Lloyd Poast
Staff Writer

Novelist Chuck Palahniuk is about to embark on a book tour for his upcoming release, Beautiful You. The novel has a release date of October 21st and an evening with Chuck Palahniuk should not be missed for those lucky enough to live near one of his many stops. His tours are electric and amongst the most entertaining in literature.

The old cliché about never forgetting your first time is pretty much true. I know I’ll never forget mine. It was on May 25th, 2007 at 7:00 PM at The Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg, Canada. That was when I attended my first book reading and I can’t imagine it getting much better.

My wife and I were in the city for the weekend, and thanks to a quick flip through the local newspaper just prior to leaving for home, I noticed that Chuck Palahniuk was also in Winnipeg for his Rant tour. I excitedly told my wife about Invisible Monsters and about Lullaby, and of course that he wrote Fight Club, and asked if we could hang out in the city for a few more hours. She agreed and it was anything but the slow and quiet book reading she’d imagined. Author readings in Winnipeg are usually held in a book store, but the organizers were expecting much larger crowds than usual for Palahniuk and they were right. The theatre was rocking and fans were lined up to purchase autographed copies of Rant and put on a bridal headpiece to get photos with the author. Afterwards, he read two short stories, answered questions, asked trivia about his books and threw a few giant stuffed moose into the crowd to those that answered correctly, and even had a small tantrum or two when people interrupted him. Pure entertainment. Even my wife was impressed.

Since 2007 and Rant, Palahniuk has written several more novels such as Haunted, Pygmy, and his latest, Beautiful You. Beautiful You is a disturbing, satirical look at world domination through the art of female pleasure and is sure to be another controversial release that will both entertain and disgust.

Chuck Palahniuk is to literature what the Sex Pistols were to rock n’ roll-brash, controversial, and depending on your viewpoint, both repulsive and brilliant. The author may never incite a crowd into a frenzy and dive in front of bottles being thrown onstage the way Sid Vicious did in 1978, but unless he’s mellowed now that he’s surpassed fifty, I wouldn’t put it past him either.

BEAUTIFUL YOU TOUR DATES:

Seattle –Monday October 20 7:00 PM Third Place Books

San Francisco-Tuesday October 21 7:30 PM DNA Lounge

San Diego- Wednesday October 22 7:00 PM Mandeville auditorium at UCSD

Phoenix- Thursday October 23 7:00 PM Dobson High School Auditorium

Albuquerque-Monday October 27 7:00 PM University of New Mexico Student Ballroom

Boulder-Tuesday October 28 7:00 PM First Congregational Church

Salt Lake City- Wednesday October 29 8:00 PM University of Utah

Brooklyn-Friday October 31 7:00PM Powerhouse Arena

Saratoga Springs-Saturday November 1 7:00 PM Gannett Auditorium Skidmore College

Montreal Monday November 3 7:30 PM Indigo

Portland Saturday November 15 2:00 PM Powell’s *Book signing only*

Thank you, chuckpalahniuk.net for image.