[Fight Club] is like going through an album of snapshots. You might be doing stupid things in them but the older you get, the happier you are that you took those pictures. - Chuck Palahniuk talking exclusively to Transmission, May 2007.
Transmission #08 contains an exclusive interview with the incendiary cult novelist Chuck Palahniuk. He talks about his career, including latest novel, Rant, and the modern classic, Fight Club, and the importance of breaking down the audience’s defences. ‘So much fiction seems to be emotionally-based or intellectually-based,’ he tells Transmission. ‘There doesn’t seem to be much viscerally based fiction. What there is tends to be labelled pornography. The mind and the body should both be present in good fiction.’
Joining Palahniuk in Transmission’s eighth issue is another outspoken novelist, the Booker-winner John Banville. In our exclusive interview, he lives up to his fearsome reputation. ‘[My books] are all deeply, deeply embarrassing,’ he laments. ‘I think they’re better than anyone else’s, but that’s not difficult.’
Elsewhere, novelist and short story writer Nicholas Royle offers advice on how to get an editor excited, Edge Hill University’s Prize for the Short Story is explored and there is the usual rich blend of original short fiction, reviews and articles.
Issue #08 is available to buy from our online shop →
The full contents for Transmission #08:
Interviews:
Graham Foster interviews Chuck Palahniuk
Susie Stubbs talks to John Banville
James K Walker profiles Nicola Monaghan
Articles:
Writer’s Block: Nicholas Royle on how to seduce an editor
Sara Newman on the Edge Hill Short Story Prize
Fiction:
Work All Week by Mark Brown, illustrated by Ed Milsom
In the Outfield by Tom Conoboy, illustrated by Matt Chinn
Won by Richard Fair, illustrated by Victoria Wainwright
The Half-life of Songs by David Gaffney, illustrated by Harvey
Ask the Wrong Questions by Chris Hoskins, illustrated by Wayne Blackhurst
Shooting Fish in a Stream by Tyler Keevil, illustrated by Adam Pryce
A Knocking Acquaintance by S. Philip Littlewood, illustrated by Luke Knight
Empty Beating Heart by Claire Moss, illustrated by Andy Magee
When She Was Queen by N.P. Murgatroyd, illustrated by Caroline Tomlinson
Car Trouble by Paul Neads, illustrated by Pifacesi
The Lassie by Mick Parkin, illustrated by Jill Tytherleigh
The Pool Cue Drunk by Stephen Scott, illustrated by John Charlesworth
The Best Man by Daniel James Spencer, illustrated by Pascale Carrington
Poverty Hall by Emma Stockwell, illustrated by Tara Bush
Miss Jambon and Miss Meet by Mia Vigar, illustrated by John Casey
Reading:
Herman Hesse, Denis Johnson, Dave Eggers, Kevin Duffy and Junot Diaz