We're finishing out February not with a whimper but with a bang here at Center Stage, welcoming author Christopher Moore, whose latest novel is Fool, a singularly Moore-sian take on the story of King Lear.
Moore's not like any other fiction writer out there, but you'd never know it from his "official" biography:
"Chris was born in Toledo, Ohio andgrew up in Mansfield, Ohio. His father was a highway patrolman and his mothersold major appliances at a department store. He attended Ohio State Universityand Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara. He moved to Californiawhen he was 19 years old and lived on the Central Coast until 2003, when hemoved to Hawaii.
Before publishing his first novel,Practical Demonkeeping in 1992, he worked as a roofer, a grocery clerk,a hotel night auditor, and insurance broker, a waiter, a photographer, and arock and roll DJ. Chris has drawn on all of these work experiences to createthe characters in his books. When he's not writing, Chris enjoys oceankayaking, scuba diving, photography, and sumi-e ink painting. He divides histime between Hawaii and San Francisco."
Doesn't that all make Moore sound like someone who might write nice, sensible how-to articles? His fans know that nothing could be further from the truth. Moore's novels, from Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story to Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Friend on to Fluke, Or I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings are a genre unto themselves that just might be deemed "absurdist fiction," but can certainly be called enormous fun.
