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Neil Strauss

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Neil Strauss (also known by his pen names Style or Chris Powles), is an American author, journalist and ghostwriter. He is known best for his best-selling book The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists, where he reports his journey to the seduction community to become a pick-up artist. He is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and also writes regularly for The New York Times.

Biography

After finishing a private Chicago high school, the Latin School of Chicago, Strauss attended Vassar College.[1] While in school, he began his career writing for Ear, an avant-garde magazine, and editing his first book, Radiotext(e), an anthology of radio-related writings for the postmodern publisher Semiotext(e). He soon moved on to the Village Voice, where he did everything from copy-editing to fact-checking before becoming a regular reporter and critic.[2] He was invited by Jon Pareles[3] to become a music critic at The New York Times, where he wrote the Pop Life column in addition to front-page stories on Wal-Mart’s CD-editing policies, music censorship, radio payola, and the lost wax figures of country-music stars.[4]

He was then invited by Jann Wenner to become a contributing editor at Rolling Stone where he wrote cover stories on Kurt Cobain, Madonna, Tom Cruise, Orlando Bloom, the Wu-Tang Clan, Gwen Stefani, Stephen Colbert, and Marilyn Manson.

He won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for his coverage of Kurt Cobain's suicide for Rolling Stone and his profile of Eric Clapton in The New York Times Arts & Leisure section. Strauss also contributed to Esquire, Maxim, Spin, Entertainment Weekly, Details, and The Source. He was also featured in Beck's music video Sexx Laws which also featured Jack Black, and as a guest star on the season six finale of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Neil Strauss was a co-writer or ghostwriter of several best-selling books for various celebrities, including The Long Hard Road Out Of Hell with Marilyn Manson, The Dirt with Mötley Crüe, How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: A Cautionary Tale with Jenna Jameson, and Don't Try This At Home with Dave Navarro.

After leaving The New York Times to ghostwrite the memoir of Jameson, Strauss authored The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists (Regan Books, 2005), a book about a sub-culture of pick-up artists known as the seduction community. The book made a month-long appearance in the New York Times bestsellers list in September-October 2005, and reached the #1 position on Amazon.com immediately after its release in the United States. It was optioned to be made into a film by Spyglass Entertainment, with Chris Weitz adapting and producing [5].

His follow-up book, a controversial graphic novel How to Make Money Like a Porn Star, came out in 2006 on September 26. By 2006 Neil Strauss also came out with "Shoot", a short film about becoming a rockstar that he co-wrote, directed and performed in. That same year, in collaboration with Dave Navarro and Entourage writer Cliff Dorfman, he created a one-hour TV drama The Product for FX.[6] In 2007, he released a follow-up to The Game, Rules of the Game, a two-book boxed set.

On March 4, 2009, The New York Times wrote that Strauss (along with rock biographer Anthony Bozza) had started his own publishing company, Igniter, as a subimprint of HarperCollins. Igniter's first title, the Times reported, will be "The World According to Bozo the Clown." [7]

Strauss's newest book, Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life (Harper, 2009), for which he spent three years undercover amongst survivalists, tax-dodgers, billionaire businessmen, and the government itself, was hailed by Rolling Stone as an "escape plan" for the current world crisis.[8] It entered the New York Times bestseller list at #3.[9]

photo of Niel Strauss

Seduction community

In the seduction community, Strauss is known by the pseudonym "Style" (also known as "Chris Powles").[citation needed] In 2004 he published an article in the New York Times about his experiences.[10]

The Game

In The Game, Strauss tells the tale of his transformation into "Style", a pickup artist under the tutelage of Mystery. In addition to documenting his experiences with pickup artists like Mystery, Extramask (Barry Kirkey) and Ross Jeffries, it also describes his interactions with celebrities including Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Tom Cruise, and Courtney Love. Strauss writes of his distrust of pickup artists "Tyler Durden" and "Papa", the co-founders of Real Social Dynamics. In promoting his book, Strauss appeared on various TV shows, including The View[11] and ABC Primetime, and he participated in many book signings[12] .[13]

After publishing the book, Strauss temporarily retired as a pickup artist and settled with a long-term girlfriend Lisa Leveridge, who played guitar in Courtney Love's all-female band The Chelsea.[14] An article in the Sunday Mirror, suggested that Leveridge broke up with Strauss in February 2006 to date Robbie Williams.[15] Strauss denied the Williams rumor, but confirmed his breakup with Leveridge on his mailing list a few months later. {{citation}}: Empty citation (help)

Stylelife

Through his VIP mailing list, Strauss announced the Stylelife Challenge on May 31, 2006. The challenge was for those who have trouble with women to get a date in 30 days or less. During the entire month of July 2006, participants were given daily challenges on the Stylelife. These challenges were designed to help men makeover their look, overcome their fears, and get a date within a month. While the primary goal was simply for participants to get a date, the most improved won a week-end in San Diego with the Inner Game guru "Hypnotica" (see "Rasputin" in the Game).

On March 10, 2007, through his VIP mailing list, Strauss announced the Stylelife Academy, which he describes as the first online school for self-improvement and attraction. Enrolled students study a variety of subjects ranging from mind-shaping, to body language, to story telling, to being a good conversationalist in daily online classes.

VIP Book Club

In January, 2007, Strauss decided to form a book club composed of members of his personal mailing list neilstrauss.com. The purpose of the club is to challenge non-readers with works of serious literature. The club meets every Monday. Its reading selections so far have included Finnegans Wake by James Joyce, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. [16]

Bibliography

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0106/0106thegame.txt
  2. ^ Slushpile interview with Strauss
  3. ^ Interview with Strauss on MediaBistro
  4. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/12/arts/wal-mart-s-cd-standards-are-changing-pop-music.html
  5. ^ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002074610
  6. ^ Daily Variety, August 18, 2006, "FX amps up rock drama" by Denise Martin
  7. ^ [1]
  8. ^ Rolling Stone Emergency review
  9. ^ [2]
  10. ^ Neil Strauss: "He Aims! He Shoots! Yes!!" The New York Times, January 25, 2004
  11. ^ Neil Strauss on The View
  12. ^ Neil Strauss Book Signing Video from Los Angeles, Calif
  13. ^ Neil Strauss on ABC Primetime Live
  14. ^ Emma Forrest: "All the right moves." The Observer, September 11, 2005
  15. ^ "Exclusive: She's the 6ft One", SundayMirror.co.uk, February 19, 2006
  16. ^ Neil Strauss VIP List emails sent January 28, 2007 and March 15, 2008
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