Book picks similar to
Negative Reinforcement by Chuck Palahniuk


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Down at the Dinghy


J.D. Salinger - 1949
    

The Camel's Back


F. Scott Fitzgerald - 1920
    In the dim light the effect was distinctly pleasing. The camel's face was a study in pessimism, decorated with numerous abrasions, and it must be admitted that his coat was in that state of general negligence peculiar to camels--in fact, he needed to be cleaned and pressed--but distinctive he certainly was. He was majestic. He would have attracted attention in any gathering, if only by his melancholy cast of feature and the look of hunger lurking round his shadowy eyes.

FUBAR


Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - 2009
    In the short story, “FUBAR,” we’re taken to a desolate building in a drab industrial complex, where a lonely office worker gains a fresh perspective on life thanks to the intervention of his free-spirited new female assistant. “FUBAR” and the thirteen other never-before-published pieces that comprise Look at the Birdie serve as an unexpected gift for devoted readers who thought that Kurt Vonnegut’s unique voice had been stilled forever–and provide a terrific introduction to his short fiction for anyone who has yet to experience his genius.

Men Of Greywater Station


George R.R. Martin - 1976
    

Song of the Silent Snow


Hubert Selby Jr. - 1986
    He excels in this form, plunging the reader head-first into the densely realized worlds of his protagonists, in which the details of daily life rub shoulders with obsession and madness.Although fundamentally concerned with morality, Selby's own sense of humility prevents him from preaching. He offers instead a passionate empathy with the ordinary dreams and aspirations of his characters, a brilliant ear for the urban vernacular and for the voices of conscience and self-deceit that torment his characters."A major American author of a stature with William Burroughs and Joseph Heller."?Los Angeles Times"Selby's place is in the front rank of American novelists ... to understand his work is to understand the anguish of America."?The New York Times Book ReviewNovels by Hubert Selby Jr available from Marion Boyars: Last Exit to Brooklyn, The Room, The Demon, Requiem for a Dream and The Willow Tree..

How It Happened


Arthur Conan Doyle - 2014
    He is also known for writing the fictional adventures of a second character he invented, Professor Challenger, and for popularising the mystery of the Mary Celeste.He was a prolific writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels.-Wikipedia

Burnt Tongues


Chuck PalahniukBryan Howie - 2014
    Stories with taboo subjects, unique voices, shocking images—nothing safe or dry.Burnt Tongues is a collection of transgressive stories selected by a rigorous nomination and vetting process and hand-selected by Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, as the best of The Cult workshop, his official fan website.These stories run the gamut from horrific and fantastic to humorous and touching, but each leaves a lasting impression. Some may say even a scar.Also includes: The Power of Persisting: An Introduction by Chuck Palahniuk, and from the Editors: The Genesis of Burnt Tongues by Dennis Widmyer and Richard Thomas.Table of Contents:Live This Down by Neil KrolickiCharlie by Chris Lewis CarterPaper by Gayle TowellMating Calls by Tony LiebhardMelody by Michael De Vito, Jr.F for Fake by Tyler JonesMind and Soldier by Phil JourdanIngredients by Richard LemmerThe Line Forms on the Right by Amanda GowinA Vodka Kind of Girl by Matt EganGasoline by Fred VenturiniDietary by Brandon TietzInvisible Graffiti by Adam SkorupskasBike by Bryan HowieHeavier Petting by Brien PiechosEngines, O-Rings, and Astronauts by Jason M. FylanLemming by Terence James EelesThe Routine by Keith BuieSurvived by Gus MorenoZombie Whorehouse by Daniel W. Broallt

The Scythe


Ray Bradbury - 1943
    It was originally published in the July, 1943issue of Weird Tales . It was first collected in Bradbury'santhology Dark Carnival and later collected in TheOctober Country and The Stories of Ray Bradbury .

The White Silence


Jack London - 1899
    It was subsequently included in The Son of the Wolf, a story collection published in 1900.The White Silence is set in the unforgiving winter landscape of Yukon Territory, Canada. The story chronicles the travels of three people across the Northland Trail on the Yukon, as they try to reach civilization before spring. The story deals with the fragile relationship between man and nature, and also between man and animal. Its title is a phrase that London used frequently in his descriptions of the frozen northern landscapes in his stories.

Things They Left Behind


Stephen King - 2005
    A year after 9/11, a pair of red glasses and other things lost on that horrific day haunt a World Trade Center worker who suffers from severe survivor's guilt.

The Caper


Janet Evanovich - 2013
    Later published online via Janet's email newsletter (August 2015).

The Californian's Tale


Mark Twain - 1893
    He gained national attention as a humorist in 1865 with the publication of "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," but was acknowledged as a great writer by the literary establishment with The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn (1885). In 1880, Twain began promoting and financing the ill-fated Paige typesetter, an invention designed to make the printing process fully automatic. At the height of his naively optimistic involvement in the technological "wonder" that nearly drove him to bankruptcy, he published his satire, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889). Plagued by personal tragedy and financial failure, Mark Twain spent the last years of his life in gloom and exasperation, writing fables about "the damned human race."

Down in the Darkness


Dean Koontz - 1987
    Short story from Horror Show magazine (Summer/Jul 1986), anthologized in The Architecture of Fear (1987) and collected in Strange Highways (1995)

John Updike: The Collected Stories


John Updike - 1971
    His evocations of small-town Pennsylvania life, and of his own religious, artistic, and sexual awakening, transfixed readers of The New Yorker and of the early collections Pigeon Feathers (1962) and The Music School (1966). In these and the works that followed—the formal experiments and wickedly tart tales of suburban adultery in Museums and Women (1972) and Problems (1979), the portraits of middle-aged couples in love and at war with aging parents and rebellious children in Trust Me (1987) and The Afterlife (1994), and the fugue-like stories of memory, desire, travel, and unquenched thirst for life in Licks of Love (2000) and My Father’s Tears (2009)—Updike displayed the virtuosic command of character, dialogue, and sensual description that was his signature.   Here, in two career-spanning volumes, are 186 unforgettable stories, from "Ace in the Hole” (1953), a sketch of a Rabbit-like ex-basketball player written when Updike was a Harvard senior, to "The Full Glass” (2008), the author’s toast to the visible world, his own impending disappearance from it be damned.” Based on new archival research, each story is presented in its final definitive form and in order of composition, established here for the first time. This unprecedented collection of American masterpieces is not just the publishing event of the season, it is a national literary treasure.

Give Me Your Heart


Joyce Carol Oates - 2010
    In these and other powerful tales, children veer beyond their parents’ control, wives and husbands wake up to find that they hardly know each other, haunted pasts intrude upon uncertain futures, and those who bring us the most harm may be the nearest at hand.In ten razor-sharp stories, National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Oates shows that the most deadly mysteries often begin at home.