At the end of the interview, Chuck Palahniuk asked if we’d mind if he plugged something he cares a lot about–animal rescue. All over the country animal shelters have had  to deal with more and more animals being abandoned due to financial hardship.

Lemurians have a long history of working with animal shelters in the area, namely Pat who has worked at Lemuria for over 18 years. When she’s not at Lemuria, she’s helping the City of Jackson Animal Shelter. It seemed natural for us to devote a separate blog post to the cause.

Here’s what Chuck has to say:

I’d like to plug a topic that lies very close to my cold, dead raisin of a heart.

In 1998, during the filming of “Fight Club” I teased the director David Fincher about the fact that he couldn’t use actual Ikea furniture in his film. Due to copyright liability, 20th Century Fox had to hire artists to make very expensive, slightly differing copies of the furniture in question. This included a hand-made, two-thousand-dollar version of the “Yin Yang” coffee table which sold at Ikea for, like, sixteen dollars. Actually, the artist had to make three: One was exploded, one was partially burned and is visible in the post-fire wreckage of the narrator’s condo, but the third is the table clearly visible in the long panning shot that’s designed to suggest a catalogue page. It’s this third, pristine, table that Fincher sent me as a joke. It has sat in my office for a decade, and this fall it will be auctioned for charity.

Amy Hempel

As the economy falters, record numbers of dogs and cats are being abandoned. My only hero, the glorious writer and person Amy Hempel, has written an astounding essay on the situation and on her volunteer work to rescue animals. Please watch for Amy’s essay, “A Full-Service Shelter”, in the next issue of Electric Literature, but be warned: It will hurt to read.

Although I adore my stupid hand-made table, all the money raised by its sale will go to a no-kill shelter called “The Pixie Project.” Edward Norton is also donating auction items related to the “Fight Club” film, and our hope is that these animals, as Marla Singer would say, “… once loved intensely, and now dumped at the side of the road…” will find lives and futures to share in new homes.

For more information, please check out the Pixie Project at www.pixieproject.org

I’ll shut up now.

-Chuck Palahniuk

Join us at Hal & Mal’s tonight. Get the details & times here.

Craig Noone, you shared your drive and your mission for Jackson. Your spirit touched us all, young and old, with a relentless drive. Your overwhelming creativity inspired us to put out more effort. With great loss and deep sadness, I hope your spirit continues to drive Jackson onward as we pick up your banner for Jackson. God speed and peace be with you.

With our collaborative effort–including Hal & Mal’s, Fischer Galleries, Cathead Vodka, Parlor Market, and The Flying Chair–we are thrilled to offer a unique and unconventional evening on Thursday with Chuck Palahniuk. In this spirit, we acknowledge Craig’s strength and his positive impact on the city of Jackson.

Parlor Market re-opens tonight at 5:30 and our thoughts are with all of the family and PM gang. Keep It Cookin’!

Life’s a carnival; two bits a shot. What better way to soothe the post State Fair hangover than with a double shot of Transgressive fiction and a little literary exploration of bad behavior in your favorite downtown gathering place?

Hal & Mal’s is thrilled to be the host for the upcoming Chuck Palahniuk’s DAMNED book night. Over the past 27 years, we have presented thousands of hours of live music and hosted many of the major cultural happenings in town. This DAMNED event promises to be one for the history book. We understand that Palahniuk is a global, non-conventional literary wordsmith and that having him include Lemuria and Jackson in his tour is a major coup and having him bring his bad ass downtown is an honor.

If you’re curious about the crossroad where pop cultural embraces counterculture through a genre that claims the likes of Dostoyevsky and the publicly banned classic works like James Joyce’s Ulysses, then you might like Palahniuk’s pedigree. If you were intrigued by D. H. Lawrence’s tale of Lady Chatterley’s Lover or Henry Miller’s sexual odyssey Tropic of Cancer and the ensuing landmark obscenity trials, you might like Chuck Palahniuk.

Remember the explicit work of Allen Ginsberg’s 1955 poem Howl, William S. Burroughs’ hallucinatory, satirical 1959 novel Naked Lunch or Charles Bukowski’s tales of womanizing, drinking, and gambling? Throw in a ticket to the midway, a peek at the world’s smallest horse and bag of fried Oreos and I think you get the drift. Now top it off with a half pint of Dickel, a Mr. Turkey Leg and A Clockwork Orange and you’re on your way. So, STEP RIGHT UP to your neighborhood bar and order a long drink of the dark side with a splash of Palahniuk.

Photograph by David Sandison

Charles Michael Palahniuk was born in the Pacific Northwest of suicide fog and the hauntingly, complex music of Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and the inspiration for the sad, but iconic 1960’s song White Bird by It’s A Beautiful Day. He is said to have grown up in a mobile home in and around Burbank, Washington with his family. His bio says his parents later separated and divorced, reportedly often leaving him and his siblings to live with their grandparents at their cattle ranch in Eastern Washington State. His paternal grandfather was Ukrainian and immigrated to New York from Canada in 1907.

Back in the ole USA, we understand that Lemuria is celebrating 36 years of being one of the finest independent book stores in America and that John Evans is not only dedicated, but frankly obsessed, about maintaining that status. For that we are thankful and we are delighted to be partnering with John and Lemuria on this outrageous and rumpus occasion.

I saw and experienced The New Orleans Bingo Show last week at a showcase in Baton Rouge and can attest that they are the perfect act to accompany Chuck’s shock-a-rama that will be the centerpiece of the DAMNED book event on October 20th. Praise the Lord and pass the Cat Head. (Read their own blog here.)

Hal & Mal’s has hosted a generation of iconic figures like Albert King, Ike Turner and Barry Hannah, Eudora Welty and Willie Dixon and Willie Morris too. We have rolled out the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, hosted John Grisham’s first book signing and sold out two Snoop Dogg shows. We once hosted a literary luncheon event in conjunction with Lemuria and Jubilee JAM featuring Larry Brown. Larry selected one of his darkest, most graphic tales of the underbelly of lower Appalachian life that hastily cleared the room of the nice society ladies of north Jackson gathered to support “the arts”.

Zita White, proud employee of Lemuria and part-time “door dog” at Hal & Mal’s has taken great pride in her dual role in making the Palahniuk DAMNED event come to pass. Zita has long been a fan and devotee’ of Chuck’s work and has worked with John and the great staff at Lemuria to make this possible. Her passion and exuberance in this collaboration reminds us of the early days of Hal & Mal’s when we worked with the University Press of Mississippi’s Bookfriends, presenting Mose Allison and Barry Hannah on the same stage, or Willie Dixon’s book signing for I Am The Blues event with blues giant Jack Owens providing the music.

And who can forget Willie Morris’ 60th birthday with The Tangents on stage, a roomful of New York City literati trying to figure out how to eat a hot tamale. Or Willie and JoAnne’s wedding party where Michigan poet and novelist Jim Harrison showed up after a Lemuria book signing then wrote a rollicking piece for Esquire Magazine about the evening. Unbeknown to all, young Zita slept soundly through most of this in the office with her favorite stuffed animal, perhaps dreaming of the day she and Chuck would take center stage and turn it up LOUD.

Literary great Jim Harrison, little Zita, and her dad Malcolm

Join us on October 20th if you dare. The evening will feature a visual arts show, organized by Marcy Nessel of Fischer Galleries, hypnotic drinks by Cat Head Vodka, and bites of brilliance by Craig Noone’s Parlor Market krewe.

Live local music of Bloodbird, Harrington, and SPACEWOLF will fill the night air on the courtyard, and The New Orleans Bingo Show will delight the patrons of the damned as the evening becomes the late night.

The art created to promote the whole maladventure is from pen and mind of Justin Schultz. Signed posters will be available from Justin and signed books by Chuck as well.

And somewhere in the maelstrom, the brilliant barker of the transgressive midway, Chuck Palahniuk, will take the stage and do his racy, soothsaying, sophisticated sideshow, sell some books and pontificate on the state of the misfits, the maleficent and the glorious bad behavior of society. Feeling lucky? Ladies and Gentlemen, STEP RIGHT UP!

JX//RX

Get all the details for Chuck Palahniuk’s Damned Book Night here.

See all of our other Chuck Palahniuk blogs here.

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Liz Sullivan, one of our reps from Random House, joins our blogging efforts devoted to Chuck Palahniuk, acknowledging the “wee bit” of excitement that has spread through the store like a fever. -Lisa, Blog Editor

As I mentioned in the first “Operation Chuck” post, I took it upon myself to read all the Chuck Palahniuk novels I hadn’t previously read before Chuck’s major event at Lemuria Bookstore on October 20th….which meant that I would be reading ALL of Chuck’s books.  I read most of Survivor while flying to Denver for the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association trade show in Denver on Saturday morning.

Here are some observations about Survivor:

• It’s probably not the wisest choice to read a book that basically uses a hijacked and crashing plane as its setting.  The protagonist, Tender Branson, is telling his life story to the little black box.  I’m going to choose to believe that the reason I was patted down even after going through the porno scanning machines at airport security was because Survivor was in my book bag.  This assumption, though, would suggest that the TSA agents were surprisingly literate, and I admittedly am snobby about the intellectual capacities of airport security personnel.

• It’s also probably not the wisest choice to read a book about religious cults and fanaticism when sitting next to the woman who was reading over my shoulder on the plane.  She kept tsking every time she saw words like “penis” or “cult” or “porno landfill.”  And this is why I own an iPod.

• I learned how to clean stains out of my microwave!  Thanks, Chuck!

• Survivor is hilarious in places, and generally a fairly shrewd critique of religious fanaticism in the US in all its forms, from fundamentalist sects with suicide pacts to football culture and Super Bowl worship.  It also questions the media-driven mechanics of modern religion.  Think about modern “church” leaders like Joel Osteen who have covers on magazines and billboards promoting their latest books, yet don’t actually talk about spiritual doctrines.

• I LOVED the book allegedly written for ex-cult member and spiritual guide Tender Branson, Inc, called The Book of Very Common Prayer.  Prayers not to go bald, prayers to delay sexual release, prayers for good parking spots.  This is first rate satire.  I actually know people who pray for parking spots.

Blind faith…hello Chuck!

You might have heard us reference some of our publisher reps on our blog. Publisher reps can really make a difference in getting the best books, the best authors and service to an independent bookstore. No doubt we are working hard with Random House to throw a great party for Chuck Palahniuk and our 36-year anniversary. Liz Sullivan, one of our reps from Random House, joins our blogging efforts devoted to Chuck Palahniuk, acknowledging the “wee bit” of excitement that has spread through the store like a fever. -Lisa, Blog Editor

Chuck Palahniuk has a new novel coming in October, a delightful book called Damned. Better, Mr. Palahniuk is touring to one of my bookstores, Lemuria Books in Jackson, Mississippi. Lemuria has never hosted Chuck before and to say the least, they are a wee bit excited. The store has made t-shirts and posters promoting the event. They are planning a party with a band, and an art show, and they blog about Chuck every three days or so. Their enthusiasm is what makes my job fun. Nothing, seriously NOTHING, is better than an excited bookseller telling people about books they have to read (and buy). Okay, so maybe chocolate is as good….and I’m sure that Gianna can suggest a few things to do with inmates, but occupationally, book excitement is the best.

I’m still not going to date a convict. Moving on.

So Lisa, the terrific bookseller and editor for Lemuria’s blog, emailed me two days ago and asked if I’d write a Chuck-related blog piece for Lemuria since I’m such a big fan. While I want to support my stores in any way possible, I was confused. I actually had only ever read about a few samples of Chuck Palahniuk books (reps are supposed to read excerpts of books in order to obtain a taste of the writing and story). I’m a little crazy, though, and sometimes I suggest ideas without thinking them through completely. For example, let’s say that I suggest that I read all of Chuck Palahniuk’s books between now and the Lemuria event on October 20th and then I could write authoritatively about the man’s writing. Never mind that we’re talking about, like, a dozen books in 22 days and I have a full time job. (I don’t have a social life…but no, I’m still not going to date a convict.)

I am Liz’s Mental Illness and Blurry Eyes.

One book down, started this morning, finished tonight. I started with Fight Club because I saw the movie long, long ago…and I admit I didn’t really like the movie much. I’m not a Brad Pitt fan and the Marla character was one dimensional and the only sympathetic female character (Bob with the man boobs) is killed.

I appreciate that the book Fight Club is slightly different from the movie. Marla is significantly more compelling in the book, for one thing. The “twist” is more transparent and far more believable. And while the idea of Fight Club is about male bonding and the definition of masculinity, there’s enough satire to keep me from throwing the book across the room.

I am Liz’s outraged Intro to Women’s Studies curriculum.

Fight Club is juvenile. It glories in the vulgar practical jokes and tiny acts of anarchy that pervade the service industries. It shouldn’t be taken as a textbook. It’s one of those books where I think most of the readers take it too seriously and consider it The Catcher in the Rye of the 90s. The afterward is testament to the ridiculous responses this book has produced, and actually makes me think I might like this Chuck Palahniuk guy. We’ll see. I have quite a few books to go.

I am Liz’s inability to sleep.

I realize that I’m going to be reading a Chuck Palahniuk book about every day and a half for a couple of weeks, and that’s on top of the reading I need to do to prepare for my next sales conference. And that full time job. (Still no to the convicts, though.) I don’t sleep much. Filling my time and brain with the unladylike lit of Chuck Palahniuk could rot my brain, but I’ll try to chronicle my mental collapse properly.

-written by Liz Sullivan

See all of our Chuck Palahniuk blogs here.

Click here for Info about the Oct. 20 event.

Lemuria is two times lucky: one to have Chuck Palahniuk and two to have The New Orleans Bingo! Show make their Jackson debut at Hal & Mals on Thursday, October 20th.

With many of the band members being Chuck Palahniuk fans, they were eager to send a shout out before the event. Here’s what The New Orleans Bingo! Show has to say:

We at The New Orleans Bingo! Show cannot be more excited about performing at Chuck Palahniuk’s Damned Book Night in Jackson, MS.  As purveyors of oddities in our own right, we’re honored to be included alongside Mr. Palahniuk for a night of  transgressive revelry.

Mr. Michael “Bones” Miller

Several members of the group are big fans of Chuck.  For literary insight into what we like best about his work we go to our resident bookworm and bass player for The New Orleans Bingo! Show, Mr. Michael “Bones” Miller:

“The idea of personal and subjective realities are supremely crafted into lived-in and fleshed out experiences.  Palahniuk’s major strength is his ability to tap into a character’s id, memory, wishes or fantasy and fully develop each scenario.  For each person, those inner thoughts and musings are true, colorful realities… and in Palahniuk’s work, we get to play around inside the minds of those who do not self-censor.”

We’re equally as excited to bring our performance to Jackson for the first time.  It floors us that in our 7 years of existence that we haven’t paid a visit to the City of Soul.  We believe the show is a perfect fit, as we’re estimating that Chuck’s fans that are attending have a certain taste for irreverence and the unconventional.  We’re also hoping that Jackson will be a continued destination for Bingo!.  I mean heck, you’re only 3 hours away!

Check out official website for The New Orleans Bingo! Show here.

Chuck will begin his reading at about 8:00 with The New Orleans Bingo! Show to follow. Click here for more details about Chuck Palahniuk’s Damned Book Night.

We cannot wait to meet you New Orleans Bingo! Show!

Love,

Lemuria & Friends

JX///RX

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Justin Schultz is The Flying Chair, a freelance artist living in Jackson, MS. We enlisted Justin’s talents to help promote our Chuck Palahniuk event. He is also responsible for all of the artwork on our blog: The Devil (also used for Chuck Palahniuk), Larry the Lemur, the First Editions Club Bookmark and the Lemuria Mermaid.

guts… “Guts” was the first thing I read by Chuck Palahniuk. I was fresh out of college, and had just started working as a production artist at an advertising agency in Jackson. A talented copywriter named Jeff Pedigo had been nice(?) enough to recommend I read the short story “Guts” on one of Chuck’s fan-sites. He did warn me: “this guy makes people faint and/or vomit when he reads this in public.” Even with a mind-blowing warning like that, I was still unprepared for what I was about to read. To be honest, I’m not sure if I should really go into the details of the story (now published in the book – Haunted) but by the time Jeff walked back around to my cube, I must’ve lacked most of my color, except for maybe a faint green tinge. A sly grin rolled across Jeff’s face.

I was somewhat torn. I’ve never been a fan of excessive gore, or even relatively violent themes, but don’t get me wrong, this absolutely was NOT that… but it was… to put it lightly… disturbing. But it definitely wasn’t some sort of cheap “shock value” bullshit either. It was moving. In a good way. In a bad way. In some other way that my brain can’t even understand. I won’t pretend that I read constantly, but I felt like I had gotten enough in, to know that what I had just taken in was something special.

I won’t go much into Palahniuk’s style because I pretty much agree with how the previous Lemuria bloggers described his work (here, here, here and here) but I definitely can dig on his love for the fraying psyche… the slightly (or unmercilessly) damaged minds of people of all backgrounds… and how we have no idea what really goes on in others’ noggins… scary! strange! beautiful! and maybe will make you think about how you treat others.

Because if you treat others poorly, you may end up in hell. Which is the location where his newest book, Damned, takes place. When Zita notified me that Chuck Palahniuk… THE Chuck Palahniuk… was coming to Jackson, I pretty much *explicative a brick. Shortly followed by my begging to puhhh-leeeeease be able to do the event poster (i’m so self-centered)! Once I was given the go-ahead and started Zita’s advanced reader copy of Damned (the benefits of dating a bookstore employee!) – I became immersed in Palahniuk’s perspective of hell.

I was excited to be able to do a poster that was probably going to be much more adult-themed/darker than my typical work (If you’ve ever seen my stuff, I pretty much draw like a seventh-grade girl [I’m a 29-year-old male.]) Upon completion of the book – which by the way, was amazing, hilarious, scary, and makes you think about things you probably don’t want to think about (classic Palahniuk) but end up being all the better person for acknowledging those elements of life/humanity/existence – I struggled with what image(s) I was going to use for the poster. Palahniuk’s characters (and creatures), landscapes and objects/accessories were all described so well – what to use?!!?! dang!

I finally ended up going for the semi-obvious choice of Maddy (the main character, a 13-year-old girl) in a hero-shot during a more action-packed part of the book.

She is donning items like Vlad the Impaler’s jeweled dagger, Hitler’s mustache, the handkerchief of Thug Behram, Caligula’s Testicles and Catherine de Medici’s coronet of pearls… all items that Maddy acquires while attempting to overthrow hell.

I’m a big fan of juxtaposing a slightly darker (sometimes sad) image with a somewhat-classic American (slightly Japanese) cartooning/illustration style. The Damned image/theme went along pretty naturally with that idea (which I felt was pretty neat that it worked out that way.) Anyway, I’m pretty happy with the final product and can’t wait to see Zita’s screen-printed posters! (on big, 18 x 24 red paper!)

The more I hear about this event, the more I can’t wait to go! It is going to be unlike anything most of us have ever experienced… join us!

love,

justin

the-flying-chair.com

JX///RX

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Today Borders is closing its doors one last time in Flowood. We view the closing of Borders as an opportunity to gain new customers and welcome old ones back. The closing of Borders refuels our ongoing initiative to provide the best service to our existing customers.

We know that Lemuria is still not the only place to buy your books. We could say “shop local” to keep your tax dollars and jobs close. These things are no doubt important, but we believe that there are more reasons than that to shop at Lemuria:

We read books. We love to talk about what we read and hear about what our customers are reading.

We take this knowledge and get the best books in our store for our wide range of customers. We analyze our inventory every day–from buying to receiving to shelving. Our entire knowledgeable staff is involved in this process.

We stock a variety of books–from the paperback to the hardback to the signed hardback to the collectible editions.

If we don’t have it, we’ll try everything we know to get you the book you need–in print and out of print.

We get behind a book and its author. We love to “work on” books with the knowledge that we are bringing it to Mississippi. We have signing & reading events and broaden your reading experience. Your book increases in value, literally and figuratively.

We bring the books and/or the author to your school, your local library, or other event location. Lemuria has wheels.

We like to think that Lemuria is a wonderful place to spend your time. At any time of the day, you may find Lemuria full of curious people. People we see every day, people who are passing through on a long road trip from Boston to New Orleans, people who are serious book collectors, people who are looking for a book for someone special, or people who are looking for that book that fits their particular mood or required task.

All of these people have three things in common: they are here with a purpose or destination in mind, they are here looking for content and interaction that is meaningful to them. Reading adds a rich dimension to their lives. That’s why Lemuria is here and everything we do at Lemuria is with this goal in mind. We nurture our community through human relationships that revolve around an understanding of the importance of reading.

A Big Thank You to all of the local organizations, schools, churches, and libraries we have worked with over the past 36 years.

Let’s keep it growing and going!

If we made an error by leaving your group off the list, please feel free to add it to our comments section.

Schools

Jackson Public Schools, Hinds Community College, St. Joseph’s Catholic School, Madison County Public Schools, St. Anthony’s Catholic School, Jackson Academy, Jackson Prep, St. Richard’s Catholic School, First Presbyterian Day School, Mississippi College Law School, Belhaven University, Millsaps College, East Flora Elementary, First Presbyterian Day School, Madison Avenue Elementary, Madison Ridgeland Academy, Madison Station Elementary, Mannsdale Elementary, Pelahatchie Elementary, Power APAC, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Lower School, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Upper School, St. Anthony Catholic School, Jackson Prepatory School, Ridgeland High School

Special Events

Crossroads Film Festival, Freedom Riders 50th Anniversary, Mississippi Social Workers Convention, Jackson Free Press Chick Ball, VIP Grand Events, Mississippi Art Week-Hinds Community College, Millsaps Arts & Lecture Series

Organizations

Mississippi Hearts Against Aids, Jackson Friends of the Animal Shelter, Clinton Junior Civic League, Mary Church Terrell Literary Club, The Elsinore Garden Club, Downtown Rotary Club, French Society, Party Like a Professional, Jackson’s Green Ladies, Southern Farm Bureau Book Club, Madison Bar Association, Raise Your Pints, ACTE Mississippi, Junior League of Jackson, Operation Shoestring, Salvation Army, Mississippi Cattlemen’s Association, Candlelighters of Mississippi, Craftsmen Guild of Mississippi, Bookfriends of the University Press of Mississippi, Wisdom Academy, United Way of the Capital Area, The Gray Center, Fondren Theatre Workshop

Businesses

Julep Restaurant, Cathead Vodka, Broadstreet Bakery, Fischer Galleries, Hal & Mal’s, Parlor Market

Libraries

Pearl Library-Brown Bag Series, Mississippi Library Commission, Flowood Library, Eudora Welty Library & Applause Series, Jackson Friends of the Library, Jackson/Hinds Library System

Churches

St. James Episcopal Church, St. Andrews Cathedral, Daughters of the King-Chapel of the Cross Episcopal Church

Mississippi Arts & Sciences

Mississippi Public Broadcasting, Mississippi Archives & History, Mississippi Children’s Museum, Mississippi Museum of Art, Mississippi Natural Science Museum, University Press of Mississippi, Mississippi Institute of Arts & Letters