Fightstar interrupted, since Simpson was in the midst of a sold-out series of Wembley shows with Busted. "They Liked You Better When You Were Dead", released on 28 February 2005 after a brief UK promotional tour. It was a critical success, though Punknews.org reviewed it negatively. Alex Westaway, the band's lead guitarist and co-lyricist, drew its artwork (based on Edward Norton) for the booklet; the EP's lead single, "Palahniuk's Laughter", was inspired by David Fincher's film "Fight Club" (1999), which in turn was based on the novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. "Palahniuk's Laughter" received heavy rotation on music-video
Haunted (Palahniuk novel) Haunted (Palahniuk novel) Haunted is a 2005 novel by Chuck Palahniuk. The plot is a frame story for a series of 23 short stories, most preceded by a free verse poem. Each story is followed by a chapter of the main narrative, is told by a character in main narrative, and ties back into the main story in some way. Typical of Palahniuk's work, the dominant motifs in "Haunted" are sexual deviance, sexual identity, homosexuality, desperation, social distastefulness, disease, murder, death, and existentialism. The synopsis on the dustjacket describes "Haunted" as a satire of reality television, but according to Palahniuk,