Coyote Blue (Paperback)

Christopher Moore--the author of PRACTICAL DEMONKEEPING, BLOODSUCKING FIENDS, ISLAND OF THE SEQUINED LOVE NUN, and LAMB, among other novels--is often referred to as a "cult" writer, presumably because his books feature absurdist subjects and plots. (LAMB, for example, is a revisionist chronicle of the life of Jesus--as told by his friend Biff--and BLOODSUCKING FIENDS is a vampire tale that manages to involve frozen-turkey bowling.) Moore's book frequently land on the bestseller lists, however, making the "cult" label largely inaccurate. "I'm just working on getting a really giant cult," he once quipped to an interviewer. "We're saving up for a compound." The son of a highway patrolman and a department-store clerk, Moore was born and raised in Ohio. He majored in anthropology at Ohio State University before moving to California to study at the Brooks Institute of Photography. He supported himself with a variety of jobs, including roofer, grocery-store cashier, motel clerk, and factory worker. "Then all of a sudden, I was thirty," he has said. "I was supposed to be famous by the time I was thirty, right? Well, I wasn't. I was a waiter. . . . So I thought I better write a book." Inspired by the humor Douglas Adams had brought to science fiction with THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, Moore took a similar approach to the horror genre. The result was PRACTICAL DEMONKEEPING, which features a people-eating demon who terrorizes a small California town. Published in 1992, it was quickly optioned by Disney, and while he reportedly received a six-figure advance, a film version has not yet materialized. Moore is widely considered to be friendly and approachable, and his readings consistently draw large, enthusiastic crowds.