It's Sunday, April 8, 2001, the day after the Chuck Palahniuk "Postcards from the Future" Conference, held at the Edinboro University. This is the first conference of his work, and Chuck is at ease, yet full of the vigor one might get from the energy of hundreds of fans. I heard about the conference several months ago, but when I saw that it was in Pennsylvania, I dismissed it as being too far from Michigan to attend. While arranging for this interview less than a week ago, Chuck asked if I was anywhere near here. Checking a map, I discovered that the drive was a mere five hours. Unfortunately, by that point, it was too late to register and they weren't accepting walk-in registration. I kicked myself when I saw the impressive conference schedule: ten lectures on Chuck's works and their relation to society; five roundtable discussions; thirteen panel discussions; creative works, ranging from poetry to performances to art, influenced by Chuck's works; a viewing of the Fight Club DVD with Q & A by Chuck afterwards; a reading of Choke by Chuck; a keynote luncheon and after dinner party. Not something a serious Palahniuk fan would want to miss.
         The timing of the conference is perfect. Chuck's new book, Choke, hits the bookstores on May 22 and, perhaps not surprisingly, it's already been optioned for a movie. It's the first novel he's launched since his fame surrounding Fight Club. It's about a sexaholic, Victor Mancini, who pays for his mother's hospital bills by pretending to choke in restaurants. The twist: the rescuers occasionally send Victor money, not the other way around.
         Chuck explains. "It's all about creating an outlandish premise, and then trying to build a case around it, trying to create this false reality around it that holds it up. How about a club where people go and intentionally punch each other out? Then build a whole argument within the context that supports that." Far-fetched as it sounds, it works. Little by little, the narrator spouts his ideology to the reader throughout Choke so that it all makes sense. In the world according to Chuck, Victor does the rescuer(s) a favor by giving them the chance to shine as heroes.
         The act is noticeably altruistic for a Palahniuk protagonist. Indeed, Choke marks a distinct change in Chuck's work as being his most uplifting novel yet. When asked what caused the change in tone, Chuck talks about meeting Trent Reznor last spring.
         "Nothing Records called me in Portland and said, 'Trent Reznor is coming through town and he'd really like to meet you on tour. Would you like tickets and backstage passes?' Yeah! So all of my friends went and we went backstage, and I sat through the concert. I really wanted to hear the song from The Fragile, his new album, 'We're in this together,' but he didn't play it. It's such a departure from all of his really dark music. It's his first baby step toward something positive, toward creating something instead of tearing things down, that I really missed it. When I went backstage, I said, 'Why the hell didn't you play it?' Trent said, 'Man, you know, I've worked on that song more than all of my other songs put together, and it still doesn't sound right. I'm still not comfortable with it.' I can't help but wonder if it's just the fact that it does take that leap of faith, that Kierkegaardian step away from standing for nothing, to actually standing for something. It's really easy, you can spend your life criticizing and tearing down the culture, but at some point, you've got to pull your guts up and actually create something in the culture and stand for something. And I saw Trent doing that with that song. That's what I wanted to do with Choke, was risk losing all of my readers who liked the nihilist stuff, because you've got to move on at some point and actually stand for something. Even if it's putting one rock on top of another rock, it still has to end on something positive like that, something constructive, rather than continually destructive."