Thursday, July 23, 2009

Eating Scorch Atlas, page 1

Blake Butler eats Page 1 of Scorch Atlas from blake butler on Vimeo.



I am going to eat a whole copy of my book Scorch Atlas, one page at a time.

This page was the first inside, all black, I think there was a lot of ink on it, it really made me sick feeling. I will continue. The full video was six minutes, so this is like, the highlight reel.

If you have recommendations for sauces, other condiments, ways of preparation, please leave them here.

You can preorder the book for $10 here.







Ben Spivey came to my house and interviewed me, we talked about David Lynch, Jesse Ball, writing processes, EVER, sleep, fantasy novels, and a lot of other things. Ben is rad.




Hugest of congrats to Shane on his film rights deal, amazing and inspiring to see go down.



The inaugural issue of The Rome Review is out now, has a list of mine in it, one of the last that I wrote, and in a way very different than most of the other lists. It is a beautiful magazine, magazine-style instead of usual lit mag shape, and quite a roster for its introduction, please imbibe.




Think I am getting a tattoo over the weekend, and maybe branded in the brain.

I must inhale.

33 comments:

Bryan Coffelt said...

can i pay you a sum of money that will persuade you to NOT eat more pages of this book? if so, how much?

BLAKE BUTLER said...

hmm. make me an offer?

cari said...

Have you read Car by Harry Crews?

Does your mother know you're eating paper?

Tamari. Try some tamari. It makes everything go down better.

BLAKE BUTLER said...

hi cari.. i have only read Feast of Snakes. How is Car?

My mom might not be surprised at this point. I should have her cook me something up.

Tamari. Its on the list.

Jon Cone said...

Oh, man don't do it. If your intent is the slow destruction of a copy of Scorch Atlas, nail it to a tree, go there and show us what it's doing, put it in a compost heap and keep a record of its slow dismantling, get a bucket and fill it with salt and bury the book in the salt , then pull it out after a week to show us what's happened. This eating pages from the book isn't good for you or your book.

BLAKE BUTLER said...

nailing to a tree is a good idea too. i'll do that too.

what bad could happen to my insides from eating the book? doctor advice anybody?

f it

Sabra Embury said...

It'll be okay. Ain't no airplane.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Lotito

Sabra Embury said...

Put it in a cheesecake.

BLAKE BUTLER said...

i had a friend who ate half a bike and a bible. he's fine.

cheesecake, yes.

Sabra Embury said...

Or you can stuff the pages in empty capsules and pop them like candy.

http://www.wonderlabs.com/empty-capsules/index.html

Anonymous said...

You know most of us will buy this without its eating, correct?

I will buy the digested copy. You can sign it with ketchup after the process.

BLAKE BUTLER said...

its just gotta go down

Ken Baumann said...

keep eating

also, this was one of the best and funniest videos across interwebz, good job!!!!

davidpeak said...

i think eating a book is maybe easier than eating a shoe. but damn yo--still not easy.

i think there are good options for eating paper shown in naked gun 33 1/3, if i remember correctly.

what was the music?

BLAKE BUTLER said...

i will ken, ty

david, i will watch the naked gun somehow

the music was by Growing, one of the shorter track from Color Wheel

Catgut Taco said...

When you were eating that you looked just like Jason Stackhouse when he drinks a whole vial of V. But you don't know what V is.

I cant imagine that ink is good for you, not as good as V. and the black ink on the sides of the page?

I think you should video what comes out the other end is what you should do. I might pay for that. And try eating a whole page and see what it looks like after.

Catgut Taco said...

oh, tomatillo salsa would make it more palatable me thinks. Maybe melted cheese. Or try cooking it first like Davis Schneidermann: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0tCMY02awo

Zach Dodson said...

mmm. full refunds to anyone else who eats an entire copy.

BLAKE BUTLER said...

mm, salsa. i will try that

true blod, grrr


REFUNENDNDNND

cari said...

Car: it's got its flaws, but definitely worth reading. Read it before you get too many pages into your new diet.

Ben Spivey said...

Soak the page in beer or mayonnaise.

BLAKE BUTLER said...

beer is good idea. mayo makes me yarf.

fat paper, though. paper with a lot of calories. i wonder if this book will make me fat.

Molly Gaudry said...

Oh god. Please stop. Are you crazy? The pages are BLACK! Like photocopies with the lid up. Don't eat any more. That is an order. You must obey.

BLAKE BUTLER said...

could i really get bad ink poisoning?

i dont like to think about things

Tim Jones-Yelvington said...

You a crazy motherfucker.

I think after you collect condiment and preparation suggestions, you should publish a scorch atlas cookbook.

Ryan W. Bradley said...

can't wait to see the tat!

Molly Gaudry said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Molly Gaudry said...

"In most cases, moderate amounts shouldn't be a problem, but the type does make a difference. Inks and colored papers, as well as the dioxins usually found in them, can lead to long-term health effects."

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_you_get_sick_from_eating_paper

And more results:

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=eating+paper&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Molly Gaudry said...

If you must eat it, eat the manuscript version, okay?

Matt DeBenedictis said...

That video is great.

For the tattoo make sure not to get an alien head or an angel showing off some DD's. The tattoo artist will try and persuade you. The word "cool" will bu used a lot, but don't do it, because you'll regret that shit.

I draw mustaches on my alien when I'm bored.

Kathryn said...

i think if you eat a lot of paper at once it can damage your colon. but if you eat like two pages a week maybe it will be ok but also maybe not. also i want to see you put down the book and eat your bicycle.

Jamie Iredell said...

If you really need to come over for dinner, it's cool. You know that.

thasou said...

Learn More look at here now site web replica bags china take a look at the site here why not try these out