Bait: Off-Color Stories for You to Color

by Chuck Palahniuk, Duncan Fegredo (Illustrator), Lee Bermejo (Illustrator)

New York Times best-selling novelist Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club, Lullaby) presents the ultimate coloring book for adults with this new collection of short stories, illustrated by some of the most exciting artists in comics and beyond.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Art, Contemporary, Fantasy, Collections

152 pages, Hardcover

First published October 25, 2016

About the author

Written in stolen moments under truck chassis and on park benches to a soundtrack of The Downward Spiral and Pablo Honey, Fight Club came into existence. The adaptation of Fight Club was a flop at the box office, but achieved cult status on DVD. The film’s popularity drove sales of the novel. Chuck put out two novels in 1999, Survivor and Invisible Monsters. Choke, published in 2001, became Chuck’s first New York Times bestseller. Chuck’s work has always been infused with personal experience, and his next novel, Lullaby, was no exception. Chuck credits writing Lullaby with helping him cope with the tragic death of his father. Diary and the non-fiction guide to Portland, Fugitives and Refugees, were released in 2003. While on the road in support of Diary, Chuck began reading a short story entitled 'Guts,' which would eventually become part of the novel Haunted.

In the years that followed, he continued to write, publishing the bestselling Rant, Snuff, Pygmy, Tell-All, a 'remix' of Invisible Monsters, Damned, and most recently, Doomed.

Chuck also enjoys giving back to his fans, and teaching the art of storytelling has been an important part of that. In 2004, Chuck began submitting essays to ChuckPalahniuk.net on the craft of writing. These were 'How To' pieces, straight out of Chuck's personal bag of tricks, based on the tenants of minimalism he learned from Tom Spanbauer. Every month, a “Homework Assignment” would accompany the lesson, so Workshop members could apply what they had learned. (all 36 of these essays can currently be found on The Cult's sister-site, LitReactor.com).

Then, in 2009, Chuck increased his involvement by committing to read and review a selection of fan-written stories each month. The best stories are currently set to be published in Burnt Tongues, a forthcoming anthology, with an introduction written by Chuck himself.

His next novel, Beautiful You, is due out in October 2014.

Reviews

[Kevin Berg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this thing. It's a short story collection, but it's hardbound and full of intricate pictures to color and make my own. Pretty cool idea, with transgressive, dark and entertaining stories accompanied by some really amazing artwork. I started by reading a single story, then coloring the pictures that went along with it, which gave me extra time to think about the piece and enjoy it more. To go back and reread certain details and make sure the pictures looked decent, especially since I intend to plaster them all over the refrigerator.

But then I figured out, I color slow, and reading can't wait. So I dropped the whole waiting to be complete before moving onto the next story, and dove into the reading. Finished the stories, but leaving some of the pictures gives me another reason to revisit them again in the future.

Here's the picture I colored that went with the introduction, I think it turned out pretty damn good. 12 colored pencils, swiped from my daughter's backpack when she wasn't looking, and I did this:



*Disclaimer*
I didn't draw the damn thing, just colored it fucking spectacularly.

You should probably know, I did win a coloring contest as a kid, where I won a free pizza and the VHS of Land Before Time. Be jealous.

[Crystal]

I was waiting for so long to read the coloring books, hoping they would come out with a novelization or something in a format I would be able to borrow from the library, but now, after purchasing them and reading the explanation behind the unique format, I wish I hadn't.

These stories ( and one in particular, you'll be sure to know it when you read it) reminded me of when I first started reading Palahniuk, immediately awestruck and having to share with the first person I could find. Yes, because it was fantastic. But also, this guys imagery can make an audience hurl.

If you're a fan then you will love it too, and laugh a lot. Especially when reading portions to your more squeamish friends.

[Stay Fetters · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Chalked on a wall, invisible to a total of nobody, is tonight’s safe word: Hillary Clinton."

This is the reason why Chuck Palahniuk is my absolute favorite author. Nothing he can write can actually shock me anymore and I love it. His stories are hazardous.

The short stories in this collection is his finest work yet and I know he’s got his groove back. Hell, who am I kidding? He never disappoints me.

Go out, get your puke bucket, and your crayons. You’re going to need both for this collection!

[Snakes · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple were too weird, silly, or unbelievable to be great stories. The other half were the usual brilliant Palahniuk stuff. So this one hits right in the middle on the rating.

[Ellis ♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Le raccolte di racconti, chi mi conosce lo sa, di solito le evito come la peste ma ogni tanto faccio un'eccezione specialmente quando si tratta di Chuck Palahniuk. Uno dei miei scrittori del cuore.
L’esca si presenta come un’antologia di racconti dal sapore amore e, al contempo, un coloring book per adulti. L’autore non è nuovo all’arte dello sketch e l’ha dimostrato scegliendo di far illustrare i due sequel del celeberrimo Fight Club in chiave fumettistica da David W. Mack. Qui, invece, cavalca l’onda dell’art therapy tuttavia se di norma, quella che sta impazzando, serve a far distendere i nervi, in questo caso è un espediente per renderci parte attiva delle sue strampalate storie alle quali noi dobbiamo soltanto aggiungere un tocco di colore. Come in qualunque altra silloge ci sono racconti più riusciti di altri, e questo giustifica il mio voto nella media, ma tutti sono accumunati da: sprazzi di grottesco (a volte splatter), il loro essere volutamente provocatori e attraversati da un umorismo corrosivo in tipico stile Palahniuk.

[Peter Derk · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you read nothing else, read "Ghostwriter." That's a classic Palahniuk tale that doesn't get its due.

Also, there's an entire story about Reese Witherspoon's shits. Pretty good.

What I like about this as a coloring book, it makes you a little more complicit in the sort of weirdness that Palahniuk engages all the time. It's like you're bringing this weird stuff to life. Plus, how many opportunities do you get to color a picture of Reese Witherspoon surrounded by a giant snake of her own excrement? So far, in my life, the answer to that question is "one."

[Wesley McCraw · Rating 3 out of 5]

An extremely uneven mixture of good and bad ideas. There is fun to be had here, but the writing techniques employed are often more than a little distracting. This will probably be my last Chuck Palahniuk book. I like him, but I've read enough of his work. Time to find new writers to enjoy and fall for.

[Phillip Hand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great coloring book!

[papilionna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a cool book. The idea to combine an anthology of short stories with a colouring book is unique and I can't imagine an author whose stories I'd like to colour more than Chuck Palahniuk.
Some of the stories were a tad too strange for my taste, but overall, they were fucking genius. I laughed out loud several times and I surely will read some of them again in the future. Not to mention the loads of fun I'm going to have colouring the rest of the pictures.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the short story "Conspiracy" about a little girl's birthday present. I loved reading "Let's See What Happens," which is about a snake handler's church and the new members of the congregation. ""Ghostwriter" was an amazing story about a woman who is dying of cancer who writes to a stranger for a favor.

[Zizeloni · Rating 4 out of 5]

To be honest, the stories deserve 3 stars, some were great but some were not that good in my opinion. All of them of course are based on a crazy idea, that's Palahniuk.

But I gave 4 stars, first of all because of the idea to have a short stories/colouring book. And secondly because all the drawings were amazing. I only coloured a couple, I am not that good at it, but I admired them all.

[kylee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the full review on Nerdophiles.com.

Only Chuck Palahniuk could take the adult coloring book craze and turn it into Bait: Off-Color Stories for You to Color, a hardcover coloring book and collection of short stories meant to endure far longer than the traditional relaxing hobby books.

Let me repeat that: Bait is a hardcover coloring book and has all the heft and durability that goes along with it. While previous coloring books have dabbled in an overarching story to pull the imagery together, Palahniuk wrote eight short stories illustrated by eight different artists to make Bait a solid investment in both time and money. Clocking in at 152 pages in total, there are many that don’t have any illustrations at all adorning their pages – which sounds weird, but absolutely works because of the stories themselves propelling readers through the book.

Be honest, when was the last time you finished a coloring book front to back? Bait is the kind of multipurpose relaxation tool that allows you to open to any story and begin a journey or open any page and start coloring. And while there is no story I’d put on par with the infamous Guts in this book, each one is just enough Palahniuk to make readers squirm, this time with the imagery to match.

At first glance, it may not feel like there is much to actually color, but Bait has all sorts of small accents just waiting for activity. Opening the front cover showcases a hint of things to come, with relatively tame imagery of animals, glasses, tools, and more. It’s a cleverly repeating pattern that adult coloring books are known for, allowing for readers to fill each picture uniformly or to mix it up at their discretion. The first page of the book has the title situated in a blank frame, another opportunity to fill in however one would like.

Chuck Palahniuk has changed the game for adult coloring books with Bait: Off Color Stories for You to Color. This is not a book you will color in once and soon forget about, Bait is full of stories to revisit and blank spaces to fill in on many repeated flip-throughs.

[Joel Shoemaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eight short stories. Perfect Palahniuk. Some too much. Most just right; even the one about Reese Witherspoon's bowel movements. To do a short-story anthology as a coloring book, well, to even think of such a thing is why Palahniuk is my favorite.

[Zoë Birss · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of short stories is as poetic, transgressive, and thought provoking as anyone familiar with Palahniuk would expect. It's also risky and experimental. As such, some elements in the stories occasionally drift into bizarre territories that may not perfectly serve to meet the book's goals. But for the occasional straying moment, for most of the book the ideas are sharp, provocative, and very artfully presented. Some of the strangest and riskiest moments even land well, such as the short story about a celebrity named Reese W. and her run in with the poop-arazzi. It worked.

Stories deal frequently with mortality, but also confront sexuality and gender, racial power dynamics, and, as usual for Palahniuk, relationships with parents.

The illustrations are flawless. As a collaborative work, the piece is beautiful. The stories are not just enhanced by the pictures. The illustrations and the stories work in concert. Also, because of the frequent depiction of various colourful bodily excretions and spills, the colouring of the pictures brings expertly crafted line work to vivid, disgusting life. Without the colours, the reader doesn't yet fully appreciate the depth and breadth of gory detail on many of the pages. Easter Eggs can be found on some pages for the reader's willing to take the time to discover the pictures by colouring them. Some of the most creative and talented artists in comics are included. It's an excellent collection.

I very highly recommend this book to any fan of Palahniuk, especially those who appreciated his recent collaboration with Cameron Stewart on Fight Club 2. Even when it flounders, the book taken as a whole is absolutely worth the time. Maybe don't eat while you're reading. Keep a bucket handy.

[Camille Ju · Rating 3 out of 5]

The physical and aesthetic quality of the book itself is superb. The images to be colored are splendidly done, perfect for colored pencils, perfect for destressing. Unfortunately, I dont have the luxury to sit down and spend an hour coloring for the purpose of destressing. Still, 5 stars for the aesthetics and the paper quality was well-thought out. I only bought it just to read what the short stories are about, only to be left unsatisfied. Three stars for the short stories. I do not have problems with dark fiction, gore, or sad endings but it was difficult for me to understand each story. For example in the first story "Dad All Over", I found it hard to absorb the scenarios in it because I do not know car or mechanic jargons.
I wasn't able to finish all of the stories since the first ones couldn't hold my attention anymore. Let's just simply say this is not my cup of tea.

P.S. Stories are rated NC-17 so dont let your young children get ahold of this book---which is a possibility if it's just lying around your open shelf. It might catch their attention due to its coloring-book-appearance thinking it's just a usual children's coloring book, and read it, only to get horrified, confused, or even ask you questions that you might not know how to answer/explain! 😂

[Carol Waters · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title may be the best part of this book: Off-color stories for you to color

I didn't color anything, though. I didn't even read it regularly. I got an autographed copy while at Powell's Books in Portland last spring and started but didn't get around to finishing until today. The date seemed to warrant Chuck.

Of the eight stories, I really enjoyed Dad All Over and Ghostwriter, maybe because I am a parent and understand both sacrifice and illusion. Salvation went too far unnecessarily and in Mud Slinger I kept waiting for corn and vitamins to show up. Bait was dumb because fish don't have thumbs.

Still, I do enjoy this twisted author. That says something I'd rather not think about.

I gave the book three rather than four stars because of the large type format and the many line drawings that meant a lot less literary material to peruse. I want to read this guy, not imagine what some artist can do with a full page and a fine line pen. No offense.

[Nate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ghostwriter and Nonsense are solid. The other range from forgettable to yikes. While I appreciate that Chuck always tries to throw some new flair into his works, everything from using non-black inks for text (Snuff), doing a remix of his own book (Invisible Monsters), glitterbombing signed copies of his book (happened to a friend of mine), and the absolute antics that have ensued at his signings and meet-and-greets....this idea just didn't work here. I could see re-releasing Make Something Up in this format and just doing 1 or two pics to color per story, but the real problem here is that the stories by and large just aren't very good. And almost none of them are elevated by the art. That's not to say the art isn't good, it typically is, but it feels like a separate entity from the stories.

I will say, after hearing him talk about the Reese Witherspoon story his editor didn't want to let him publish in an older interview, it was very amusing to see Mud Slingers pop up.

[Fandom SK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recenziu pre Fandom.sk napísal Peter Šufliarsky:

Množstvo tuzemských fanúšikov zostalo po komiksovom spracovaní druhého klubu bitkárov sklamaných hlavne kvôli Chuckovmu egu a s ním súvisiacou prekombinovanosťou. Čo sa ale Návnady týka, skĺbenie poviedok a antistresových obrázkov navyše vo veľkom formáte vracia Palahniuka opäť na výslnie. Svojím novým experimentom iba potvrdzuje, že je oveľa lepším spisovateľom než z reťaze odtrhnutým scenáristom. Tí, ktorí sa tešíte na maľovanie, budete zrejme trochu sklamaní. Niežeby ilustrácie ani zvolený papier nestáli za to, no veľmi pochybujem, že po prečítaní Návnady budete mať stále chuť znehodnotiť ju svojimi farbičkami, a to aj napriek tomu, že práve v tom tkvie ten nápad…

Celú recenziu nájdete na Fandom.sk https://www.fandom.sk/clanok/recenzia...

[oliver bjorn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read many of Chuck's short story collections after reading haunted which I thought was brilliant. Some turn out to be good some turn out to be bad, this one sits comfortably on the just average line.

The book itself with the beautiful illustrations is definitely 5 stars but the stories didn't hit the mark for me. They got worse as the book went on, I actually stopped reading it for a while because it was so un interesting. I think I need to go back to his novels after reading so many of his short stories and expecting greatness in every one. But one can not deny that he has a great way with description and words.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspired idea--mediocre execution.

Don't get me wrong, there's a serious level of effort here, it's just not the right coalescence I wanted and expected. I've been disinterested in Palahuniak for at least a decade now, so it has to generally be a gimmick for me to express any interest.

The stories are fine, mediocre--never able to top the lost glory of "GUTS" (which itself was pretty overrated). The illustrations are magnificent--but too detailed to be properly colored. Many of them are quite funny, but none of them are disturbing. I was honestly expecting GUTs level illustrations, and instead came across well-down comedic imagery (with a few bloody scenes thrown in)

[Oli Turner]

#bait by @chuckpalahniuk published in 2016. A collection of short stories with black and white illustrations by different artists ready for the reader to colour in their own unique ways. A quirky and interesting idea.
Some of the stories are typically chuck - gross and funny and heartbreaking. Particular favourites of mine were ‘dad all over’ and ‘let’s see what happens’ but the best one of the collection and perhaps one the greatest short stories I have read was ‘ghostwriter’. Sweet and heartbreaking.

[Jo Gardner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bravo Chuck! Chuck writes like no other, and the stories will grab you and not let go. I’ve always been a fan of short stories, and this one is filled with great ones - shocking and unforgettable. And if that was not enough, there are coloring pages for each story! More than just an adult coloring book, this is a “must have” for Palahniuk fans, and I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to start reading Chuck’s work.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun book of short stories! I'm not sure if I will colour in at any point as I am time poor but I enjoyed this novel concept, and what a treat to see joelle Jones as one of the artists. The stories were quite mild for palahniuk - but still with the dark social critique you come to expect. I had favourites. I had a couple I didn't love but that is a book of short stories for you. It is a fun quick read!

[Taylor Cayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another interesting short story collection from Chuck Palahniuk, although some pieces (the Pooparazzi, etc.) far outshine others (a tongue-in-cheek letter from someone who led a boring life to her potential employee/ghost writer). What kicks it up a notch is the illustration/coloring book aspect of the book. Can't wait to explore it over and over again!

[Berenice A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some stories are equally good to the gems of Haunted; Nonsense strongly shows cynical nihilism we love Palahniuk for while also showing which parts of his work inspire Carlton Mellick. Adequate ballance of black humour, cynism, disgust, and transgression. Six of eight stories are very strong. The illustrations put this book on another level.

[uzhuj · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good product, but really I wish it was shomehow differently edited. Smaller line spacing (and thus also somewhat smaller pagecount)? Maybe make the whole book 1 cm shorter in width and heigth?
The stories are alright, ususal Palahniuk. The artwork is also okay, but I expected it to be a bit more numerous.

[Earl Pike · Rating 1 out of 5]

I remember really enjoying Chuck's books when I was a bit younger so I was shocked when I was disgusted with this one. Maybe I'm just over it or just only like his earlier stuff. This one had the gross turned to 10 and I just couldn't finish it. Oh well.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

As opposed to the coloring novella, this anthology seems like one of Palahniuk's weakest works over the last few years. Couple of stories have hints of glorious and nasty transgressive fiction, but most ain't as solid.

[RL Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of the stories here two are memorable because they're kind of touching. The other I liked for how gross yet witty it us about celebrity culture. There are a couple of average stories and the rest wasn't very good. The coloring book aspect is cool, but didn't really add anything for me.

[Michael Ford · Rating 3 out of 5]

He’s easily my favorite author. Two of the particular shorts stories in here were a hard 5 stars so worth picking up, but a couple were more 1 star, so I’d give it give a mid-grade 3 stars across the board. “Let’s See What Happens” was very, very interesting.