Author injects Shakespeare and humor into horror fantasy

Christopher Moore. Talk and signing. 2 p.m. May 4. Alfred Uhry Auditorium, Druid Hills High School, 1798 Haygood Drive N.E., Atlanta. 404-486-0307, eagleeyebooks.com/chrismoore.html.

When Ohio native Christopher Moore makes an Atlanta stop on the tour for his latest novel, “The Serpent of Venice,” he’ll be visiting somewhat familiar turf.

In an interview earlier this week, Moore noted that, “My mother was from Valdosta. When I was a kid we used to come to Georgia all the time.” The author of more than a dozen novels also said he has Atlanta cousins, now retired, who used to teach here.

At age 19 Moore relocated from Ohio to coastal California. He held such disparate positions as roofer, photographer and DJ before the 1992 release of his first novel, “Practical Demonkeeping.”

His breadth of experience and his Cambria, Calif., home informed and grounded that comedic fantasy and others, which encompass DIY vampires and a death angel named Minty Fresh. Moore’s subsequent novels have included such best-sellers as “Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal” and “You Suck.”

A different locale inspired the new book: “I was in Venice (Italy), and it looked like a great place for a horror story,” Moore said. He thought of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” which features an impertinent fool being led to his death in an Italian catacomb.

“‘I have an impertinent fool,’” Moore recalled thinking — a reference to Pocket, the protagonist of his “King Lear” pastiche titled “Fool.” Thus, “The Serpent of Venice” has Lear’s sharp-tongued jester tangling with three gentlemen of the fabled city-state (and a sea serpent) in a sequel that melds “Othello,” “The Merchant of Venice” and the aforementioned Poe tale.

Q: How did you manage to combine those three great literary works in the new novel?

A: The plots of both plays parallel the plot of "Serpent of Venice." (But) all of (Shakespeare's) tragedies are based on someone who does something (after going) completely out of (his mind, like Lear). In the novel, you get reasons why people behave the way they do, and I tie it to the political situation of the time. You get (story) logic.

Q: Who decided on two-tone ink for the new book, and why?

A: I think that was my editor, Jennifer Brehl, because I was such a brat about getting color art in my last book, "Sacré Bleu." I think she talked them into it as tantrum preventative. It was a surprise to me. Also, it's fancy.

Q: You live in San Francisco now. Where was the coldest winter you ever spent?

A: I know that old cliché, but in high school in Ohio I used to have to gather grocery carts off the store parking lot when it was 17 degrees below zero. … That's the coldest I remember ever being. San Francisco ain't that bad, comparatively.

Q: What types of books never enter your home, even for the purposes of research?

A: Ones that are on fire or have bugs living in them. Other than that, I don't have any hard rules.

Q: The zombie apocalypse happens while you're on book tour. What other author would you want at your side and why?

A: Michael Perry, author of "Population: 485" and others, because he knows how to do real stuff like farm and hunt. Maybe Neal Stephenson, because he knows science and how to fight with broadswords. Yeah, both those guys. That way I can stand back and say clever things.

Q: The geek has inherited the earth. How did that come to be?

A: It was always going that way from the time big brains replaced big teeth as the superior weapon.

Q: What keeps you setting stories in Pine Cove, Calif., the town "where nothing happens"?

A: Well, I haven't done that in a while. I set three books there because I was living there and I either had no money to go someplace to research or had a deadline bearing down on me and had no time to travel for research.

Q: If you could sell your soul to guarantee immortality for a single book, would you do it — and, if so, for what book?