About 12 years ago I stumbled across a book called Coyote Blue, which I thought was great. I looked in the front of the book to see if the author had written anything else. The other title listed was Practical Demon Keeping.  The title left me slightly taken aback, as it wasn't what I expected from the guy who had just written what I thought to be a really great "Coyote" story. I was even more nonplussed by the fact my library kept it in the horror section. I've never been much for horror books — enough horrors in the world as it is, thank you very much, without us needing anyone to invent more.

The cover helped, however, as it was silly enough to belay the worst of my fears, and the story convinced me that the Kingston library needed to read books before it shelved them. Sure the book was about a monster that would, if given half a chance, devour people whole. But since most of those deserved it, this didn't seem like too bad a monster. Turns out, of course, it was only biding its time – but that's a different story and one that you can read if you want to some other time.

The story under consideration right now is the mind behind those two books and numerous others as well. With his most recent book, You Suck, a semi-sequel to his classic tale of the undead Bloodsucking Fiends, soon to be stalking the aisles of bookstores across North America and around the world, I thought I'd try to find out a little bit more about the author of all the above, Christopher Moore.

What possesses him, literally or figuratively, to write about human-eating, soul-stealing, and blood-sucking monsters anyway? Did he have a depraved (deprived) childhood, or were these books the product of a naturally deviated mind? Even if the interview only serves as a warning regarding his character for those considering attending a book reading or signing on his upcoming promotional tour for You Suck it will at least have served some purpose.

So without any more preamble I present for your enjoyment and edification an interview with Christopher Moore. We conducted the interview via email so his answers are exactly as he wrote them except for some HTML augmentation.

I suppose we should start with some biographical details. Were you a live birth?

I was supposed to be a miscarriage, but survived, thus starting down the path of being a disappointment to my mother.