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You are a human animal. You are a very special breed,

or you are the only animal, who can think, who can reason, who can read.

Hello, this is Michael Silverblatt, and welcome to Bookworm.

Today my guest is Chuck Polanook.

He's the author most recently of Invisible Monsters,

published as a paperback original by Dorton,

and the author as well of Fight Club

and Survivor.

Now, I wanted to begin by asking you, these three novels are apocalyptic comedies with a lot

of satire.

What started you writing?

I was working, well, I had a journalism degree, and I was working as a truck mechanic.

It was a job I got after college because I couldn't find a reporting job for more than $5 an hour.

And it was a job I took thinking, well, I'll be a mechanic's apprentice for a couple

years until I pay off my loans.

And, well, what the hell?

13 years later, I was still a truck mechanic.

And I started working as a volunteer in a hospice for AIDS patients.

And they were primarily young people.

And it was a heartbreaking place to be, and it was a dark place to be, but it was also an incredibly funny place to be.

You know, people at that point in their lives don't take things very seriously.

...