Blast from the Past: Loaded Questions with Christopher Moore, author of "You Suck: A Love Story"

I love Christopher Moore. The moment I picked up his novel Lamb, a novel that follows around Biff, the thirteenth apostle and Jesus' favorite childhood pal. I routinely recommend it as one of the funniest books that I have ever read. I have an admittedly embarrassing confession that I couldn't bear to tell Christopher that last time I interviewed him. Four years ago while shopping at a bookstore I lucked upon Christopher Moore, he was doing an event later at
another bookstore but had stopped by the store I was at, as is customary, to sign all of the copies that were on hand. Not only did I purchase everyone of his books (signed, they were signed to me!) I also told him this funny scene I had imagined would have fit very well in the plot of Lamb. Now, I have seen a good many perfectly capable, eloquent and wise individuals meet their idols (movie stars, musicians and authors) and immediately turn into a blathering ninny. Blindsided by the sheer luck of arriving at an unpublicized appearance by one of my favorite authors and convinced I could make him laugh, I attempted to tell my story. The words ... well, the words got out of my mouth but once I had finished Christopher was simply starring at me in a kind yet bewildered (maybe not bewildered, maybe just puzzled ...) way that implied that I had most certainly not been funny.

Flash forward two years to 2006 and the interview below in which I got a chance, more composed, to talk with Christopher Moore again. I tried to keep my gushing to a minimum but I am not sure that I succeeded. After we had emailed several times back and forth and were done with the email I thought about telling him about our brief and strange encounter - sure that he would not remember because it hadn't been *that* terrible. I envisioned the bewildered -- er, puzzled look on his face, however, and pledged not to risk doing it again.

I just read some news of the next book by Christopher Moore, titled Fool: A Novel which is set to be released in February of 2009.

Below is my 2006 interview with Christopher Moore. Do enjoy.


K Hewitt: Your newest book A Dirty Job has been nominated for the Quill Awards (the nomination came in 2006, which it won for best General Fiction!) . Ive already voted for you and promise to use what little sway I have with friends and family to get them to vote as well. What I want to know is whether or not you have an acceptance speech ready.

Christopher Moore: No, actually I won a Quill award last year (for The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror in the Sci-fi/Fantasy/Horror category) and my publisher, Lisa Gallagher accepted the award. If I win this year, I'm sure she'll accept it again. I'll be in England researching a new book.

Kelly: Maya Angelou is also nominated for a Quill this year for her newest book of poetry. One of your books Fluke: Or I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings is kind of a play on her well known I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Are you nervous about seeing her at the Quill Awards ceremony? Is there a Quill Awards ceremony?

Christopher: Maya is the shit. We would so hit it off. Like I said, I'll be in England, but I'd love to meet Maya.

Kelly: If the two of you hug and make up do you promise to send a copy of the photo to Loaded Questions so that we can run an exclusive story?

Christopher: You betcha.

Kelly: According to our friends over at Wikipedia, your books are considered "absurdist fiction" how do you feel about that?

Christopher: I feel that Wikipedia is considered almost a legitimate reference source. No, actually, that's as good a description of what I do as anything.

Kelly: Plug time. Would you like to share a few words with Loaded Questions readers about your next book?

Christopher: My next book, YOU SUCK: A Love Story, is a tender love story that illustrates the difficulties a young, urban couple encounters while trying to deal with the complications of being vampires, and how they are able to avoid the forces of the law, the light, a bunch of frozen turkey bowlers. It's like Romeo and Julliet, except there's less sword fighting and more people doing the nasty.

Kelly: Okay, how about a hypothetical? Your agent has booked you for a literary festival. Upon your arrival you learn that you're entered in a three-legged author race. You have two options for a parnter: Gore Vidal or Norman Mailer. Who do you choose? (In my defense and Christopher's Norman Mailer was alive and well, walking with two canes in 2006. He has since passed away, making the question a bit easier.)

Christopher: Oh come on, can I get someone that isn't 90 years old!!!? That's all I need is to be tied to someone who probably won't survive the first fifty yards.

KH: What are some of the books, music and movies that load down the shelves of Christopher Moore?

CM: I've got a new book by Nicole Galland, who writes cool historical novels. I have a new book by Matt Ruff, that won't come out to the public for a while. I have a bunch of my own books in British edtions, which they just sent me, and I have a buttload of books on Medieval history, because my next book is going to be set in that period. I've just moved into an apartment from a big house, so my bookshelf space has been cut back quite a bit. If I'm not going to be reading it in the next month or so, it goes in storage.

Practical Demonkeeping (1992)
Coyote Blue (1994)
Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story (1995)
Island of the Sequined Love Nun (1997)
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove (1999)
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal (2002)
Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings (2003)
The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror (2004)
A Dirty Job (2006)
You Suck: A Love Story (2007)

And the forthcoming Fool: A Novel (20

Top Five Funny Titles I Picked in a Pinch: And Two Honorable Mentions I Didn't

A few random notes...

A friend emailed me asking for five funny books I would suggest to a coworker. I spent a few minutes thinking and then sent it off. I decided I might as well put it up here as well.

TOP 5 Funny Books I Picked in a Pinch:
Plus Two Honorable Mentions I Didn't

#1 Lamb by Christopher Moore

If you don't mind church humor (and by that I mean poking a little fun at religion) I always suggest Lamb by Christopher Moore the story of the thirteenth apostle, Biff, being brought to life to tell his story. He was a childhood friend of Jesus who spent a majority of his life running around trying to keep the "man who could not lie" out of trouble. Biff writes the thirteenth apostle in which he writes about meeting Jesus as a child resurrecting frogs and killing them again. The characters are funny and ... human. Biff falls victim to a pair of crushes, Mary the Virgin, Jesus' mother, and Mary Magdelene. Don't miss this book or any books by Moore.

#2 A Confederacy of Dunces
by John Kennedy Toole

I also think that A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kenney Toole is really funny. The book follows a thirty-something super intellectual but inevitably lacking in common sense guy who still lives at home with this mother who happens to drink wine from time to time. The main character, Ignatius J. Reilly, has grown up in New Orleans, has a very strange view of life and ends up in hilarious, and embarrassing, situations on a frequent basis. I think that Will Farrell has been in negotiations to play Ignatius for the last few years (if someone knows more about this please leave a comment and let me know!) -- that'll give you some kind of idea of what you're in for. It comes highly rated, though, and won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It's poignant, sometimes sad, but always witty.


#3 The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell

Another funny author is Sarah Vowell who is a frequent guest on David Letterman andwho has worked quite a bit on NPR's This American Life. She has written four or five books but the best one to start with is Take the Cannoli which is a book about her eccentric Italian family (which I couldn't find a photo of). If you like something with more action she has written two books about thoughtful family vacations gone wrong, The Partly Cloudy Patriot and Assassination Vacation. The later is a trip with her sister and nephew in which they travel the US to visit the places where important politicians, presidents, and leaders have been assassinated. Sounds deep but Sarah makes a lot of things funny. There's another book entitled Radio On which is a kind of diary she wrote about listening to the radio but she's actually told me once herself that it's not really any good!


#4 Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
by David Sedaris

I always suggest David Sedaris. His most recent book, in which he writes about his crazy family and equally crazy adult life is Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. I happen to think he's the funniest author alive today. If you're feeling like getting ready for the holidays read Holidays on Ice with stories like "Dinah the Christmas Whore". It certainly warms my heart. Having trouble learning languages or suffering from OCD? Me Talk Pretty One Day is a great choice while Naked deals with traveling the northwestern states and spending some time at a nudist park. As always there are stories of David's upbringing with a strangely wonderful family scattered throughout. I would love to someday do an interview with David - if you have information about how to reach him, I have a right arm.


#5 Notes from a Small Island - The Mother Tounge, The Lost Continent, and In a Sunburned Country
by Bill Bryson

Hmm. I realize that I don't really read all that many funny books. Let see. Bill Bryson is funny. He writes book about traveling to Europe, Australia and around the world that are always fully of funny observations, stories, and predicaments he gets himself caught in. Traveling to England he wrote: Notes from a Small Island, The Lost Continent while traveling in small town America, The Mother Tongue which covers the history of English, and In a Sunburned Country while traveling in Australia. They may not always *sound* funny but they are... he's a great author.

Honorable Mentions (Shorter Funny Books I didn't Add Because They are Short and Perhaps More Controversial)

Yiddish with Dick and Jane
by Ellis Weiner and Barbara Davilman

I love this book and bought it the moment I laid eyes on it. The synopsis on the website is better than I could do. So here goes:

Dick and Jane are all grown up, and they’re living in the real world--and it’s full of tsuris (troubles). That’s the premise of this hilarious little book, which functions both as a humorous tale and a genuine guide to a language with a sentiment and world view all its own. Jane is married to Bob and has two perfect children. Dick schmoozes with business people over golf: "Schmooze, Dick. Schmooze...." Their sister, Sally, who teaches a course in "Transgressive Feminist Ceramics," can see that life is not perfect, even though dear Dick and Jane cannot. Their mother has a stroke ("Oy vey, Jane," says Dick when he learns the news). Bob’s best friend’s wife is having an affair because the best friend himself is gay ("‘Tom is more than gay, Sally,’ says Dick. ‘He is overjoyed.’... ‘Oy Gotenyu [oh, God help us],’ sighs Sally.")

Here is an even funner online book trailer where you can get to see some of the scenes in the book in cartoon format! Yiddish with Dick and Jane Online.

How to Be Pope by Piers Marchant

This is another one of my big time favorites. It's a book for big dreamers. Have you ever thought that it might be nice to be in fallible or to wear gold slippers? I admitt that I certainly have. And so this book offers you tips on getting elected and then what to do once you've gone through one of the biggest job interviews of your career. I personally love that Amazon has a "Buy this with" feature that pairs the book with Inisde the Vatican National Geographic pamphlet. This is serious business.

Here's the book's synopsis from the back cover:

Congratulations, Your Holiness, and welcome to your first day at the Holy See. After being elected by the College of Cardinals, you'll need to don the papal vestments and get right to work. Armed with this manual, compiled over the last 2,000 years, you'll be able to navigate the Why's, How's, and Who's of your new life as Pontifex Maximus. What is your official job title? Why do you need to choose a papal name? Who does your laundry? While the church has long maintained an aura of complete secrecy to outsiders, the facts, figures, and historical anecdotes found here give the crucial information you'll need to fulfill your papal duties.

An Introduction

Welcome to Loaded Questions with Kelly Hewitt. In conjunction with a series of interviews I have been doing for LoadedShelf.com over the last year I have decided to begin this blog, a place where I will discuss the new and upcoming books sent to me by publishers, preview upcoming author interviews, and share my opinions.

It feels fitting to first discuss some of my most favorite authors. I am, as you will come to see, a great fan of historical fiction. I am currently working on my masters in Early Modern English history and I find myself craving a good historical fiction to balance some of the drier and less entertaining history books I consume on a regular basis. That being said, my favorite historical fiction authors are:

Hella Haassee, In a Dark Wood Wandering - Haassee is a living master. The real shame is that many of her novels have not been translated from her native Dutch. In a Dark Wood Wandering is a compelling and well-researched novel about the mad French King, Charlies VI and the royal family's struggle to gain power by the King's weakness.

Margaret George, The Autobiography of Henry VIII - Margaret's novels based on Cleopatra, Mary Stuart, Helen of Troy and others will always have a special place in my heart. These novels were among my first forays into historical fiction and really ignited an interest. Last year I had the chance to interview Margaret George. Read the entire interview here.


Pearl Buck, The Good Earth - A few years ago I traveled to China and spent quite a bit of time in Beijing discovering the amazing history of the city. I have to admit to having been a bit of a fool about Chinese history but I knew the moment that I stepped foot in the Forbidden City. Peal Buck has written amazing novels about China and India that offer a glimpse into the lives of Chinese farmers and the ways in which their lives changed. I think I really came to appreciate Buck after I began reading Sons and A House Divided, books that are part of The Good Earth trilogy. Buck's body of work still amazes me.


Anchee Min, Becoming Madam Mao - Like Buck, Anchee Min is an author I discovered after having returned from China. Her autobiography and historical fiction, which all take place during the Cultural Revolution, are absolutely fascinating. She provides a first hand account of the tumultuous revolution that took place in China. I am always actively looking for a way to reach Anchee Min to do an interview. If you happen to know her or an agent/publicist please let me know!





It isn't all historical fiction...

Christopher Moore, Lamb - Moore is one of the funniest guys around. I fell in love with his style the moment I began reading his book Lamb, about the thirteenth apostle, Biff, who is returned to the living in order to tell the real story of Jesus. He's zany, funny, and edgy. I recently did an interview with Christopher Moore. You can read the whole interview here.



Mary Roach, Stiff - Mary Roach's books are so good because she knowns very little about the subject she's tackling. In Roach's debut book she researched the curious lives of human cadavers and the even more curious things people do with them. Her second work follows the search for the human soul. Wherever Mary's going I am coming along. The audacity with which she approaches experts in the fields she studies inspires, the humor she uses when dealing with weighty issues endears. I just got an email from Mary about the next book (to be published this spring) that is about sex and the laboratory. I also recently interviewed Mary, the entire interview can be found here.