After 14 books, including his hugely popular first novel, Fight Club, Chuck Palahniuk is bringing out his first collection of short stories, Make Something Up. Most possess the snarky, transgressive quality his books have become famous for, but a few show a bit of a warm side.
In "Knock-Knock," a boy inspired by Patch Adams's work with sick children tries to save his dad, who's dying of cancer, with jokes. Then there's the outrageous "Toad Prince," in which a young man serves as his own guinea pig in the art of genital modification. "Inclinations" is about an adolescent girl who equates getting pregnant with an ATM card. Her pro-life parents give her new cars to deliver the babies; her collection of vehicles grows along with the size of her bust.
One of the best stories is the enigmatic "Expedition," which alludes to being a prequel to Fight Club. Felix M. is a young writer who roams Hamburg's seedy streets at night. Fatherless, he needs to "grow guns in place of arms and a loaded cannon for a mouth." One evening he meets a man who speaks in an "attic faux-cabulary" (prithee and forsooth). His eyes have a "spark of orange mania," and he invites Felix to meet a "most loathsome monster."
There's plenty of irreverence here to match the enfant terrible quality Palahniuk fans enjoy, but he includes incisive, sensitive pieces in this collection as well. --Tom Lavoie, former publisher