Murder, perversion, kangaroos: It’s all in Chuck Palahniuk’s wild new novel

Chuck Palahniuk’s novels are always a wild ride.

“Fight Club,” which of course is about underground boxers turned domestic terrorists, was only the beginning. Since then, it’s been songs that kill you when you hear them (“Lullaby”), teenagers in hell (“Damned”), disfigured models (“Invisible Monsters”) and the like.

Palahniuk’s new novel, “Not Forever but for Now,” might top them all in terms of shock value.

Brothers Otto and Cecil are men who think they’re boys. They live, isolated, in their family’s English mansion, where they spend their days taking tea, committing incest and murdering the staff. Their grandfather, the patriarch of the family, is the head of a secret enterprise that has been responsible for many of the notable deaths of the 20th century from Judy Garland to Princess Diana. And he wants the brothers to step up and take on roles in the family business.

To say much more would ruin the constant surprises of the book (and frankly, overstep even Phoenix New Times’ decency standards).

You can find out more by attending Palahniuk’s book event on Thursday night. Changing Hands Bookstore is hosting the affair, which will be held at Dobson High School in Mesa.

We chatted with the author recently about “Not Forever but For Now.” Responses have been edited for space and clarity.

Phoenix New Times: When did you start writing it and what was the genesis of the plot?
Chuck Palahniuk: I started writing it on New Year’s Eve. I had a whole stack of cozy mysteries and I was kind of fascinated with them and wanted to read a bunch of them. And I got snowed in at my house and I was stuck for about two weeks, maybe three weeks. And I read the whole stack of cozies and I hated them all but I was kind of charmed by the convention: these very proper people and people being butchered in front of them. Or they would find a butchered person. And it wasn’t about expressing grief or horror, it was about “Ooh, this is a chance to play a game and find out who the killer is.” So this kind of negation of drama seemed kind of autistic but also kind of comic, and that was the genesis of it.

In the postscript, you write that the story was a way of talking about addiction. Can you explain?
With [Palahniuk’s 2014 novel] “Beautiful You,” I wanted to write about addiction. “Beautiful You” is about commodifying pleasure and addiction and I loved writing it but I don’t think it reached enough people.

So I thought with a different metaphor: that nature films are very much about online pornography, and how that’s just kind of driving people underground, they kind of sit in their room for 30 years and end up a middle-aged child. And also not just the literal drugs that people take in the book, but all the sweets and all the things that are presented as part of tea, all those candied rose petals, are very much about addiction.

Were there other things that influenced the plot of the book?
I can’t help but be really influenced by Shirley Jackson, “We Have Always Lived in the Castle,” siblings who live alone in this huge house. “Jane Eyre” is thrown in there. It’s very much “Turn of the Screw” with the two very corrupt children.

This is another one of your books in which groups of discontented men find each other and rise up to disrupt society. What keeps you going back to that theme in your work?
One is just this feeling of total inadequacy as a man. And also, this total need for male affection and male approval. My father disappeared as soon as he realized I was a fag, and that was just one of many factors. And it was just something that I could never express to him and we never resolved. And so, what the fuck, you know? “Fight Club” bought me the freedom to write what I wanted to write, so now I can write much more honest, out-there books.

The sentiment “not forever, but for now” is repeated throughout the book and could have multiple interpretations. Is it meant to be regretful or hopeful?
I see it initially as sad, this kind of comment on the transience of things. But at the same time hopeful, because the book is very much about empire. It’s about these two little boys who are being asked to perpetuate this wealth that’s based on the murder of people. Your whole crenelated castle and your lifestyle is just based on going out into the world and killing people. And these two little boys do not want to be part of the empire, and in the end, at least Cecil gives that up and goes out into the world and tries to make one small change. So on a hopeful level, the world as it is with all of its flaws is not forever.

Why do you always make your book events into such parties?
Number one: because they’re fun for me. Seven hundred, 800 people are going to walk in there and the first thing they’re going to get are these big biodegradable foam wands that are full of computerized LED lights with different colors, and throughout the evening, they’re going to play games with them, and people in kangaroo costumes are going to throw foam hoops and if they catch one there’s going to be a prize, and there’s going to be stories, and all sorts of stuff thrown into the audience. And that’s fun for me. And on stage, that sea of pulsing light is going to look like a rave. It’s going to be so beautiful.

And secondary is that for many of these people, it’s the first book event they’ve ever been to, and I want their first book event to be completely outstanding. And number three, one of the few ways that independent booksellers can push back against Amazon is by making book events as fantastic as possible. So why not do it that way? Because Amazon is great, but this is something that only booksellers can do, so why not do it big?

I feel like this book is going be quite divisive. Do negative reviews and online chatter bother you?
I was enormously unpopular in high school, so social media and online chatter are like water off a duck’s back. I’ve been on the outside, I’ve been a pariah my whole life, so it’s not like I’m going to miss anything. And one nice thing about being divisive is that if a book is accepted too readily, it disappears very quickly. People think of “Fight Club” as being a big success, but it really wasn’t a success until about 15 years after it was published. It failed as a book, it failed as a movie. It finally got some traction as a DVD and a paperback, but it was really a late bloomer.

What are you reading right now?
I’m reading a mountain of science fiction, most of which is Ursula LeGuin, because I really want to do a science fiction novel next.

Anything else you want to mention?
I always try to work mythology into the books and have at least one plot thread that is really based on biblical mythology or mythology in general, and all that Judy Garland scene that’s revisited over and over, that’s the Annunciation, that’s the angel Gabriel who came to John the Baptist’s mother and told her she’d give birth to a prophet. But it’s kind of a dark Annunciation: it’s “you must die for this change to occur.” In a way, I kind of felt like maybe I overdid the Judy Garland stuff, but I really wanted that backstory, that one solid scene that would be very gradually unpacked.

What are you working on?
I have a serialized novel that comes out as a paperback next spring called “Greener Pastures,” but it needs a major third-act rewrite, which I’ll probably do over the winter, but really, my heart and soul is into this science fiction novel.

Chuck Palahniuk will appear at a Changing Hands Bookstore event at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 7, at Dobson High School, 1501 W. Guadalupe Road, Mesa. Cost is $36.18 for one book and one ticket or $43.18 for one book and two tickets. Call 480-730-0205 or visit the Changing Hands website.