Recently, Chuck told me about a new memoir being released called The Chronology of Water. The memoir was written by a friend and fellow workshop member of Chuck's named Lidia Yuknavitch.  Being that Chelsea Cain (Heartsick) and Monica Drake (Clown Girl) are two other fellow workshoppers that also came recommended from Chuck, I quickly perked up my ears.

It seems Lidia is hitting the road to promote this new memoir, and may also be touring with Chuck for his Damned tour later on in the year. Here's a blurb from Chuck about The Chronology of Water and then below are the tour dates.

"I'm not a fan of memoir -- most autobiography contains more untruth than fiction --but Lidia's a terrific writer and she demonstrates how bold good storytelling can be." - Chuck Palahniuk

The book was released by Hawthorne Press on April 1st.

Order 'The Chronology of Water'

Here are Lidia's tour dates:
(apologies, as I'm posting this a few days late) read more »

You know the drill, folks.  Every month a new book is selected and a new moderator steps up to lead the discussion.  This month, we will be reading and discussing Victoria by Knut Hamsun.  Purchase 'Victoria' here!

From the back cover:

When it first appeared in 1898, this fourth novel by celebrated Norwegian writer Knut Hamsun captured instant acclaim for its poetic, psychologically intense portrayal of love’s predicament in a class-bound society. Set in a coastal village of late nineteenth- century Norway, Victoria follows two doomed lovers through their thwarted lifelong romance. Johannes, the son of a miller, finds inspiration for his writing in his passionate devotion to Victoria, an impoverished aristocrat constrained by family loyalty. Separated by class barriers and social pressure, the fated pair parts ways, only to realize—too late—the grave misfortune of their lost opportunity. Elegantly rendered in this brand-new translation by Sverre Lyngstad, Victoria’s haunting lyricism and emotional depth remain as timeless as ever.

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For three years, Chuck Palahniuk contributed to our ground breaking online Writers Workshop (which he also helped conceive, btw) with 36 writing essays.  These are lessons from a best-selling author on how to improve your craft as a writer... the types of lessons they teach in $20,000+ MFA writing programs.  

To look back and celebrate these exclusive essays, each month we are "unlocking" one and offering it for free on the site.  Normally you would need a Workshop Membership to view these essays, but until you're ready to make that important commitment, we'll offer you one of these a month. 

For April, we have Nuts and Bolts: Hiding a Gun, an essential skill to the writer's arsenal that university writing courses almost never touch upon. Learn to identify and use multiple forms, including the Big Question, the Physical Process, and the Clock.

Read 'Nuts & Bolts: Hiding a Gun'

"Do you hunger, Saint Merrin? Here, I give to you nectar and ambrosia, I give to you the food of your God!" croaked the demon. It excreted diarrhetically, mocking, "For this is my body! Now consecrate that, Saint Merrin!"

O Exorcist. Patron saint of possession, most iconic. Many a viceroy has come now, mimicking your monarch but I confess: they are all merely well-mannered pales, having one on you with their possessed girls and doubting priests, their body horror and murder. Though some strangely incorporate scenes in barns, sadly none have enough fantastical cussing. Most importantly, none have Linda Blair bellowing demonically about cocks in hell. Check: mate.

The Exorcist was strictly verboten in my house growing up. My mother refused to even talk about it, instead saying only, "It's evil." while maintaining a very clear position that I was never, ever to see it. Not never. Not like, you can't see Jaws, ever, until you're 13 and chaperoned by us. Never never. Unflinching. Glare and the sign of the cross at the mention. This is how serious some Catholics are about this movie, loyal to their Church who was mortified by its existence, and like any good Catholic, she would hatefully ignore the problem in the hope it would dissolve on its own. read more »

Somehow I missed this one. I guess I shouldn't beat myself up since Fight Club continues to become one of the most spoofed and homaged films of the past 15 years. This spoof comes by way of The Girls on Film.  Here's their bio from their YouTube channel:

The Girls on Film is the earth-shattering, mind-blowing trio of professional actors Ashleigh Harrington, Cat McCormick and Jeff Hammond.

We're recreating awesome movie scenes between men, with women playing their parts. Its our innovative way of sharing our passion for storytelling and injecting our own personal cocktail of fun and friskiness throughout the galaxy.

We are in the process of remaking all of our favourite guy-on-guy movie scenes for your viewing pleasure. Please share with us your favourite male scenes so our fabulous team can make them too.

For more information, join us at our blog: http://www.thegirlsonfilm.com

Our favorite affiliates and friends, St. Helens Book Shop are having a very awesome and unique promotion.  They have recently acquired a number of foreign language books, signed by Chuck, and they are now offering them up for sale!  They are new/unread books, but have been sitting in storage at Chuck's place for several years, so they vary in condition.

The books have been graded them into 4 price categories of $5, $10, $15, and $20, based on quality and condition, and they are grouped by language within the price category.They  have cover images for many of them, but not all, so if you have any questions about the details of a particular book, feel free to email their Orders Manager at order at sthelensbookshop dot com.

So what are you waiting for?  Get over to St. Helens today!  The cut-off for this promotion is April 10th!

Order Signed Foreign Language Books Here!

St. Helen's has also launched their promo on signed pre-orders of Chuck's upcoming novel Damned!  Damned will not be out until October 18th, but Chuck will sign and personally inscribe (you have this option on the St. Helen's site) your pre-order for you and when it ships, it will be signed to you, with your personal inscription included!

Pre-Order 'Damned' Signed & Personally Inscribed Here!

Fear, Death and The Psychology of Fight Club

Fear is the mind-killer; it is the little-death that brings total obliteration. Whether you are a soldier on the battlefield or a housewife cornered by a cockroach, it is a formidable foe. It can heighten your senses, providing a performance enhancing jolt of adrenaline, yet it can also cause your body to completely shut down on itself. They say only the strong survive, but the many x-factors associated with the fear response pose a danger to even the most well prepared individual. Despite this, good old fashioned knowledge is still your best defense in a dangerous situation. And nobody is more aware of that fact than science writer/outdoor adventurer Jeff Wise.

Wise is currently a contributing editor at both Travel + Leisure and Popular Mechanics. He has also written for the likes of Details, Esquire, National Geographic Adventure and The New York Times Magazine, to name an illustrious few. Throughout his career he has repeatedly put himself in harms way for the sake of a good story (not to mention his own personal enjoyment), tackling everything from skydiving to dog sledding to piloting a WWII fighter plane. He recently distilled his years of experience and turned a critical eye towards the science behind the adventure. The result is Extreme Fear: The Science Of Your Mind In Danger, an investigation into what H.P. Lovecraft called the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind. read more »

Check out this awesome book cover for Invisible Monsters designed by Elyse Boutall.  This was part of an art project where Elyse had to read the book and then create a book cover illustration for it.  See a high res version of Elyse' design here.  And check out more of her work on her official site.

I have a soft spot for fan submitted artwork.  In the early days of The Cult, the largest section we hosted on the site was the Fan Submissions section.  It was loaded to the core with banners, portraits, wallpapers, and my favorite... book covers & dust jackets.  

Check out some of them in our Fan Submission Gallery.

And as always, if you have a Book Cover you designed that you'd like to submit, send it to submissions @ chuckpalahniuk. net.

"Ah, let the right one slip in, slip in, slip in.

And when at last it does, I'd say you were within your rights

to bite the right one and say, what kept you so long?,

What kept you so long?"

If you ever just see Let the Right One In, you've had a nearly perfect film experience. If you've also read the book, you've had the whole enchilada. It's not necessary, but it never hurts. The democratic whole shebang. Look, allow me to illuminate, readers: I will just tell you what the book adds, where it differs in a way that would interest you, probably crush a little hard on the movie, and Matt Reeves is a douchebag.

While we are on the subject, and since you asked for my opinion, I have never seen the American remake, Let Me In. And I won't be, ever. And I'm only half a snob when it comes to Americanized versions: I prefer the American version of the Japanese Ringu, for example, and enjoyed Haneke's shot for shot remake of his own German Funny Games. I liked it the first time, too, and his bristled contempt for an American audience was gleeful. For every Ringu there is a Grudge, and for every Funny Games there is a painful The Vanishing. To remake a beautiful film for Western audiences just so they don't have to do any of that bothersome reading stuff or look at an albino for 90 minutes, and will pay handsomely for anything vampire related, especially if it already has great word of mouth, is a dreadful grab for ducats. I knew that they were just giving people lip service when they changed Eli's name. Eli. Yeah, it's weird to the Swedish kid, too, but there's a reason it's a strange name for a girl. Reeves was all, yeah, I want to be true to the book and stuff, faithful to the source and stuff, and yeah we're changing Eli's name to Abby. One of these things is not like the other. He had a good cast. There are my $.02. So, feel free to discuss your opinions down yonder re: Reeves's gilded lily bastardization. Moving on to the good stuff! read more »

Georgie's Big Break is a short film directed by Andy Mingo, based on a story by Monica Drake (Clown Girl).  And guess who's in it?  I'll give you a hint: his name is this website.  Yep, Chuck, along with a host of other local writers (Chelsea Caine, Lidi Yuknavitch) play themselves in the film.

Here's the IMDB summary for Georgie's Big Break:

Featuring Northwest literary stars Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), New York Times bestselling author, Chelsea Cain (Heartsick), and Willy Vluatin (The Motel Life), Georgie's Big Break is about the high hopes of a single mother, a woman living the life of the body as she raises her infant. She makes a fresh foray back to the world of ideas through Portland's largest literary festival. With a mix of comedy and genuine emotion, this film offers a showcase of some of Portland's hottest talent. Based on a story written by Monica Drake (author of Clown Girl) and adapted and directed by Andy Mingo.

Andy is gearing up for the festival circuit, but the film is still listing as 'In Post Production' so I'm not sure yet where it's playing or where you can see it.  I was curious to get some words from Chuck himself on it though.  Here's what he had to say: read more »