Fugitives and refugees : a walk in Portland, Oregon

In the closest thing he may ever write to an autobiography, Chuck Palahniuk provides answers to all these questions and more as he takes you through the streets, sewers and local haunts of Portland, Oregon.

According to Katherine Dunn, author of the cult classic "Geek Love", Portland is the home of America's 'fugitives and refugees.' Get to know these folks, the "most cracked of the crackpots,' as Palahniuk calls them, and come along with him on an adventure through the parts of Portland you might not otherwise actually believe actually exist.

No other travel guide will give you this kind of access to "a little history, a little legend, and a lot of friendly sincere, fascinating people who maybe should've kept their mouths shut." Here are strange personal museums, wierd annual events and ghost stories.

Tour the tunnels under downtown Portland. Visit swingers' sex clubs, gay and straight. See Frances Gabe's famous 1940's Self-cleaning house.

Look into strange local customs like the I-Tit-a-Rod Race and the Santa rampage.

Learn how to talk like a local in a quick vocabulary lesson.

Get to know, I mean really get to know, the animals at the Portland Zoo.

Oh, the list goes on and on.