Christopher Moore (born January 1, 1957) is an American writer of

comic fantasy Fantasy comedy or comic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is primarily humorous in intent and tone. Typically set in imaginary worlds, fantasy comedy often involves puns on and parodies of other works of fantasy. Literature The subgenre rose ...

. He was born in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

. He grew up in

Mansfield, Ohio Mansfield is a city in and the county seat of Richland County, Ohio, United States. Located midway between Columbus and Cleveland via Interstate 71, it is part of Northeast Ohio region in the western foothills of the Allegheny Plateau. The city ...

, and attended

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

and

Brooks Institute of Photography Brooks may refer to: Places ;Antarctica *Cape Brooks ;Canada *Brooks, Alberta ;United States *Brooks, Alabama * Brooks, Arkansas *Brooks, California *Brooks, Georgia * Brooks, Iowa * Brooks, Kentucky * Brooks, Maine *Brooks Township, Michigan * ...

in Santa Barbara,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. An only child, Moore learned to amuse himself with his imagination. He loved reading and his father brought him plenty of books from the library every week. He started writing around the age of twelve and realized that this was his talent by the time he was 16, and he began to consider making it his career.
Moore's novels typically involve conflicted

everyman The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them. Origin The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...

characters struggling through supernatural or extraordinary circumstances. With the possible exceptions of ''

Fool Fool, The Fool, or Fools may refer to: *A jester, also called a ''fool'', a type of historical entertainer known for their witty jokes *An insult referring to someone of low intelligence or easy gullibility Arts, entertainment and media Fictio ...

'', ''The Serpent of Venice'', ''Sacré Bleu'', and ''Shakespeare for Squirrels: A Novel'', all his books take place in the same universe and some characters recur from novel to novel. According to his interview in the June 2007 issue of ''Writer's Digest'', the film rights to Moore's first novel, '' Practical Demonkeeping'' (1992), were purchased by Disney even before the book had a publisher. In answer to repeated questions from fans over the years, Moore stated that all of his books have been optioned or sold for films, but that as yet "none of them are in any danger of being made into a movie."
Moore has named

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...

Douglas Adams Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' developed into a " ...

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck Jr. (; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer and the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature winner "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social ...

Tom Robbins Thomas Eugene Robbins (born July 22, 1932) is a best-selling and prolific American novelist. His most notable works are "seriocomedies" (also known as "comedy drama"), such as ''Even Cowgirls Get the Blues''. Tom Robbins has lived in La Conner, ...

Richard Brautigan Richard Gary Brautigan (January 30, 1935 – c. September 16, 1984) was an American novelist, poet, and short story writer. A prolific writer, he wrote throughout his life and published ten novels, two collections of short stories, and four bo ...

Robert Bloch Robert Albert Bloch (; April 5, 1917September 23, 1994) was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime, psychological horror and fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and television. He also wrote a relatively small ...

Richard Matheson Richard Burton Matheson (February 20, 1926 – June 23, 2013) was an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is best known as the author of '' I Am Legend'', a 1954 science ficti ...

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery, and r ...

, H. P. Lovecraft,

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...

and

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer who is best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., a ...

as key influences on his writing. As of June 2006, Moore lives in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, after a few years on the island of

Kauai Kauai, () anglicized as Kauai ( ), is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands (after Niʻihau). With an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), it is the fourth-largest of these islands and the 21st largest island ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

Bibliography

Novels

Most of Moore's novels take place in the same fictional universe since characters from one book frequently turn up as minor characters or have cameos in other books. Some novels with a common protagonist or setting can be grouped into series; however, with the exception of the vampire books and the Death Merchant Chronicles, they can all be read as stand-alone novels.

The Pine Cove Books

* '' Practical Demonkeeping'' (1992) * ''

The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove ''The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove'' is a novel by American writer Christopher Moore, published in 1999. It is set in the same fictional town of Pine Cove, California, as his first novel, '' Practical Demonkeeping'', and also brings back some ...

'' (1999) * '' The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror'' (2004) William Morrow ** ''The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarming Tale of Christmas Terror, v. 2.0'' (2005) – contains the same text as the above, with an additional 35-page short story at the end

Vampires in San Francisco

# '' Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story'' (1995) # '' You Suck: A Love Story'' (2007) William Morrow # '' Bite Me: A Love Story'' (2010) William Morrow

Death Merchant Chronicles

* ''

A Dirty Job ''A Dirty Job'' is a novel by American writer Christopher Moore, published in 2006. While reflecting the author's absurdist tendencies, the content of the novel draws significantly from his own experiences in tending to the needs of close fami ...

'' (2006) William Morrow * ''Secondhand Souls'' (2015) HarperCollins Publishers

Chronicles of Pocket the Fool

* ''

'' (2009) William Morrow * ''The Serpent of Venice'' (2014) William Morrow * ''Shakespeare for Squirrels: A Novel'' (2020) New York: William Morrow

The Tales of Sammy "Two Toes"

* ''Noir'' (2018) New York: William Morrow * ''Razzmatazz'' (2022) William Morrow ISBN 978-0-06-243412-8

Other novels

* ''

Coyote Blue ''Coyote Blue'' is a novel by American writer Christopher Moore, published in 1994. The plot concerns a salesman in Santa Barbara, California, named Sam Hunter (a Crow Indian born Samson Hunts Alone) who, as a teenager, fled his home on the res ...

'' (1994) * '' Island of the Sequined Love Nun'' (1997) * '' Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal'' (2002) William Morrow * '' Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings'' (2003) William Morrow * ''Sacré Bleu'' (2012) William Morrow

Short stories

*"Our Lady of the Fishnet Stockings" (1987) *"Cat's Karma" (1987)

Other works

*''The Griff: A Graphic Novel'' (2011, co-written with Ian Corson and illustrated by Jennyson Rosero, originally conceived in 2001 as a movie script) William Morrow

References

* "The WD Interview: Christopher Moore", ''Writer's Digest'', June 2007, pp. 58–62.

External links

* *
Interview at Book Reviews and More

Interview at Windycon 42 Blog
conducted by John O'Neill, 4/24/2015. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Christopher 1957 births Living people Comedians from Ohio 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American humorists American fantasy writers American humanists Novelists from Ohio 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians