A publisher rejected his novel for being too disturbing, so he responded by writing something more disturbing. That one was Fight Club. American novelist, the reference name in transgressive fiction and “dangerous minimalism” (his teacher Tom Spanbauer’s school). His short story “Guts” made people faint at public readings, and he kept count. Before publishing anything he worked as a truck mechanic and volunteered at a hospice, which explains a few things about the books.