Christopher Moore stops by the store Tuesday, April 24 at 7 p.m. to discuss his new novel, Noir, a parody of hard-boiled detective fiction. Check out Moore’s answers to The BookPeople Questionnaire below!
BP: What are you reading these days?
CM: Jack London’s San Francisco Stories by Jack London, Cringeworthy: A Theory of Awkwardness by Melissa Dahl, The Sommelier of Deformity by Nick Yetto (advanced review copy), and How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
BP: What books did you love as a child?
CM: The Mouse and the Motorcycle (and all of Beverly Cleary’s books). Jules Verne’s books, all of them. Ray Bradbury’s stories, R is for Rocket, S is for Space, The Illustrated Man, and the Paddington Bear books.
BP: What’s the hardest thing about writing?
CM: Writing. Making yourself sit down to do it even when it’s not going well.
BP: What’s the best thing about writing?
CM: Coming up with an idea that delights people and making it work on the page.
BP: What’s your favorite word?
CM: Melange
BP: What’s a sentence you’ve loved and remembered from a book?
CM: “Oh for a muse of fire that would ascend the greatest heaven of invention.” From Shakespeare’s, Henry V. That’s from a play, but I read it book form. How about, “He drank ice crystals laced with midnight as he watched their world burn.” From a Harlan Ellison story. I don’t remember the title.
BP: Do you have any weird writing habits?
CM: I don’t think so, really. I’ve tried not to put any weird conditions on writing, because they’re counter-productive, so I’m not particularly quirky. I just need quiet, solitude, and coffee.
BP: Who are your literary influences?
CM: Kurt Vonnegut, Tom Robbins, John Steinbeck, Mark Twain and Douglas Adams
BP: What’s your favorite place to write?
CM: Honestly, probably in my writing hovel on the Russian River, now, but in the past, in coffee shops. I wrote my 1st three books in a diner and I was so focused and disciplined in those days that the activity around me only helped.
BP: What would you be doing if you weren’t a writer?
CM: Honestly, probably waiting tables. If it was my choice, I’d like to be doing radio (but that may be because when I did radio I was able to make up funny stuff to say, so it’s kind of writing.) If I had to start over, I’d love to be a marine mammal biologist or a cultural anthropologist.
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