Bait: Off-Color Stories for You to Color - Hardcover

Palahniuk, Chuck

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1506703119 ISBN 13: 9781506703114

Publisher: Dark Horse Books, 2016

Synopsis

An all-new collection of short fiction from the author of Fight Club, that also doubles as an adult coloring book!

New York Times bestselling novelist Chuck Palahniuk presents Bait: Off-Color Stories for You to Color, his first ever coloring book for adults. Bait is both the coloring book debut and the second short story collection for Palahniuk, author of Lullaby and Fight Club. The 8.5 x 11 inch hardcover album contains eight bizarre tales, illustrated in detailed black and white by Joëlle Jones (Lady Killer), Lee Bermejo (The Suiciders), Duncan Fegredo (Hellboy), and more. Each story is paired with pieces of colorable original art, nearly 50 in all!

Palahniuk invites readers to collaborate on this unprecedented hardcover edition: "Maybe between your colors, the artists' designs, and my stories we can create something that endures. Something worth keeping. Let's create a well-bound book that can sit on any shelf and be available for a new generation to discover and enjoy."

Palahniuk's short stories are provocative and not for the faint of heart. (His public readings are notorious for making audience members pass out.) Kirkus Reviews described Palahniuk's 2015 short story collection Make Something Up: Stories You Can't Unread as "Pathos and panic and penitence from one of the darkest and most singular minds in contemporary American lit."

Bait continues in that vein with stories about:
A passenger on the Titanic who finds a surgical solution to the obstacle of "women and children first". A Hollywood star whose fading brand faces a viral (and scatological) internet campaign. An animal psychic who coaxes a statement from a fish that witnessed a political assassination. Increasingly terrible birthday gifts that place a girl at the center of an extinction-level event.

Reviews for 2015's Make Something Up:

"Palahniuk finds sincerity among his characters even in disreputable occurrences."-- Publishers Weekly

"He makes it absolutely clear that he's still the man who wrote 'Guts,' the infamous story that made fans pass out at readings." --Kirkus Reviews

Reviews for Fight Club 2:

"At turns deeply poignant and very funny, Palahniuk's freakish fables capture a twisted zeitgeist and add an oddly inspirational and subversive voice to the contemporary canon . . . In the post-9/11 present, a hyperactive, Internet-obsessed, war- and recession-weary America apparently needs Tyler again."--The Atlantic

"Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club 2 is as much a kinetic read as it is a pivotal watermark for the comic industry to receive such a high-profile cross-media debut. We are Jack's eager eyes."--Paste

About this title

About the Author:

Chuck Palahniuk's ten previous novels are the bestselling Fight Club, which was made into a film by David Fincher; Survivor; Invisible Monsters; Choke, which was made into a film by director Clark Gregg; Lullaby, which is currently in development for film; Diary; Haunted; Rant; Snuff; and Pygmy. He is also the author of Fugitives and Refugees, a nonfiction profile of Portland, Oregon, published as part of the Crown Journeys series, and the nonfiction collection Stranger Than Fiction. He lives in the Pacific Northwest. Chuck's Make Something Up, a collection of short stories and one novella, was released in 2015, and Fight Club 2 the follow up to the enormously successful Fight Club, debuts June 2016 from Dark Horse Comics.

Review:

“Not content with displaying the underbelly of modern American society in projects like Fight Club, Survivor and Choke, author Chuck Palahniuk has turned his attention to an unexpected new medium: the coloring book.”--THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
“Chuck Palahniuk is pushing boundaries again.”--COMICBOOK.COM
“Chuck Palahniuk brings his twisted vision to the humble coloring book.”--PLAYBOY
“Within eight salacious short stories, “Bait” presents problematic parents, taboo-centric sex clubs, scatalogical celebrity satire, and a Titanically-twisted “Pygmalion” variant, all with that Palahniuk edge fans have come to anticipate, with equal measures of excitement and anxiety.”--CBR
“Remember those adult coloring books with all of those repetitive floral, sometimes tribal, most times trippy designs? Yes, that’s the inspiration. But instead of giving you some peace of mind with mindless coloring, you’re given eight short stories of Fight Club quality, drawn by nine renowned artists.”--EPICSTREAM
“The bestselling author of Fight Club and Make Something Up is famous for penning macabre tales that haunt readers, and his latest does not disappoint. Bait pairs eight disturbing short stories with gorgeous (and twisted) illustrations from eight artists, forming a short story/coloring book hybrid created solely for adults.”--PASTE MAGAZINE
“The mind that changed our perspectives on the childish idea of an imaginary friend is taking the innocent notion of a coloring book and warping it into a complex emotional symphony dealing with ideas such as legacy, fame, and survival.”--COMICS BEAT
“Those evocative images of Palahniuk’s prose are brought to the page with crisp black-and-white linework, inviting readers to contribute their own creative vision through coloring....Joëlle Jones’s illustrations enrich the story with art nouveau-inspired visuals that are as beautiful as they are haunting. Like most adult coloring books, there’s an intricacy to the linework that demands a certain degree of focus, and Jones goes overboard with detail to make the coloring process even more involved. Readers can join the fun with the release of Bait this Wednesday, and the impressive hardcover package makes Bait a great gift idea for any Palahniuk fans during the holiday season.”--AV CLUB
“Some of the best comic book artists in the industry have lent their talents to Bait.” - FREAK SUGAR
“Too sick, too profane and too disturbing to be within arm's reach of anyone who isn't prepared to scarred by Palahniuk's biting prose.... But, more importantly, it is an amazing read, and if you're going to get any coloring book aimed at adults (and by god, this must be the adult-iest on the market), it should be this one.”--AL.COM 
“The conceit is a blast. Ingenious...Palahniuk likes to involve his readers, and maybe even have them be co-conspirators. I loved this book. It’s smart in a new way that deserves to be recognized. Congratulations once again to Palahniuk for showing us a new way to do things...and to make us involved.”--FORCES OF GEEK
“Kids will want to stay far away from Chuck Palahniuk’s new coloring book, entitled Bait, but kids at heart will enjoy indulging their creepy creative side by filling in illustrations to gruesome stories like “Salvation.”--SIGNATURE

About this edition

• Publisher: Dark Horse Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1506703119
• ISBN 13: 9781506703114
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 152
• Illustrator: Fegredo Duncan, Bermejo Lee, Jones Joëlle, Gluskova Alise