Frith O’Steen

Some of you may be aware that one of my favorite authors is a guy named Christopher Moore. I really owe my addiction to my friend Rebecca, who got me started on his books when Decker was still just a little bitty guy. She recommend I check out a novel of his called “Lamb”, which is about the gospel according to Biff, Christ’s childhood friend. I loved it; I was hooked. I then went on to read ever single tome of his that I could get my mitts on, and they truly helped me keep a little bit of my sanity. It was nice to know that I might be a stay at home mom in sneakers and jeans, but that I still had access to funny and thoughtful humor that let me feel like I could still use my brain cells. Plus, the guy just makes me laugh out loud.

I enjoyed his books so much that I decided to do what any fan would do - write a dorky fan letter and tell him how much I liked his work. Imagine my surprise when he wrote me back, with a very personal and funny little response - the same day! How cool is that? I was so psyched that I included it in my blog (check the archives, sometime back in 2004). How awesome is that?

So when I saw that he was going to be launching his latest book, “A Dirty Job”, from a bookstore right in SF - I knew I had to go. I mentioned it to my dad, and he said he’d like to join me, but only if he could buy me dinner (no problem there!). Count in mom as well, and I had a fun date night set up with my folks - who I rarely get all to myself, so that was cool!

Anyway, we get to the bookstore, and I buy my precious brandnew hardback edition of “A Dirty Job”, and then we head on in to the kids’ section where the chairs were set up for the evening. I thought it was gonna be really crowded, but it was just the right size and you could totally hear and see everything close up. While the owner was introducing him, Christopher Moore was hanging out in the doorway to the storeroom in the back, and kept holding up stuffed toys like a little goofy puppet show. I wonder if doing these things make him kinda nervous? Or maybe he’s just super silly. (Would make a lot of sense). So he gets up and talks about all sorts of stuff that went into the subject matter of this book, like the concept of Beta Males and dealing with death, and touring around SF and the like. What I really dug is that he strikes me as this very genuine, smart, funny, wry and sincere guy - I think I would totally dig talking with him. It’s so cool that he didn’t cop any attitude or act like he was too cool to actually connect with his audience.

When he was done, I lined up with my folks to get my book signed, and when it was my turn to step up, I lost my mind and went into complete insane fan mode. Mom and Dad tell me I came across as coherent, but in my head it sounded a lot like this: “Hi I’m a slobbering fan and I started reading your stuff when my son was born and you kept me sane and I’ve read all your stuff multiple times and I wrote you once and told you all this and thanked you for your awesome books and then you sent me a goofy little poem ala Dr Seuss and that just really meant a lot to me and I just wanted to say thank you and you’re so awesome!!!!”. Or something along those lines. Now, I figured he would just give me a strange look (wouldn’t you?) and sign my book and then move on. But - he said thank you really nicely and sincerely, and shook my hand and said that was fun to hear and then told me to write when I finished the book and then signed “To Frith - Thanks, Christopher Moore”. He also said he dug my name, and asked me where it was from and so then I pointed to my parents and said, “You can ask them!”. So my mom steps up and tells him how much she really enjoyed his shared experiences about dealing with the death of parent and such, and it how it really touched her, and he was super cool to her, too! My dad made some jokes about the names of my other two sisters (”It seemed like a good idea at the time”), and he laughed and said we should start a support group for kids with weird names. Hee.

I just have to say - I think authors are awesome - they are so fun to listen to and the good ones actually connect with their readers and fans and come across as very down to earth and human. I walk away from stuff like that wanting to go home and start writing, even though I hold no illusions that I would ever be published or what not (except for this humble little corner of cyberspace). But I especially dug that a guy like Christopher Moore, with tons of fans and a busy schedule of his own, took the time to shake my hand and thank me for my raving adoration of his book. And was a honestly cool dude about it. So, thank you Christopher Moore. You made my night and you definitely are a chill and funny person. I will continue to buy all your books and to spread your name among family and friends. You have a following in the east bay suburbs, at any rate!