Jim Goad

James Thaddeus "Jim" Goad (born June 12, 1961 in Ridley Park, PA) is an American author and publisher, noted for the controversy surrounding his (now defunct) magazine ANSWER Me!

Goad has been called "brutally honest without worrying about being correct" by author Chuck Pahlaniuk and "an amazing writer" by comedienne Margaret Cho. Comedian Patton Oswalt, who says his comedy was influenced by Goad, claims he based the protagonist of a comic book he wrote on him.

Jim Goad published four issues of ANSWER Me! before running afoul of authorities with #4 (the "Rape Issue") which was discovered for sale at The Newstand International in Bellingham, WA, by a young woman who passed it on to a battered women's shelter, members of which turned it over to authorities. The Newstand was acquitted of trafficking obscenity, primarily because the prosecutor couldn't prove the sellers knew ANSWER Me! was obscene.

ANSWER Me! was also blamed for the suicides of three British youths in 1996 and for Francisco Martin Duran's rifle assault on the White House in 1994. (Duran quoted a line from the magazine in a note he'd left in his van before firing 29 rounds at the White House.)

In 1998, Goad was arrested for beating his then-girlfriend, who had left several death threats on his answering machine and against whom he had filed a restraining order. He pled guilty and served a prison term. He was released in October 2000.

Goad has authored four books: The Redneck Manifesto, which Kirkus Reviews said was "redeemed in large part by its author's phenomenal sense of humor"; Shit Magnet, described by the New York Press as "a relentlessly sad, ugly, hateful, raging, repellent, violent and brutally candid memoir-manifesto. It’s as hard to put down as it is to read."; ANSWER Me!: The First Three (a compilation of the magazine's first three issues), and Jim Goad's GIGANTIC BOOK OF SEX, an anthology of his post-prison writings for sex magazines. Of the latter book, Publishers Weekly commented that "Goad's savage wit is matched only by his enthusiasm...his decidedly un-P.C. take on all things sexual brings a welcome bit of pointed, occasionally venomous satire to the sex manual genre" and VICE magazine said "This entire book is gross and hilarious."

Goad maintains a website which has an archive of his old articles and new items. Goad currently lives in Atlanta, GA with his wife Shannon and son Zane.

Works

• ANSWER Me!: The First Three. Edinburgh: AK Press, 1994; Baltimore: Scapegoat Publishing, 2006. ISBN 1-873176-03-1
• The Redneck Manifesto. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. ISBN 0-684-83113-9
• Shit Magnet: One Man's Miraculous Ability to Absorb the World's Guilt. Los Angeles: Feral House, 2002. ISBN 0-922915-77-6
• Truck Drivin' Psycho (CD). Discriminate Audio, 2003 (reissue of 1996 album).
• Trucker Fags in Denial (comic book with artist Jim Blanchard). Seattle: Fantagraphics Books, 2004.
• Jim Goad's GIGANTIC BOOK OF SEX. Los Angeles, Feral House, 2007. ISBN 1-932595-20-1

Contributions

• S.W.A.T. Deep Inside a Cop's Mind (CD). Amphetamine Reptile Records, 1994.
• "Let's Hear It for Violence Toward Women!", on The Boyd Rice Experience, Hatesville! (CD). World Serpent Distribution, 1995.
• "Roadkill" (excerpt from Shit Magnet), in Apocalypse Culture II, ed. Adam Parfrey. Venice, CA: Feral House, 2000.

External links

• Jim Goad's Personal Website
• Audio interview about The Redneck Manifesto
• Bizarre magazine profile
• Wikiquote