Welcome the debut diary of My Favorite Authors/Books! For those who did not get a chance to see my announcement diary yesterday, this is a brand new series where one of us Kossacks takes the opportunity to tell us why they love a certain author or book. Is there an author whose books you never miss? A particular book that you love so much you want to tell random people on the street about? This is the place for you.
For you reading pleasure, I open this series with my currently favorite author, Christopher Moore.
“I am on a quest for the perfect big-haired blonde. She must be a beautician and she must be named Arlene, Karlene, or Darlene. She must have a bust measurement exactly half that of her IQ and she must have seen Elvis sometime since his death. Have you seen her?” – Bloodsucking Fiends.
“Shoes off in the whale! And don’t try and make a break for the anus.” – Fluke.
This sounded so much easier when I rushed into volunteering to do this, but how do I exactly quantify why I love Christopher Moore’s books? How do I fully put across the level of humor, the zany plot points, and the great characters? How do you describe the pleasures of books that involve Native American gods, sea beasts, vampires, and various angels? I’m not sure that I will be anywhere close to successful without actually quoting chunks from the books themselves, but let me begin with how I first discovered the man, my journey through his title list, and we will see where we end up.
It was late fall of 1999 and I had just begun working as manager for Barnes & Noble, coming over from a similar position at a regional book chain. I was adjusting the table for new trade paper releases and I saw the cover of Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove. At first I ignored it; I thought the title ironic and for some reason thought it was a quasi-romance middlebrow fiction. Not too long after I actually looked at the back and read the description and, as a sci-fi/horror fan, was instantly intrigued. A local sheriff investigating a crime, a psychiatrist having a crisis of faith, all interlocked with a sea monster. I decided to give it a shot.
It was when I came to the part where the sea beast suffers burns because he tried to fuck an oil tanker truck that I realized I was in the presence of something special.
I mean, it was already funny before I reached this point but this brought my enjoyment to a whole new level. You have to marvel at the kind of mind that thinks of this scenario or the fact that the sea beast is lactose intolerant (Angus cows are no problem, milk cows make him throw up)? I zoomed through the book and, once finished, was determined to read all of other Moore’s titles which meant, with my tendency towards OCD, I had to start at the beginning.
Practical Demonkeeping, Coyote Blue, Island of the Sequined Love Nun. All of these successfully walked the same tightrope as Lust Lizard if not quite with the same amount flair – Love Nun’s title is cleverer than the actual execution of the novel though the last line is still sublime. But in the middle of these titles was Bloodsucking Fiends, one of the funniest books I have ever read. I could spend this whole post just quoting lines and I still wouldn’t be able to bring across how entertaining it is. Suffice it to say, the romance of wannabe writer Tommy and newly turned vampire with commitment issues Jody along with the side characters of the Animals, the Emperor plus an evil empire make this one of the most entertaining vampire books you could find – just don’t read it on the subway or people will be wondering why you are laughing with each page.
So for the time I saw Christopher Moore as a cross between Carl Hiaasen and Stephen King with the humor, whacked-out characters, and crime elements of the former mixed in with the supernatural plot lines of the latter. And that was working out well for Moore when he decided to up the ante and write his richest novel yet, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal. In a change of pace he tackled a historical novel and while it has the same level of humor, much of it raunchy and irreverent, of his previous novels it also manages to be more thought provoking and have so many more layers than his previous books. Tackling the task of conjecturing what Joshua (as Jesus is called here) did between the time of his birth through last few years of his life and eventual crucifixion could have turned into a puerile farce. But Moore, for all his playfulness, shows a genuine respect for Christ. In his telling of the story, Joshua knows he is the Son of God and is destined for great things but no one gave him an instruction manual and Dad isn’t talking. Joshua and Biff’s travels across Asia provide a great story and excellent insight into how Christ might have developed is philosophy.
And this really is strength of Moore’s writing. Yes, the humor is a key aspect to his writing – it is what makes him so special. And there is a special skill to weaving all these seeming crazy and disparate plot lines into a coherent narrative (even if he sometimes seems to have trouble ending a story). None of this would matter if we did not want to spend time with the characters. C. Thomas Flood, wannabe writer; Molly Michon, ex B-movie actress; Kona (ne Preston Applebaum), faux Hawaiian native. These are just a few of the characters that bring a smile to my face just thinking about them. When I pick up a Christopher Moore novel I know I am going to receive more than just a fun, whacked-out story with a lot of laughs. On top of that I am going to be spending time with people I will like and want to read more about, characters who are not just likeable but whose idiosyncrasies help to augment both Moore’s plots and his special brand of humor. What more could you want?
As I said, I’m not sure if I fully put across what makes these novels so special. And I haven't mentioned the ones he wrote after like Dirty Job or Fool (Moore's take on King Lear, complete with lots of "heinous fuckery.) All I do know is that they are fantastic and that if you haven’t read them yet, you are in for something special.
So now, some housekeeping. Below are the Mondays for the next couple of months -- only next week is already taken. Either let me know in a comment or send me a message with the day you would like and what the subject is and I will add it to the schedule.
May 23 -- Dirkster42, Rosemary Radford Ruether
May 30 -- plf515, Neal Stephenson
Jun 6 -- Dom9000
Jun 13
Jun 20 -- Ellid
Jun 27
Jul 4
Jul 11
Jul 18
Jul 25
Aug 1
Aug 8
Aug 15
Aug 22
Aug 29