Conflicting tips about Chuck Palahniuk’s limited appearance and possible reading of new “Tell All” book in its entirety at Strand on May 6th are trickling in. Facts: At a $30 a pop, “VIP” fans get to meet, greet, get a new signed book and ogle.

Most peeps in my peripheral age group have, at least, gone through a Chuck Palahniuk phase. And even as the worshiping clans graduated and atrophied over the years, younger hordes sprung up to bear up the Portlandian’s sales of hard/soft covers (varying in quality but consistent in export), even though a writer can’t recreate the circumstances that sprung forth that one book that’s well-worn-out in everyone’s consciousness. He’s not just going to hop back under a car in a mechanic’s Dickies suit and pop out with “it” again, but there’s a reason his fan site is called “The Cult.” I myself have been a teenage recipient of a Chucky P care package (a box with various OCD-arranged items, a stuffed monkey “power animal” and a hand-made stone-bead necklace with my name in it… for writing a whiny letter to him as a kid) and, dorky as it is, I still think that was a nice thing to do. 

I don’t know if Chuck still answers letters or has someone do it for him, but the author remains in high demand with the forums swarming in excited yammering and pants wetting about the event. Only the first 100 get the special treatment for the pricey-price though. So if you’re one of those people, get hoppin’ on it now.

Photo: Time Magazine