Why You Should Love Christopher Moore

fool-christophermoore I recently broke down and bought “Fool,” a new book by Christopher Moore. I’m just getting started, but so far it is hilarious. It is a retelling of “King Lear” from the perspective of Pockets, the court jester. Of course it is told in a way that only Christopher Moore could provide. “Fool” made it to #4 on the New York Times Bestsellers list. That is awesome, and I hope that his future works keep bringing in high sales.

Christopher Moore is an author I have admired from the first moment I opened one of his books. I bought “The Stupidest Angel 2.0” on a suggestion from a helpful bookstore employee. I was in San Francisco and I had a 4 hour lay over in Chicago on my trip back into Indianapolis. I needed something that was light, funny and captivating for my wait. The woman suggested the book, and by the time I flew out of Midway, I was hooked. I was off to buy all his books, and to eagerly buy each new book he put onto the market.

Basically, if I can write half as well as he does some day, I will die a happy woman. Moore takes fact, history , religion and myth combines them with elements of sci-fi and fantasy (and even horror) and meshes it all with satire and humor. In “The Stupidest Angel” He has a misguided angel “granting the wish of a young child to bring Santa back to life” and inadvertently sending zombies to attack the small town of Pine Grove. “Bloodsucking Fiends” finds a newly turned vampire and her boyfriend trying to defeat her “sire.” That one even gets a sequel with “ You Suck.”

Each story has characters that you could never imagine in real life, but you can’t help relating to. They (well except for the villains of course and even then…) are characters that are quirky, crazy and totally likeable. Even though the stories are not a series, many characters show up in multiple books. The characters do not love out their usefulness in one book. They may live in future books.

I love Moore’s writing because he always makes me laugh. He speaks to my twisted sense of humor. Maybe that has something to do with us both being (originally) from Northwest Ohio and both being children of police officers. I love horror and scary stories. I love satire. He takes both of those things and presents them in a unique way. Some authors run out of things to say. Their stories become predictable and seem to follow a set outline. Moore keeps cranking out excellent products.