Self-help for Stoners, Stuff to Read When You're High

by Robert Chazz Chute

This is the book that proves fiction is a magic trick. It will surprise you, even when you brace yourself for the unexpected. Dedicated to Joe Rogan and Kevin Smith, this collection of short stories, parables, brain tickles and thought experiments bounces from funny to earnest and from challenging to heartfelt. There are even kick ass exhortations toward making a better life for yourself. This is self-help in disguise and like you've never read before.

At 4:20 in the afternoon, you can go deeper with your introspection and meditation, or just get high on the funny bits. Great stories can fill your brain and transport you far away from banality. We all escape into the lies we tell ourselves. Effective fiction is the lie that tells the truth and possesses ample power to juggle your brain chemistry. Self-help for Stoners might just put you on the road to getting on purpose and changing your life.

169 pages, ebook

First published October 13, 2011

About the author

After escaping retail hell, I trained as a journalist and worked in newspapers and magazines before becoming a drone in the book publishing hive. I worked for Harlequin, The Canadian Book Information Centre, Lester & Orpen Dennys and Cannon Books in various capacities in editorial, publicity and sales. I learned a lot about what not to do. (All of the above companies are dead and gone except, of course, for Harlequin. I didn't kill them. It was suicide.)

I went over the wall again and worked a few miracles in the field of alternative medicine. Then "they sentenced me to 20 years of boredom, for trying to change the system from within." (Identify that quote and we are inextricably, irrevocably friends.)

Writing full-time now, I tell everyone I'm "in Suspense." I hope you read, review and enjoy my books.

Reviews

[Aaron Turing · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really good. It's not a regular self-help book in that he just tells stories but the stories are good.

[Mark Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was halfway through the third story in this e-book collection before I realized my mistake: this would make an excellent bathroom book. Tons of short, funny or suspenseful pieces. Easy to pick up or put down. This brings up the next great challenge for the electronic reading revolution... who's going to leave their e-reader in the can? Will there be special versions of the Kindle or Nook which are waterproof and easily clean up with a squirt of "Toilet Duck?"

Luckily for those of you hearing of this book for the first time, there is now a print version, so we can solve that other problem some other day.

This collection of scalpel-sharp stories, vicious vignettes or bits of stoner wisdom is brilliant. It is a great read, first of all--makes you think, keeps you guessing and all that. But it's also great writing, something you don't always find in an "indie" book. Chute is a real pro who shows he is in top form with an altogether rare amount of second person narration, perfectly executed. Last time I read this much 2P was in Thomas Harris's Hannibal or Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City.

The stories and story fragments in this collection seem like they would be of great value to stoners. Topics covered include how to deal with paranoia, the munchies, illicit bong purchases, stealth baked goods and other weird stuff to think about when you're high. Like first love, skunk transportation, a cold as ice assassin and a gay teen on the run from repressive parents. Okay, so not all of it is a perfect fit, but it is never boring.

The author is dedicated to the concept of indie publishing and those with reservations about this branch of the medium with no literary "gatekeepers" might imagine that this means the material is unpublishable by any other means. That is certainly not the case here. Both the writing and the packaging are professional all the way.

I have read plenty of "traditionally published" schlock which was given the green light by said gatekeepers (maybe when they were high) that was nowhere close to being as well written, edited or presented as "Self-Help for Stoners." This is the real deal, folks. The future of publishing is in our hands. To paraphrase Karl Marx, the workers have taken over the means of production. Publishing establishment take heed: notice has been served.

[Amy Engeldinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

good

[Brynne D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not at all a self-help book, nor would I wanna to read any part of this under the influence, but definitely a lot funny and a bit thought-provoking.