Christian Moody, author of the debut story collection Lost in the Forst of Mechanical Birds, has had his work appear in Esquire, Alaska Quarterly Review, The Cincinnati Review, the Best New American Voices anthology, and the Best American Fantasy anthology. He lives in Indianapolis and works as Brand Director for an e-commerce company.
In his collection, he writes about climate change, surveillance, privacy, and technology. Mechanical Birds was the 2023 Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize winner.
We asked Moody to answer our recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers could get to know him and the works that shaped his life.
What was the first book you were obsessed with as a child?
The moment that hooked me: Lucy pushing past fur coats in the wardrobe, feeling fir needles and cold, then stepping into a winter wood at night, a lamppost shining in the distance. A substitute teacher read that scene to my first-grade class, and I begged for the book for months. It finally showed up in my Easter basket. I took it into the woods, sat on a mossy rock, and read all day – probably a little beyond my level. The religious undertones went over my head, but I loved the forest, the witch, the talking animals, the garden of statues. I still have that same copy of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. It’s inscribed by the Easter Bunny.
What book helped you through puberty?
I spent a lot of puberty with D&D manuals, making elaborate characters and campaigns I rarely actually played. I was also deep into a red-bound set of “The Works of…” volumes from 1928 by Black’s Readers Service Company – Poe, Ibsen, Hugo, Doyle, Chekhov – books my adoptive dad stole from my adoptive grandfather when he left home. They were probably meant more for display than reading, but I was trying hard to be pretentious and feel important. A lot of them I barely understood. Others – Poe, Chekhov, Doyle – worked some real storytelling magic. I still have many of them. They’re a bit moldering, but I can’t let them go.
What book do you think all teenagers should be assigned in school?
My mom and adoptive dad didn’t go to college, but they were readers. We had a wall of books: spy thrillers, crime novels, literary stuff, even a hippie sex book I’d quietly turn spine-to-the-wall when friends came over. I borrowed from that shelf constantly – especially the ones I thought they’d say no to. Which is why I’m not sure teenagers should be assigned books. That can backfire. Better to scatter good books like traps, or stash them in unlocked vaults labeled “Forbidden.” I used to “accidentally” leave books in my daughter’s path, and it worked. Reading should always feel a little subversive. A little beyond your years. Like you’re stealing secret knowledge.
If you were to teach a class on Damn Good Writing, what books would make the
Syllabus?
I’ve taught versions of this class before, and the hardest part is not projecting my middle-aged taste onto college sophomores. Their 20 isn’t my 20. I just want to get them hooked on reading. Many haven’t read that much yet. Books we’ve connected over include Educated by Tara Westover, Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, and Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. Also short stories like “Biology” by Kevin Wilson and “Nine Curves River” by R.F. Kuang. I love Piranesi by Susanna Clarke – my students didn’t, but my daughter and I read it out loud and loved it. Mostly, I just want people to find what lights them up, even if it’s not for me. When our tastes do overlap, it feels like rare magic.
What books helped guide you while writing your book?
The stories in my book span a long stretch. Some were written during my MFA in my twenties, others in my forties. George Saunders, who taught at my program, helped break open the idea that literary stories had to stick to realism. His work was a model for the near-future novella in my book; the main character, Ray, was even named George at first.
The title story of Lost in the Forest of Mechanical Birds draws on the King Arthur myths I read as a kid. A more recent story, The Go Seekers, is a sort-of romance built around a bizarre, decades-long game of hide-and-seek that slowly goes awry. It started as a writing exercise I gave my students the week we were reading Steven Millhauser — I love his obsessive lists and how his stories ladder toward increasing weirdness – and Maile Meloy’s sweeping love story “The Proxy Marriage.” Novelistic sweep, a dash of love, and a whole lot of hide-and-seek weirdness ended up in The Go Seekers.
What books are on your nightstand now?
I’ve been catching up on books I probably should’ve read years ago. True Grit was a recent, delightful page-turner. My daughter gave me the new Hunger Games prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping, and I liked it. Fahrenheit 451 is her assigned summer book for freshman year of high school. She loved it and was shocked I’ve never read it. That’s next. Literally sitting on my nightstand now, still uncracked: Bunny by Mona Awad and The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa. Hoping they’re great. No spoilers.