You know the drill, folks.  Every month a new book is selected and a new moderator steps up to lead the discussion.  This month, our reading is already underway on Richard Thomas' neo-noir Transubstantiate. 

After 3 years as a workshop regular and Master Class student, Richard Thomas placed his novel with a small press.  He's something of a success story from our site.  Hell, we even interviewed him about it.  (read it here)

If you've read Transubstantiate (or plan to) and would like to join in on the open discussion, simply:

Check Out Our Book Club

Here's a snippet from Oxyfication review:

Casual brutality, sex, and disorder: the heroes of noir have never been terribly endearing to the heart, but the seven nihilistic souls of Richard Thomas’ Transubstantiate seem like they were born ruined, and are likely to die that way. The story draws heavily on all the beloved accouterments of the neo-noir tradition—fractured narratives; cynicism; disorientation; ruthless beatings—but the story branches out into other areas, exploring themes of mysticism and the unknowable, even broaching the peripheral terrors of Lovecraftian horror.

Upcoming Book Club Selections!

If you'd like to get in on the action over at Book Club, you can see what we have planned down the line:

October 2010 - Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
November 2010 - Candy by Luke Davies
December 2010 - Blank Gaze (or The Implacable Order of Things) by Jose Luis Peixoto
January 2011 - Invisible by Paul Auster
February 2011 - Out of Touch by Brandon Tietz
March 2011 - Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis
April 2011 - Victoria by Knut Hamsun
May 2011 - Stranger Will by Caleb Ross
June 2011 - We Are Oblivion by Michael Sonbert

All discussions are open to anyone.  You just need to be registered to the site so you can login to our forums, where the threads for each book discussin are kept.

If you have any questions about Book Club, you may post them in the forums and our moderator Pete Goutis will be quick to help you out.

Check Out Our Book Club

Writers Digest has just published a funny Top 10 from Chuck Palahniuk in their latest issue.  The topic is "The Top 10 Things That Would Make the Writing World a Better Place'.

The list is not available on their site but we've included a picture of it here.  You can click the image to make it larger and probably make out all of the content.  Either way, we suggest you go pick up this latest issue.  You can also visit them online at WritersDigest.com.

Props to Kasey Carpenter for finding us this one. read more »

Zen Mind Fiction Workshop Returns in September. 
If you missed the summer session, this is your last chance
this season to take our fastest on-ramp to craft proficiency.

Urgent Update: SOLD OUT: Congratualtions to those on-board and welcome to the journey ahead.  You'll get an orientation e-mail early on Thursday.

Sign Up Here.

Class Dates: September 9th - October 7th

Endorsement: 

I took part in the first one and was very happy. The knowledge that Vig imparts is second to none, and he will exceed any expectations you might have.

There is nowhere else in the world where someone with his level of experience will give you one on one feedback for this kind of money.

If you are a person that thinks that you might be a good writer, but are unsure of how to get a story started or finished this is the workshop for you. If you are already an accomplished writer, it is also a great way to refresh some fundamentals and maybe pick up something new.

-Jason C., Conyers, Georgia

Virtual Classroom Modality:

This intensive online class rolls 24 hours per day for a full month.  Instead of scheduled chat sessions that imitate a traditional classroom, we take full advantage of our format to accommodate every possible schedule on the globe.  We'll have some phone conferencing available to build our sense of conntection, but well over 90 percent of this class will be delivered in an asynchronous and text-driven fashion.  You'll get a dedicated private forum where you can log in whenever possible to read the latest updates, post your assignments, and pose questions.

You'll get four distinct lecture/assignment combos that kick off each week, plus you'll get some bonus material.  The deadlines for each written assignment will be important, but you'll generally have at least three days from the time of posting to complete a written assignment.  Work on your own schedule, and make this class work around anything else that's going on.  If a day slips past when you just can't log in, you simply come back the next day and read everything you missed. 

The more time you can make for the class, the more you'll get from the experience, but nothing should prevent you from streamlining this class into the rest of your life.  And that's one major advantage of taking an online course over the traditional classroom with its set meeting times.  We cater to adult learners who often have jobs and many competing responsibilities, and we cater to gifted writers from all over the Anglophonic world, including Australia and New Zealand, which sit quite opposite from most U.S. timezones.  The open format simply makes sense.

What We'll Cover:

Big-picture items included, such as philosophy, lifestyle, habits, how to get unblocked, and where we go as writers (metaphorically, internally) in the quest for big ideas.

But the Devil is in the details.  We'll also cover many fine-tuned issues of the writer's craft.  This course will help you identify any weak points in your writing that hold you back.  We'll dig into very basic and necessary aspects, such as sentence construction, the strength of your verbs, achieving balance in your use of descriptive elements and modifiers, and how to construct effective dialogue.  And it doesn't stop there.

Sign Up Now   or continue with the letters below.

  read more »

We're moving distinctly into the homestretch now with our Anthology Project. The stories linked below are top selections from October, 2009 (yes, we're a little behind). Be sure to read Chuck's commentaries, as each set of notes contains illuminating lessons in the writer's craft.

Face Space by Brandon Tietz

Control by Chris Smith

Paper by Gayle Gossett

Dumb Muscle by Gus Moreno

Dyer by Richard Thomas

Congratulations to all the winners!

If you'd like to participate in our ground-breaking workshop, read exclusive How To craft essays from Chuck and just network and meet other writers,

Join Our Writer's Workshop

This is pretty spectacular.  It's by an artist named Dave MacDowell.  To check out more of his work, visit:

The Acryllic Paintings of Dave MacDowell

He's also got a store on that site where you can buy prints.

Props to @omfgthelife on Twitter for pointing this one out.

How's this for an endorsement!?  imjustinescolon , one of our site members, just showed us how much she loves the Invisible Monsters Tshirt Kevin Tong designed for us... by having it tattooed on her thigh!

If you like the design, but aren't ready to tattoo it on ya just yet, you can Buy The Shirt Here. read more »

This is one of the better trailer spoofs I've ever seen. Imagine a version of Ferris Bueller's Day Off where Ferris was all in Cameron's mind... sort of like someone else we know.

This was inspired by an article SlashFilm ran last year.

Video Props: ClassyHands

Our favorite affiliate, St. Helen's Book Shop, is the best place to not only order Chuck Palahniuk books online, but to also have them personally signed and inscribed to you by the man himself!  (yes, Chuck visits the store quite frequently to fulfill online inscription requests).  Usually our promotions for St. Helen's Book Shop have to do with a new novel, but this time, Chuck is signing copies of an anthology of short stories edited by Neil Gaiman!  The anthology features a short story Chuck read on tour in the past called The Loser.

Here are the details from St. Helen's themselves.  (and hurry, they only have 100 of these!)

*****

From July 6 - July 13, all of our Fight Club Tshirts are on sale for only $15.  These shirts were designed by top L.A. designer, Kevin Tong.  The make is Next Level Apparel and they are available in all sizes in both Men's and Women's.

The Men's shirts come in Cornflower Blue and Cream.  The Women's come in Cornflower Blue and Pink.

Check out the design in a high-rez close-up.

*Tshirts will ship within 1 week of your order.

Order Your Shirts Here!

Model For Us! Snap a pic of yourself wearing your Tshirt upon receipt and we'll post it on our site!  Send your pic(s) to submissions@chuckpalahniuk.net and be sure to include your name, as you'd like it credited.

Order Your Shirts Here!

Dear Unknown Cult Writer,

We understand that you're something more than a Palahniuk fan, that your literary tastes are wide and varied, and you habituate The Cult for the company of equally articulate souls. Sometime curmudgeon, sometime enthusiast, and sometimes both, you entertain with your forum posts and make friends well. Your generosity isn't obscured by the occasional dark turn of mood or minor topical quibbling. Maybe you’ve endeared yourself to the community here with casual posting, or maybe you’ve only lurked and read things and admired or disputed silently against this multiplicity of voices. But you've hesitated to take that additional step toward our Workshop and the many writing intensives and master classes we've offered in recent years, and this is something that gnaws at you a bit. If it doesn't, then go directly to General Discussion and read or post anything. But if I've piqued your curiosity at all, then I'm talking directly to you. This letter is dedicated explicitly to those who've felt the urge but not the readiness to join our Writing Community. read more »