After reading Douglas Adams' A Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy, Moore figured he could do the same thing Adams did, but instead of science fiction and satire, he would mix horror and zonked-out humor to create highly entertaining books.

Christopher Moore was born in Toledo, Ohio, and grew up in Mansfield, Ohio. His father was a highway patrolman, and his mother sold major appliances at a department store. He attended Ohio State University and the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara. The horror and humor writer moved to California when he was 19 years old and lived on the Central Coast until 2003.

He burst onto the scene with Practical Demonkeeping, published in 1992, a road adventure with an odd couple that gets odder. The plot involved a 100-year-old seminarian named Travis O'Hearn and a green demon named Catch who has the nasty habit of eating most of the people he encounters.

Moore's 10 novels cover a wide spectrum of creatures, including vampires, trickster gods, death merchants, sea monsters and stupid angels. He is the author of the books A Dirty Job; Island of the Sequined Love Nuns; The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove; Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal; and Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings. All are available from William Morrow/Harper books.

His latest novel is You Suck, a sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends, with the return of Jody Stroud, a vampire, and C. Thomas Flood, who is about to become one of the undead. When Tommy turns into a bloodsucking fiend, he also becomes fashion-impaired (he wears a flannel shirt most of the time), cheats on his tan and recruits a minion (a perky goth girl named Abby Normal).

Moore's Web sites are www.chrismoore.com and www.myspace.com/theauthorguy.What are some of your favorite vampire books and movies?

Moore: My favorite vampire books are Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin, Dracula by Bram Stoker, The Hunger by Whitley Streiber.

Movies, probably Near Dark, Fright Night and Buffy the Vampire Slayer?Why the Near Dark, Fright Night and Buffy movie?

Moore: Near Dark because the director, Kathryn Bigelow (Strange Days), just took a concept and ran with it: vampires in Winnebagos. Lance Henriksen (Millennium, Pumpkinhead, Aliens, Alien vs. Predator), as Jesse, the Civil War-era vampire, is terrific. Bill Paxton (Apollo 13, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over), as the over-the-top redneck vampire, is scary and—well—scary.

Fright Night, because Chris Sarandon is the perfect charming vampire next door. This is a great example of a story where nerds become heroes.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: I don't know how Joss Whedon felt about this movie, but he should be very proud of having brought the concept of a narcissistic cheerleader who is "the chosen" vampire slayer into the world. We all know that Sarah Michelle Gellar made the role her own, but Kristy Swanson was an awfully good Buffy as well.

Bloodsucking Fiends was published in 1995. It was over a decade before you wrote the sequel, You Suck. Was it easy or hard to get back into the storyline, characters and situations after a 10-year absence? And how are the fans reacting to the return of C. Thomas Flood and Jody Stroud?

Moore: It was harder to get back into it than I thought it would be, largely because of Tommy's character. He is sort of autobiographical, in that he is based on me when I was 19. Now, 12 years later, it was harder to get in touch with that 19-year-old person and put him in context.

By having Tommy Flood become a vampire in You Suck, do you believe this strengthens their relationship and gives them more in common? On the jacket he is referred to as Thomas C. Flood—was that a typo?

Moore: I believe making Tommy a vampire added a new aspect to the story. Jody certainly thinks it gives them more in common. Who knows?

Yes, it's a typo. (The book was moved up four months. A lot of mistakes made it into print.)
Are family newspapers running the title of your book as You ****? And how do you feel about that? Does it make the title seem dirtier than it really is? If you decide to do another vampire book, I have a title suggestion: Bite Me. What do you think?

Moore: I proposed Bite Me as the title of the next one over three years ago, so good call. The New York Times was the only paper I know of that had trouble with the title, and that was in an ad my publisher bought. I feel a little like the Amazing Kreskin, getting the title right before it is even published. What can you tell us about Bite Me? Is it a sequel to Bloodsucking Fiends and You Suck?

Moore: Yes, it is a continuation of that story, and all I know about it beyond that is the title. What was easier to satirize: vampires, demons or angels, and why?

Moore: Vampires were easier, because there are so many conventions and rules that people know about them, and there is such a mystique around them. What was the inspiration for the strange squirrel people in A Dirty Job?

Moore: I saw some sculptures by a costumer named Monique Motil at a shop in San Francisco. They were little animal skeletons dressed in elaborate costumes. I thought they'd be great in a book.

In A Dirty Job you have death merchants. In recent years there have been a lot of TV series devoted to death, like Dead Like Me and Six Feet Under. Why do you think the American public might be fixated on death?

Moore: I think it's about time. We've swept death under the carpet in this society for hundreds of years. I think it makes for good storytelling. Shakespeare calls death "the undiscovered country." I think that writers are just exploring that territory. Was Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whales Sing a parody of Moby Dick by Herman Melville?

Moore: No, not consciously. I read Moby Dick before I wrote the book, but I usually read every important book in a field before I write something in that field. Any works in progress right now?

Moore: I'm working on a comedy set in medieval England. Of your collected works, which book is your favorite, and why?

Moore: I think probably Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, because it was such a huge project to take on, and I'm amazed I pulled it off. When do you decide to use the elements of humor in your work: before or after the plot or characters are in place?

Moore: It's just what I do. My default setting is humor, so that develops as I plot. A plot almost never sounds funny, however, so it would seem more like a mathematical equation, but since I plot from character, the situations I come up with tend to lend themselves to comedy. What do you do for fun when you're not writing?

Moore: I take pictures and I make up goofy captions for them. I go out to dinner. I play computer games. And I watch movies. What was the first horror, science-fiction or fantasy book you remember reading as a child that had a major impact on you?

Moore: The fist book to seriously influence me was The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne. It completely engaged me for about a month. I was in fifth grade, and it seemed to take forever to read that big book, but I loved it. What was the first book of yours that hit the New York Times best-seller list? Did you do anything when it reached the top?

Moore: A Dirty Job debuted at #9. I was in Denver on tour at the time, and I took some friends out for dinner and bought them a really nice bottle of wine. (I don't drink.) Has Hollywood showed any interest in your books?

Moore: All of the books have been optioned or bought at one time or another. Some really big names have been involved. None has gotten past the script stage. I don't know why. I don't make movies, and evidently neither does anyone else.Have you ever considered writing a screenplay?

Moore: I have written a screenplay, "The Griff." I think it's available from my Web site, www.chrismoore.com. If you could be any monster, which monster would you be, and why?

Moore: I'd like to be Godzilla, because Tokyo tastes like Cheetos, and I love Cheetos. Last words?

Moore: Not yet [laughs].