Chuck Palahniuk in Austin

Chuck Palahniuk describes himself as a lint trap for bizarre stories. He told a few of these in Austin yesterday while promoting his new book, Snuff. Attendees of the event were also treated to a reading of a new unpublished short story called Loser and a look at the trailer for the upcoming movie Choke based on his novel.

During an interview with Sean O'Neal (editor of The Onion A.V. Club) he was asked if he was a nihilist writing horrific stories purely for shock value. He strongly denied this and even went so far as to call himself a romantic. But maybe I missed something, like a hint of sarcasm in this statement. The description of the new book Snuff expresses my skepticism. But regardless of his motivation, his novels are fun reads and I’m sure I’ll tear through this latest one by the end of the weekend.