Came across this collection of short stories and poems twice this week, which eventually led me to check it out at Borders (Santana Row) where it was prominently displayed

- First was a very hyped up interview he did for a radio where it was said that he was absolutely foulmouthed but it ended up being a couple of expletives.

- 2nd I TiVo'd Chuck's appearance on Craig Ferguson's late night show. Chuck looked a lot skinnier and nerdier than the picture often seen on his book jacket (the one where he wears a sweater and he looks.. larger)

These two things did have something in common, they described a particular story, Guts which had the singular quality to make people faint when he was doing public readings across the country (world?)

About Guts
I was very interested by the premise and proceeded to check it out (I looked for it in the table of contents but it was the first story.. doh). The short stories are by Palahniuk but in the voices of the different protagonists, holed up in a writing retreat.

The man in question talks about his friends' and ultimately his own weird experiments in masturbation. I'm not sure if it was the placebo effect of having heard of the story's effect but I was feeling strangely queasy and hot as I went through the first two anecdotes (carrot and wax). It was very strange but I think I did indeed experience a strong reaction to the story. I think I only repelled its effect by the fact that I am incapable of not skimming through something I read. It's pretty short and sweet though, like 8 pages. If the rest of the collection is this good (doubtful), this is gold

While Guts get most of the glory of this collection, I thought Slumming was pretty impressive though it has the usual storyarc structure of Chuck P. It sorta blew me away


Haunted reminded me a bit of Stranger Than Fiction in style, the horror angle is very prominent and nicely done

I got my copy signed (on the first page of Guts) at the reading for Rant