Chuck Palahniuk's Next Novel Is 'Doomed'

UPDATE: The next book will indeed be titled DOOMED. It's a sequel to Damned and it's scheduled to be released October 2013.

When Chuck was in Los Angeles recently for his small tour for the new Invisible Monsters Remix, I had the pleasure of taking him out to dinner.  And while gnawing on some steak (...I was.  Chuck had the salmon), we got to talking about his next book.  And lo and behold... the next novel will be Chuck's first sequel!

Here is a quick synopsis of the book:

(*MILD SPOILERS HERE, if you haven't yet read Damned)

The next novel will follow Madison back to earth as a ghost, doomed to haunting her parents for a year.  In flashback we see her earlier childhood, including the death of the kitten whose dead body subsequently clogged the plumbing of the Beverly-Wilshire Hotel.  That death is not Madison's doing, but another death is.  Whether it's murder or self-defense, as a ten-year-old Madison kills someone horrifically, and that's the most-likely reason why she was damned in the first place.  We also begin to recognize a centuries-long conspiracy engineered to train and test Maddy for her role as the savior of all spiritual beings.

Nope, nothing subtle, here.

Then about five minutes after Chuck emailed me the above, I got another email with this:

Oh, I forgot to mention it but the world ends in this next book. 

So yeah, nothing subtle indeed.

Chuck told me that even the title for the book is in flux right now.  During our dinner conversation it was to be called Doomsday.  Now it might be titled Doomed.  Which one do you like better?

Believe it or not, this book might drop as early as this Fall! It's pretty much in its final editing stages. But these things have a way of changing last minute, so no promises.

Till then, let's hear your thoughts on this. For years, people have clamoured for the much rumored sequel to Rant, yet haven't gotten it yet.  So when Chuck began telling fans that Damned too, would be part of its own trilogy, I think we were all a little skeptical. But alas, the Chuckster is delivering very quickly on this one.  Are you pumped?

If you haven't read Damned yet, now would be a good time.