Sensible Erection | Guts - A new short story by Chuck Palahniuk

Saturday, 13 March 2004

Guts - A new short story by Chuck Palahniuk

quote [ Inhale.

Take in as much air as you can.

This story should last about as long as you can hold your breath, and then just a little bit longer. So listen as fast as you can. ]

A brilliant, funny and very graphic new story from Chuck Palahniuk (you know, the guy who wrote 'Fight Club'). Warning, it's not pretty and if you're a guy it may leave you feeling very tender.

Also check out "I dare you" an accompanying interview with Palahniuk where he talks about all the people who have fainted during his public readings.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,1167109,00.html

[art] [by Robyn@2:07amGMT] [+10 Good]

Comments

vagabond said @ 2:16am GMT on 13th Mar
Nice thumb ;D

blacksun said @ 2:23am GMT on 13th Mar
Portland - Oregon. fuck

azusa27 said @ 2:35am GMT on 13th Mar
If you have or can get ahold of the march playboy read the full story, gets alot more omg wtf.

consumer2 said @ 2:36am GMT on 13th Mar
Chuck Palahniuk is the man. What a crazy indivisual.
I read all of this books, althought I hate reading.
I got his autograph in the book Lullaby too.

rotcjeeplist said @ 2:40am GMT on 13th Mar
Wasn't impressed by the story, but this is a good follow-up to articles I'd read about the "fainting" spectacle.

mzxfan said @ 2:46am GMT on 13th Mar
I'm glad I live in portland. this guy is one of the greatest storytellers I know.

von_brandis said @ 3:02am GMT on 13th Mar
the kid shoving wax down his pisshole and it collecting all the minerals in his kidneys freaked me out. i passed a kidney stone at age 23. the most pain i ever felt. i haven't cringed while reading something for a long time...

anonyme said @ 3:32pm GMT on 22nd Feb
and you didn't cringe when the narrator gnawed his own intestines off???

Chop-Logik said @ 3:35am GMT on 13th Mar
Awesome. Love chuck.

Mr. Langosta said @ 4:05am GMT on 13th Mar
Someone posted an audio file/hotlink of Chuck reading with this story awhile back. It's buried in the comments of a post somewhere.

The story has it's moments but I'd have to say that when it walks the line between shock and thought-provoking, it ends up more on the shock side, and worse off for it.

jornin said @ 8:25pm GMT on 13th Mar
That was me, it moved since I posted it last but I found it here with a few other odds and ends
http://mirror.gominosensei.org/audio/
no longer a hot link

1isper said @ 9:44am GMT on 13th Mar
I am a big fan of Fight club but I never read any of his books. This short story had the same kind of twisted humor as Fight Club. I loved it. Maybe I should look into some of his books. Any recommendations?

chrisjvr said @ 9:46am GMT on 13th Mar
i think Survivor was picked as the book to read this past month. Is that book club thing still going on here?

1isper said @ 9:54am GMT on 13th Mar
Excellent! I just ordered it off amazon.
Thanks

verycleanteeth said @ 4:05pm GMT on 13th Mar
I reminded nip a couple of days ago, but he hasn't posted it yet....
Mayhaps I'll interject.

BlightCrawler said @ 12:45pm GMT on 13th Mar
I was at one of his public readings. That's not even half of the whole story. The excerpt is probably a quarter.

It get's much, much worse. The title becomes even more appropriate as the story shifts to a longer telling of a specific masturbation horror story. I can't really explain it without spoiling it for those who do plan to read it, but it involves being stuck at the bottom of a pool.

At the outset (and after the selections in the Guardian article) I thought there was no way any person could faint or get sick from a story read. They must have been Chuck fanatics or something. I'm just someone who likes a few of his books, and enjoyed the movie. I'll be fine. I was wrong. It was very tough to get through. No one fainted or threw up at the reading I was at. Though, towards the end of the story, I definitely felt woozy and nauseous. I could see if someone had eaten recently or had a graphic imagination would be effected. I wasn't sure if I would make it through unscathed. It doesn't even compare to carrots and wax kidney stones, although I'm sure him reading it and being in a room full of people didn't help.

As for books, Fight Club is actually the one I liked the least, possibly because I think the movie was better (a rare event) and the book's ending wasn't very good. Survivor is very good (but another one with a bad ending), Choke is my favorite. I haven't read his other three yet (Invisible Monsters, Lullaby, and the latest Diary).

v21 said @ 9:48pm GMT on 13th Mar
Chuck Palahniuk is the man. What a crazy indivisual.
I read most of this books, althought I like reading.
I got his autograph in the book Lullaby too.

dagfari said @ 11:00am GMT on 7th Aug
Uh... who are you two?

tobishe said @ 1:52am GMT on 14th Mar
I read this aloud to my GF and neither of us passed out...
But that means nothing until you try it for yourselves:

http://www.freewebs.com/reverendbeastly/guts.htm

angstless said @ 11:27am GMT on 14th Mar
i didn't pass out, i found it hilarious. i suggest listening to him read it and reading the story yourself at the same time. good stuff, but for the life of me i can't seem to understand the spiritual connection :p