Join the Fight Club

Chuck: live on Breakfast

As a writer Chuck Palahniuk may not be that familiar, yet it was his book that inspired the film version of the 1999 hit movie Fight Club which starred Brad Pitt.

Chuck is one of America's most innovative and original writers.

And his new book Diary - a Novel has just been published - the latest in his series of dark surreal satires.

Chuck Palahniuk came into the Breakfast studio this morning.

He told us about The Fight Club - and also mentioned that a number of people have fainted at his literary readings.

"Twenty seven people fainted in the US and two over fainted here in the UK," he explained, with a dry sense of humour: "I'm hoping that by the time I leave, the body count will be up to 35."

The fainting fits are caused by a twist in the tail of Chuck's short story - but it's probably best if we don't elaborate exactly what it's about.

Let's just say it's probably not suitable for children or those of a nervous disposition.

His latest book - Diary - a novel takes the form of a coma diary kept by Misty Marie Wilmot as her husband lies senseless after a suicide attempt.

One review says: "Once she was an art student dreaming of creativity and freedom; now, after marrying Peter at art school and being brought back to once quaint, now tourist-overrun Waytansea Island, she's been reduced to the condition of a resort hotel maid.

"Peter, it turns out, has been hiding rooms in houses he's refurbished and scrawling vile messages all over the walls - an old habit of builders but gone nuts on his part."

Biography

Chuck Palahniuk keeps his personal life very private

One of four kids, Chuck grew up in a 'dirt poor single-trailer family' in Washington state.

His Mother was an office manager and dad worked on the railroad - which came in handy because he was always first to know when a freight train derailed and the kids would all charge along there and help themselves to whatever they found.

He hates butterscotch as a result and had to do homework on pink paper for months. His parents separated when he was 14.

He went on to take a journalism degree and worked on a small Portland newspaper. This didn't pay much so he worked in a truck factory for 13 years.

He attended a writing workshop where an author told him the quality of his work meant he "could be one of the people who decide what our culture is".

And he thought why not be one of those people who makes things happen rather than waiting around for them to happen. So he wrote and has been massively successful.

Fight Club

Chuck says he wrote Fight Club "to offend, to shock and to punish all the people who wouldn't publish my good work".

He never thought it would get published but was thrilled when it was and then was also turned into a movie.

The only thing that ruined it for him was when the Director offered him a small role in the film "that would have made me physically sick", says Chuck.

The new novel continues his satirical look at contemporary American life and is described as a reinvention of the horror novel.

The book Diary was published on 4 September by Jonathan Cape; ISBN: 0224063898. Price £10.00