A Damned good book reading

“The world is filled with beautiful, elegant, tasteful stories. Tonight will not be one of them,” began author Chuck Palahniuk at his book reading at the Bagdad Theater Oct. 18.

The downstairs was entirely packed with a crowd of fans that overflowed into the balcony; over 350 people arrived to hear Palahniuk, one of the Northwest’s most famous and controversial authors, read from his latest novel, Damned. The reading kicked off Palahniuk’s cross-continent, informally titled “Blow Your Brains Out” book tour.

Palahniuk, who penned cult classics such as Fight Club (1996) and Choke (2001), has returned with a new novel to satisfy the devil in all of us.

Damned tells the story of a young girl named Madison who wakes up and finds herself condemned to hell. She must discover why she was sent there and how to escape.

Alongside local author Lidia Yuknavitch, author of The Chronology of Water, Palahniuk answered questions from fans, read from his collection and blew people’s minds. The event, organized by Powell’s Books, showcased the talent of the two local authors.

Yuknavitch, a friend and colleague of Palahniuk, called him “my weekly writing buddy and the guy I can’t ever flirt with.”

The Chronology of Water is a memoir that tells of Yuknavitch’s hardships growing up and the trauma she faced at the hands of her peers. Her colorful tale is in the same spirit of Palahniuk’s books, telling a story of addiction, pain, forgiveness and love.

Yuknavich described her work as “serious fucking revenge stories.”

Palahniuk and Yuknavitch took turns asking each other questions submitted by users on Powells.com. The questions ranged from silly to intimate, insightful to just plain stupid.

Palahniuk began by discussing his relationship to critics and reviewers.

“It’s never that there was this golden era of Fight Club where I got great reviews. I’ve never gotten anything but bad reviews,” Palahniuk laughed. “The secret to my success is one enormous, incredible failure after another.”

Palahniuk, who has written 13 novels, has thrown away all of his drafts, copies and memorabilia from his previous works. He has donated the infamous yin-yang coffee table from the Fight Club film set to the Pixie Project, a local non-profit organization that assists animals in need.

“That history of me as a writer is gone now,” Palahniuk said.

Palahniuk is famous not only for his novels—his book tours are notorious. During the tour for his novel Haunted, many audience members were shocked by his short story “Guts,” which Palahniuk read at every stop.

Palahniuk shared a variety of horror stories from his tours. Highlights included being assaulted with mice and accused of murder.

At a book event in Lexington, Ky., for example, a man assaulted Palahniuk with a copy of his novel Rant after Palahniuk refused to sign a bible for a fan.

“He hit me right in the nose with the spine of the book, and I started bleeding like a stuck pig,” Palahniuk recalled.

During an event in Brighton, U.K., Palahniuk was almost foiled by technology. Sharing the stage with Irvine Welsh, author of cult-classic Trainspotting, he was unable to read his copy of “Guts” for a very special reason.

“I had printed the story with the last of my ink, so the words were in bright red ink,” he explained. “I get onstage and they shine a red spotlight on me. Now, looking at red words in red light—you are looking at a blank page.”

Yet Palahniuk pulled through, managing to recite all 11 pages of the story from memory.

Palahniuk closed the night at the Bagdad with a reading of his short story Romance, available to readers in the August 2011 issue of Playboy.

The story is about two lovers, each of whom has their own flaws that they overcome in the name of love. Yet he gives his own twist on this classic story and fills it with all of the bodily functions and brazen wit his readers have come to expect.

The event concluded with a contest among audience members who inflated plastic brains and skeletons in keeping with the morbid theme of his book tour. The winners received copies of some of Palahniuk’s favorite books.

Signed copies of Damned are available at Powell’s. Copies can additionally be found on Amazon.com. Palahniuk will continue his book tour across North America for the next two months.