A Dirty Job Out Today!

Chris' New Book A Dirty Job Is Out Today!


A Dirty Job
A Novel
by Christopher Moore

Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy. A little hapless, somewhat neurotic, sort of a hypochondriac. He's what's known as a Beta Male: the kind of fellow who makes his way through life by being careful and constant -- you know, the one who's always there to pick up the pieces when the girl gets dumped by the bigger/taller/stronger Alpha Male.

But Charlie's been lucky. He owns a building in the heart of San Francisco, and runs a secondhand store with the help of a couple of loyal, if marginally insane, employees. He's married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normalcy. And she, Rachel, is about to have their first child.

Yes, Charlie's doing okay for a Beta. That is, until the day his daughter, Sophie, is born. Just as Charlie -- exhausted from the birth -- turns to go home, he sees a strange man in mint-green golf wear at Rachel's hospital bedside, a man who claims that no one should be able to see him. But see him Charlie does, and from here on out, things get really weird. . . .

People start dropping dead around him, giant ravens perch on his building, and it seems that everywhere he goes, a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Strange names start appearing on his nightstand notepad, and before he knows it, those people end up dead, too. Yup, it seems that Charlie Asher has been recruited for a new job, an unpleasant but utterly necessary one: Death. It's a dirty job. But hey, somebody's gotta do it.

Praise for A Dirty Job

"Dizzyingly inventive and hypnotically engaging, A Dirty Job is . . . like no other book I’ve ever read."
--Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked and Son of a Witch

"One of the antic Moore’s funniest capers yet."
--Kirkus Reviews

ISBN: 0060590270
Published by William Morrow
hardcover | 24.95


More information
Book Page
Chapter Excerpt
Reading Guide
Author's Note
Tour Information
AuthorTracker


Buy It Now
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Quote:

There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. - W. Somerset Maugham

I'm waiting to buy some books at Joseph-Beth in Lexington, but it's on it's way to me as a hold at the local library. I'll be able to start reading no later than Wednesday!
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Book: A garden carried in a pocket. Arabian Proverb

Wait, who's Christopher Moore?
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"Now I'm about to take off my shirt. A feeling of mild nausea IS normal."

UnimportantLime wrote:

Wait, who's Christopher Moore?

I heard he's a writer of some sort. What's this about a new book?
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I honestly never thought I would live this long. Now I don't know what to do with myself.

Finally got mine.

I'm not one of those lucky Moorons that read it a month ago.

I'm very excited.

Lenore wrote:

Finally got mine. I'm not one of those lucky Moorons that read it a month ago. I'm very excited.

Yeah, me neither.
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I honestly never thought I would live this long. Now I don't know what to do with myself.

jaandlu wrote:

Lenore wrote: Finally got mine. I'm not one of those lucky Moorons that read it a month ago. I'm very excited. Yeah, me neither.

Ja. Santa knows when you are being truthful or not.

Santa is an asshole. Don't even get me started. The best gift I got this year was about a month ago. I then proceeded to mail it on to it's next destination.
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I honestly never thought I would live this long. Now I don't know what to do with myself.

I got mine! HELL YEAH. i actually got ANOTHER copy of Lamb, too... I have given away about 6 copies to friends after getting them hooked...

i am a happy man now...
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rampant monkey collecting coconuts

I swore I wasn't going to get one until the signing. Nope, I had will power.

But when I leave work today, what happens? Brain and body go on autopilot while I'm listening to NPR. Next thing I know I'm pulling off the freeway and into the local Borders. This required at least ten minutes of my subconscious subverting the drive home, because I had to get on the freeway going south instead of north, and then get off at the right place.

So there I am, pulling into Arborland Mall and thinking "Hold off, boy, you're gonna buy a copy in Birmingham. But since you're here, you may as well check to see if they've got Alistaire Reynolds' Chasm City. " I walk through the front door, and what do I see? A nice but mostly depleted display of A Dirty Job, sitting in a place of honor and threatening to be sold out soon. Nonetheless I push past, head for the SF rack, find Chasm City, and head for the cash register, virtue intact.

But there's one last surprise waiting. One of the end cap displays in the "Literature" section is half-full of A Dirty Job. It's only half full because half the spaces are empty. I try to pass, but one copy leaps into my hand, flashing it's pretty fuscia carriage and screaming "Take me home, take me home, let me live next to your computer so I can watch the boardello!" Then it started threatening Reynolds life while sobbing incoherently about the pain of having to live on some strangers' shelf.

I tell ya, it's not my fault. And somebody's got to explain it to my wife.
Whoever it is, I hope they've got a better story than I do.

I just got home, and there it was, sitting between the storm and front doors. A box from Amazon! I haven't opened it yet, trying to act nonchalant, but it's not going to last.

Yup, I'm outta here with my trusty X-Acto knife to slice open the box and get that baby out of there.

I'm just getting it at the signing. I only had to wait four days, since we are the second city on the tour I think. If I buy it at the bookstore I get a better spot in the line, or so the bookstore people told me. I'm so excited!

Okay. It's out of the box, and what a beauty! A particularly nice touch is the black pages at the end to fill out the signature. Inspired! Great blurbs, too! I can't wait to read it!

Of course I have to because I'm starvin'. Must eat. And brains just don't do it for me.

Yippee! A new Chris Moore book!

< doing my happy dance >

Vromans called to say my book was in. I asked them to hold it for me until the signing. Then I pumped the girl for all the tricks of getting good seats. She was very helpful.

I'll not drive all the way across town until the 5th. I'll not drive all the way across town until the 5th. I'll not drive all the way across town. I'll not drive all the way … I'll not drive … I'll… drive…
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To Learn is to Know
To Know is to Love
To Love is our aim

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Why should we bother with immortality when we are eternal?

I thought I was going to have to wait forever to read it, with my lack of funds and all, but my friend (who I got into AG's books, props for me! Muwahaha.) bought it. And he let me read it first, so I have to finish my AP Music Theory work quick then go back to my room, get comfortable on my bed, and read it until I finish it. ^_^ Yaaaay new book!
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"Quack, damn you." - Mythbusters

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Slowly returning from the hell pit that is college. I hope. D: