother when she died a couple of years later. I thought I had something to say about the subject.
R&T: You have a penchant for taking “serious” topics (death, religion, etc.) and making them funny. Do you enjoy working with darker topics?
MOORE: Of course. It’s more of a challenge to work within those darker subjects with humor.
R&T: Do you find that humor is a good way of dealing with the more serious and painful stuff in life?
MOORE: It’s the only way I know to cope, really. It’s my default setting.
R&T: How do you feel about being pegged as a “humor writer”?
MOORE: I like it. I think it’s harder than writing straight prose and I hope I’m good at it.
R&T: Charlie Asher (the main character in A Dirty Job) has some pretty specific character traits – he’s timid, and a little neurotic. Other characters are also memorable for their tics and quirks. Are there aspects of your own personality in this character or any others?
MOORE: A little, but all the character traits are cranked up a little bit.
R&T: You also have supernatural beings or entities featured in your work – Death in A Dirty Job and vampires in Bloodsucking Fiends and You Suck: A Love Story come to mind. Is there any reason for this, or are they just fun to write about?
MOORE: I just get bored with the world as it is. I’ve tried to write books without supernatural elements, but a few chapters in I just have to make someone fly or feed something to a monster. Because, well, that’s much cooler than finding a parking space and other things that you have to do in reality.
R&T: A film version of A Dirty Job is also rumored to be in the works. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
MOORE: It’s just started. Chris Columbus and his company 1492 productions have optioned the book. I have great hopes for it, but I don’t think they’ve even started on a script yet.
R&T: Your books are incredibly thorough in their research (Lamb in particular comes to mind). What does the process involve for you?
MOORE: Well, in the case of Lamb, it involved three weeks in Israel and reading about 200 books. Generally I do a little field research, but most of it is reading.
R&T: Your next novel, You Suck: A Love Story, is a sequel to 1995’s Bloodsucking Fiends. What made you want to return to that story?
MOORE: I had always intended to do a sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends but the opportunity just hadn’t come up until now.
R&T: You return to characters from your previous novels fairly often. Any particular reason for bringing them into your newer stories?
MOORE: Because my readers like it and I like the idea that the world I create goes on when the books aren’t following it.
R&T: You do have a pretty fervent fan following. Does your interaction with your fans (through your message boards and things like Myspace or book signings) influence your work at all?
MOORE: Yes, it does. For my newest book, You Suck: A Love Story, I actually had a conference call with a book group in San Francisco who had just read my first vampire book and asked them what they’d like to see in a vampire story. Their input was very helpful. It was like doing a novel by request.
R&T: You’ve also won two Quill Awards for The Stupidest Angel and A Dirty Job. The awards are kind of like a reader’s choice for literature – how does winning twice make you feel?
MOORE: It makes me feel great. I have a great relationship with my readers and it’s very cool that they’d take the effort to vote for my books. It’s very gratifying.
R&T: Your books cover many different genres – horror, science fiction, and humor among them. Do you try to fit in with any particular genre, or do you prefer to have your work taken as something different entirely?
MOORE: Something completely different.
R&T: Generally speaking, what inspires your writing?
MOORE: Usually it’s just the opportunity to tell a great story. That’s often why I’m drawn to big themes like death or Jesus or evolution. Ideas and potential for creating funny material in the idea is what inspires me.
R&T: You often draw comparisons to Kurt Vonnegut and John Steinbeck. Are there any authors in particular that have inspired you?
Certainly those two guys. Steinbeck for his amazing, forgiving narrative voice and Vonnegut for his wild imagination.
R&T: You’ve said in previous interviews and blog posts that you’re a Buddhist. When I read this I thought of Lamb, and the section where Joshua and Biff travel throughout Asia and learn about Buddhism and Hinduism. Do your beliefs influence your writing at all?
MOORE: I think they do, in that I like to write with a sense of putting people in a moment, and that’s very important in Buddhism. It affects my craft more than it affects the theme or content of my work.
R&T: What is the writer’s life to you? Have you always been a writer?
I’ve been writing since I was about 12, but I didn’t make a living at it until I was in my early thirties. I did a lot of other things to make rent, but writing was usually in the back of my mind as what I wanted to be doing.
R&T: Have you ever experienced writer’s block?
MOORE: No. I’ve been stuck, but I don’t get writer’s block. That’s something amateurs get. When you make your living at it, you can’t get blocked. You have a job to do and you have to do what it takes to do it.
R&T: Are there any books in particular that you’ve been enjoying recently?
MOORE: I’ve been enjoying Mil Millington’s books a lot. He’s a Brit with a great sense of comic timing and comic turn of phrase.
R&T: What about other media outside of literature – are there any films or albums that you’ve particularly enjoyed this year?
I saw a comic version of King Lear performed at the Santa Cruz Shakespeare festival and it was terrific, and terrifically funny. As for good movies, I haven’t seen that many this year. Nothing comes to mind. I’ve been enjoying the new version of Dr. Who on the Sci-Fi channel, and I really liked the series Deadwood, which just ended in the spring.
R&T: What advice would you give to a new writer?
MOORE: Read a lot, and widely. Have fun with the craft, and never forget that if you can’t tell good stories, the rest is a waste of everyone’s time.
For more on Christopher Moore and his novels, check out his website.
Read a review of You Suck and other books reviewed by The Rose and Thorn at Roses and Thorns book review blog.
Amy Plitt is The Rose & Thorn's newest book editor. She is a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College in New York City, and has been published in Time Out New York and Time Out New York Kids magazine. She currently lives in Brooklyn with her fiancé and cat.
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