The Authors Speak: Christopher Moore

Christopher Moore has a worldwide posse of fans that go by the endearing moniker Moorons.  I guess you know you've got your cult following secure when you've got a name for your fans.  One day, I'm sure, it'll all come to a head and these groups will war for supremacy.  (Can't you just picture the Moorons taking the field of battle against the Parrotheads?  Pretty righteous!)  But for now, peace ensues.

Christopher Moore burst onto the scene with Practical Demonkeeping, introducing the world to his fictitious town of Pine Cove, California.  To read this fast-paced romp (featuring everything from diminutive djinns to potentially Terminator-esque bar wenches) you knew you had stumbled upon something pretty wild.  The humor was grand, the characters endearing, and the action solid.  It was going to be interesting to see where Mr. Moore ended up.  I think I'm not alone when I say: "Nobody has been disappointed."

Practical Demonkeeping was followed by the Indian folklore comedy (and one of my particular favorites), Coyote Blue: A Novel.  And "Coyote Blue" was followed by the vampire comedy (that has now produced two sequels), Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story.  Both of these were very different, displaying Moore's talent at balancing between fluffy and dark.  Coyote Blue, while hilarious, played more on soul searching, metaphysics, and regret.  "Bloodsucking Fiends" played around with vamps in San Francisco and turkey bowling.

The hits just kept on coming.  My favorite book, by far, of Christopher Moore's hit next: Island of the Sequined Love Nun.  "Love Nun", while not evidenced in the title, dealt with organ trafficking (and Hamlet), and introduced the world to the one-and-only Tucker Case. 

(Besides being my favorite Moore book, this is also my favorite cover art from the Moore collection)

He took us back to Pine Cove, CA, in The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, which also warned of us that one of the most costly side-effects prescription drug playing is not erectile dysfunction!  And then came Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal.  I probably don't need to go much further than this.  It was after "Lamb" was released that I began to hear more people referencing Mr. Moore's work.  "Oh yeah, I've read that book!"  Yeah?  You have?  'Cause the man's been writing for a decade!  I wasn't really that bitter.

If you fell into Mooron status after "Lamb", you're well aware that Chris took his game to the next level - the highly researched, yet sublimely fantastical Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings (Today Show Book Club #25); the book that brought us some of our favorite characters and told us why Christmas tales needed zombies, The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror; the San Francisco death comedy, A Dirty Job: A Novel; the first sequel to "Bloodsucking Fiends", as well as a cautionary tale for anyone contemplating hiring a blue escort, You Suck: A Love Story; a retelling of King Lear through the eyes of the fool, Fool: A Novel; and, most recently, the Abby Normal yarn, and second sequel to "Fiends", Bite Me: A Love Story.


Moore has been translated into more languages than even exist (seriously, Scientologists have even tried to translate him into their crazy alien tongue), his books have all been optioned for film, and he even has a kick-ass online shop (Shop Fruitbat: http://www.cafepress.com/shopfruitbat).  And, Moore still plays like a child.  If you've ever had a chance to meet the man, you know that you're in for a good time.  The world is most certainly his oyster.

I didn't get too serious with Chris.  I know he and I share a fondness for zombies, so that seemed like a natural starting point.  We chat about zombies, vampires, Stephanie Meyers (I'm trending here, folks), and his latest book "Bite Me".

Eric Mays: Chris, thanks for talking with us. I truly appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule. You just released “Bite Me: A Love Story” which is a sequel to “You Suck: A Love Story”, which is a sequel to “Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story”. I realize that these are vampire books, but do you have some issues with love that you’d care to share?



Christopher Moore: While I really liked writing vampire stories as a kid, and I had written vampire stories early in my career (earlier enough that they weren’t published. I didn’t think I’d actually write a vampire novel. That decision came from an editor, who picked up a throw-away idea for a vampire book from among a bunch of ideas I submitted as possible second books on a contract. When I wrote Fiends in 1994, and it was such great fun to write, I thought I might do it again, but I didn’t think it would take me 12 years before I’d get to the second one.

EM: The vampire genre seems to be all the rage right now. Is this a sub-genre that is looking at potentially caving in on itself?


CM: These things go in waves. I’m not sure what drives them. Strangely, I think that the current wave in vampire popularity was sort of driven by the Harry Potter saga coming to a close. I mean, after you finish reading something you really enjoy, you want to be engaged by something else that entertains. I think Stephanie Meyers’ books struck a chord with teens just at the right time. We may be due for a down-turn in the popularity of vampires, but they aren’t going to go away.

EM: Interestingly enough, zombies are pretty hot as well. Wait, zombies are undead and vampires are undead. Why is it, then, that you’re dealing with two undead entities (both darlings of pop culture) and they look so different? One is a rotting corpse the other is a corpse dolled up like Robert Smith.


CM: I don’t tend to be very analytical about things like this, but I’ll give a shot at comparing and contrasting: I think that zombies appeal in the way that any post-apocalyptic fantasy appeals. It’s you against the world, and you are the only one with a personality. It’s you, your shotgun, and cargo pants full of ammo, against a world of mindless meat puppets who want to do nothing but feed on your brain. A pretty good metaphor for modern life, really.


As for vampires, they are sexy superheroes who don’t like the light. And they can turn you into a super-hero too. There’s no use resisting them, they are too strong and too charming and just way too cool for you to defeat. That’s sort of where they become boring – when they are defanged as monsters and made into an extension of club life. I may have some complicity in encutening (it could be a word) the vampire. But in my defense – never mind, there’s no excuse. I ruined vampires for everyone.

EM: You’re on record as saying everything would be better with zombies, right? Would zombies be better for America?


CM: Sure, we could all be united against one enemy, mostly made up entirely of our dead relatives. Nothing brings people together like a common enemy. Plus, it would be okay to carry a chainsaw to the pharmacy and people would be like, “Sweet chainsaw,” and you’d be like, “Thanks, I got it at Urban Outfitters. It plays MP3s, too.”

EM: What movie would have been made better with the addition of zombies?

CM: “Ordinary People”. Without a doubt. I hate that movie. The entire cast (the characters, not the actors) should be locked in a room and left there until they eat each other’s brains, then the last one standing should be run over with an International Harvester combine. (Maybe a John Deere, I’m not that picky about who builds the combine.)

(An awesome limited edition of "You Suck", complete with fangs!)

EM: Back to the book, and sorry for the distraction…In “Bite Me” you toy around with Chinese remedies in dealing with vampiric beings. Oddly enough, I had the pleasure of reading an upcoming book, “Hunting the Moon Tribe” (by David Agranoff), which deals with vampires and Chinese culture. Did you find some groovy connection between the Chinese people and vampires?

CM: No, not really. I mean there are Chinese legends about vampire cats, and I drew a little on that, but most of the Chinese culture I put in my books is a function of geography, since my San Francisco books are set in the north end of the city and that’s where Chinatown is.

EM: Many of your books have appearances by recurring characters – The Pine Cove cast, the San Francisco cast, etc. But you brought a character back from “Fluke” into your version of San Francisco. What compelled you to revisit Kona? Was it his time again? Or did you just want to write in pidgin?

CM: Sometimes I bring back characters by request, and I had a lot of e-mails requesting Kona’s return. Since I didn’t plans for another Hawaii book in the near future, and I needed someone to pilot the vampire ship, it seemed like it would be fun to give Kona a captain’s license and bring him into this book.

EM: Are you really the Emperor of San Francisco? Is this your alter ego when you revisit a San Francisco novel?

CM: No, not so much. The Emperor is based on Emperor Norton, a real historical figure from history – a homeless guy who declared himself emperor of San Francisco and protector of Mexico. Characters based on Emperor Norton also appear in Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stephenson’s work.

EM: Time for the obligatory: Team Jacob or Team Edward?

CM: I’m sort of not in that loop. I don’t even know who Jacob is.

EM: I hear the next project is another historical piece, correct? Are we going to see more jokes at the French’s expense?

CM: Oh, I think you can pretty-much count on it. But then, everyone in the book is French, so someone has to take a hit.

EM: Thanks, Chris!

For more Christopher Moore fun, check out this video from the tour of "You Suck" (he chats about B-movies): http://www.bordersmedia.com/liveat01/moore.  Also, if you've never visited the website of the author, please stop by http://www.chrismoore.com/, where you'll see very interactive message board, archives (lots of great stuff there), and news.  If you're reading this interview and you've never read a Moore book, then you need to go to the local library and get one, stat.  That, or place your head in a microwave (I'm joking.  The Authors Speak does not condone microwavism). 

Join us tomorrow when we prep for a very cool promotion.  Have you read the zom-com "Breathers"?  Well, if you have, you'll know what I'm talking about.  S.G. Browne will join us soon, but to prep for that, we've got some cool swag, direct from the author.

Also, next week on the Authors Speak we'll shine the Spotlight on Andy Peters, Interview with a Vampirologist, and welcome Mario Acevedo to the Authors Speak. 

Until then, keep reading.