Favorite Authors - Christopher Moore

[Christine L]

I enjoy author events and try to attend as many as I can when they come to my little corner of the world.  Not living in a major metropolitan area and in Canada to boot, well … its kind of like a double whammy in the “missing out” department.  That being said, every once in a while a local Chapters store, small independent bookseller or my Public Library will manage to snag someone and they make the trek.  Unless they are from Ontario I’m quite sure once they get off the 401 Highway they have no clue where they are headed.  If I manage to find out about it before hand – and not the day after it happens, which has sometimes been the case – I make a point of trying to attend.

These events usually follow a pretty standard format that runs something like this:

·        Introduction

·        Short biography by the host of the event or by the author about him/her self

·        A short chat about the newest book

·        The reading of an excerpt from the newest book

·        A question and answer period

·        Then, if I’m really lucky, there will be a book signing and possibly a photo-opp.

It’s my idea of a fine evening out doing something I enjoy,

I usually attend these events by myself.  Oh, despite the fact that they may not be quite as enthused about the event as me, there are any number of people who would gladly join me if I asked.  I choose not to.  I ENJOY going alone.

Invariably one of the questions posed to the author during the QandA is “Where do you get the ideas for your books?”  Definitely not the most original of questions but one that everyone is very interested in.  If no hands go up at the beginning of the QandA, it’s also a pretty good icebreaker.  The answers are always interesting and varied.

Every since I randomly picked up a copy of “A Dirty Job” (without knowing what I was in for) Christopher Moore has been on my “favourite authors” list.  His books make me laugh out loud.   If pressed to describe them in one word I think that word might be “wonky” – they’re just a little off kilter, really original, filled with over the top characters, some unusual situations and quite often (for those of milder dispositions than myself) could be considered slightly offensive.  Yup – Mr. Moore has pretty much bastardized Christmas, Angels, the life of Jesus, Impressionist Art, Shakespeare, vampires and death/dying, to mention a few – usually with gratuitous sex and profanity thrown in, just for good measure.

I few years back (quite a few - I was still dying my hair) I had the good fortune to

win an opportunity for a “meet and greet” with Mr. Moore.  Authors truly ARE my rock stars, so needless to say I was thrilled.  At the great risk of repeating from a previous post, I just want to take the opportunity to say that Mr. Moore was as charming and humorous and clever and smart as I suspected he would be after reading his books.  He was also very down to earth, damn tall and … pretty handsome too.

Crap, I’m getting off topic …

I suppose in much the same way as nothing ever beats that first kiss, no book ever measures up to the first book that made you enjoy a new (to you) author. Since I enjoyed “A Dirty Job” so much I am looking forward to the release of the sequel, “Secondhand Souls” (August 25, 2015).

I KNOW  "Secondhand Souls will not disappoint.

Whenever there is new book being released it is accompanied by the usual media blitz.  In that vein Mr. Moore made a Facebook post praising the art of Monique Montil as the inspiration for some of his characters.

It does however provide an answer that pesky “Where do you get your ideas from?” question and it proves that ideas for characters (or other things) can come from any source if you give your imagination some free reign.

Posing with Mr. Moore are these little works of art created by Monique Montil that inspired the “squirrel” guys in “A Dirty Job” and I’m assuming they are making reappearance in “Secondhand Souls”.  They are displayed at Paxton Gate in San Francisco and Portland.

Myself?

I find them a equally whimsical and creepy – the perfect combination for characters in a Christopher Moore book.