Dan Chaon is the author of Among the Missing, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and You Remind Me of Me, which was named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, The Christian Science Monitor, and Entertainment Weekly, among other publications. Chaons fiction has appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize, and The O. Henry Prize Stories. He has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award in Fiction, and he was the recipient of the 2006 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Chaon lives in Cleveland, Ohio, and teaches at Oberlin College, where he is the Pauline M. Delaney Professor of Creative Writing. His new novel, Await Your Reply, will be published in late August 2009.
Sacrificial Animals (2024) Kailee Pedersen "Kailee Pedersen's terse, tense, deeply unnerving debut novel mesmerized me from beginning to end. This is a young writer to watch!"
Crypt of the Moon Spider (2024) (Lunar Gothic Trilogy, book 1) Nathan Ballingrud "Nathan Ballingrud is one of our best and most original writers....Crypt of the Moon Spider is psychologically rich, nightmarishly vivid, and deeply scary."
The Garden (2024) Clare Beams "THE GARDEN is a shimmering, sinister jewel of a novel, with an aching, Shirley Jackson like heart. Highly recommended!"
Say Hello to My Little Friend (2024) Jennine Capó Crucet "Jennine Capó Crucet is one of America's most distinctive writers, and Say Hello to My Little Friend is her best yet?smart, inventive, hilarious, and brimming with heart."
Grasshands (2024) Kyle Winkler "Grasshands is an enchanting and lovely dark fantasy novel, with echoes of Bradbury, Jackson, and Gaiman - yet its own, startlingly original creation. Kyle Winkler is a distinctive and inventive young writer with an exciting future ahead of him."
The Bell in the Fog (2023) (Evander Mills, book 2) Lev AC Rosen "Rosen is one of a kind and just gets better and better...his story-telling is top notch."
Whalefall (2023) Daniel Kraus "Whalefall is a mind-blowing, take-your-breath-away adventure, but it's also a tender and moving story of the relationship between a father and son. Daniel Kraus is a writer I greatly admire. He can do anything, and does."
Time's Mouth (2023) Edan Lepucki "Edan Lepucki's new novel is an astonishing achievement. This sweeping intergenerational saga has California cults and communes, mystics and astral travel, but it's also a profound and moving exploration of family--the way it both wounds and heals us, the ways we both long for and run from its embrace. Written in crystalline prose that is as wise as it is witty, Time's Mouth left me breathless with admiration."
The Militia House (2023) John Milas "It's not enough to say that The Militia House is one of the great haunted house stories of this century. In his startling and aching portrait of American soldiers in Afghanistan, John Milas takes us deep into the psychological damage of war that these young people carry with them. This is an indelible first novel--terrifying and heart-rending, full of scenes and images that will linger for long afterward."
First Comes Summer (2023) Maria Hesselager "This lucent, poetic, mysterious novel takes us deep into the shrouded past, into an ancient world that is both utterly alien and achingly, recognizably human. First Comes Summer is a miniature masterpiece."
Brother & Sister Enter the Forest (2023) Richard Mirabella "This is a gorgeous novel--full of mystery, dread and a deep, melancholy understanding of what it means to love someone who is mentally ill. I was completely captivated."
On the Savage Side (2023) Tiffany McDaniel "Eye-opening, chilling and yet compassionate, On the Savage Side is a disturbing and insightful re-imagining of a true-life crime story."
Unleashed (2022) Cai Emmons "Unleashed is deeply insightful about our current moment, the way we struggle to balance the quotidian conflicts of love and family with the apocalyptic thunderclouds ever-growing over our heads. Cai Emmons has written a rich and moving book about the things that make life matter, even during the darkest times."
The Poet's House (2022) Jean Thompson "Jean Thompson is a national treasure. She's the kind of writer who can make you laugh and cry at the same time, a consummate prose stylist whose work is full of insight and wisdom and a deadly keen eye for the foibles and self-deceptions of her characters. The Poet's House is yet another indelible masterpiece in her oeuvre."
The Beast in Aisle 34 (2021) Darrin Doyle "The Beast in Aisle 34 is wonderfully weird, hilarious and full of a manic energy that clutched me in its claws and wouldn't let go. You'll want to binge-read this one, even while you don't want it to end!"
The Book of Accidents (2021) Chuck Wendig "Chuck Wendig's The Book of Accidents transported me to the golden age of sprawling horror novels that I loved so much as a kid. Sweeping yet intimate, multilayered and big-hearted, this is a novel to sink deeply into."
Gold Diggers (2021) Sanjena Sathian "Vivid, delightful, and wonderfully weird, Gold Diggers glitters with a unique and stirring brilliance. Sanjena Sathian is an incredibly exciting new writer!"
U Up? (2021) Catie Disabato "Utterly bewitching—a dark, paranoid, mordantly funny LA noir that highlights Catie Disabato's wonderfully vivid and skewed vision of our contemporary society. Disabato is one of my favorite young authors—a truly original voice!"
Good Neighbours (2021) Sarah Langan "Good Neighbors is a wickedly funny, unnerving puzzle box of a novel. Sarah Langan has a delightfully twisted sensibility."
Sins of the Bees (2020) Annie Lampman "Sins of the Bees is a fascinating glimpse into the world of a paranoid doomsday cult, with echoes of The Handmaid's Tale—though this isn't science fiction. This heartfelt contemporary literary thriller brings together multiple timelines into a compelling whole, with elements of romance, suspense, and mystery intertwining. Annie Lampman is clearly a writer to watch."
Leave the World Behind (2020) Rumaan Alam "Rumaan Alam's witty, incisive take on the American privileged classes has always been hilarious, but there's a sinister shadow behind the satire in his latest book, as it becomes increasingly tense and unsettling. Alam has achieved a rare feat—a comic novel that is also genuinely terrifying."
You Would Have Told Me Not To (2020) Christopher Coake "It's been fifteen years since we've had a new collection from Christopher Coake, who I consider one of our best American short story writers, on par with Tobias Wolff and Andre Dubus. What a wonderful gift to have this gripping, beautiful, emotionally raw new work."
Lake Life (2020) David James Poissant "By turns moving, tender, and wryly funny, this gorgeously-written ensemble novel about the unspoken dreams and secrets and self-deceptions of a middle class family is deeply insightful and rewarding. David James Poissant is a young writer to watch!"
Crossings (2020) Alex Landragin "This delightful puzzle box of a novel is full of clever structural tricks that echo works by Nabokov and Cortazar, but Crossings goes beyond postmodern gamesmanship and finds real heart and soul in its compelling characters and old-fashionedstorytelling ethos. Alex Landrigan has given us a deeply satisfying read!"
The Companions (2020) Katie M Flynn "This sweeping novel of near-future dystopia has an ensemble cast and covers continents and years of time, but it never loses its intimacy and immediacy. There’s a deeply moving humanity to each of these characters—even the ones who aren’t quite human. I loved this book so much I didn’t want it to end."
The Late Bloomer (2018) Mark Falkin "I fell deep into the postapocalyptic and addictively complex world of The Late Bloomer and didn’t want it to end. Not only is it a wonderful, binge-able story, but the voice of the central character had me hooked from the beginning, and Kevin March became a person I cared about, thought about, even after the last page was finished."
Cherry (2018) Nico Walker "Nico Walker’s Cherry is a wrenching, clear-eyed stare-down into the abyss of war, addiction and crime, a dark tumble into scumbaggery, but it’s also deeply humane and truly funny. That is one of the reasons I love it so much: it makes you laugh and ache at the same time, in the manner of the great Denis Johnson."
Remind Me Again What Happened (2018) Joanna Luloff "Claire wakes from a coma with only fragmented memories, and her struggle toward recovery is both a haunting mystery story and a beautiful meditation on the questions of what, exactly, identity, love and friendship are made up of. Remind Me Again What Happened is a gripping debut novel, and Joanna Luloff is a writer to watch!"
The Waters & The Wild (2018) DeSales Harrison "This dazzling gothic-tinged thriller takes us deep into a labyrinth of secrets, lies, and deceptions."
Gateway to the Moon (2018) Mary Morris "This exquisitely written novel suggests both the vastness and the intimacy of time--the ways in which the lives of the past echo in the lives of the living, whether we know it or not. A richly rewarding reading experience!"
Paris by the Book (2018) Liam Callanan "Liam Callanan's new novel is charming and full of fabled accordion music and wonderfully Marquezian magic--and best of all it's told by a narrator I came to love, whose funny, honest, wryly snarky voice drew me in from the first line."
The Unclaimed Victim (2017) D M Pulley "A murder in the present intertwines with a set of killings from the past in D.M. Pulley’s engaging, addictive thriller. Pulley is both a natural storyteller and a meticulous researcher, and her tale takes us into a fascinating, forgotten corner of 1930s Cleveland. The Unclaimed Victim is a haunting and unputdownable novel!"
Made for Love (2017) Alissa Nutting "Alissa Nutting is one of the most daring writers in America. She has the courage and recklessness to look our crazy culture in the eye, laughing as the headlights bear down upon her. This book is hilarious, and deeply sad, and hilarious."
Stephen Florida (2017) Gabe Habash "In Gabe Habash’s hands, Stephen Florida is utterly engrossing. The compelling voice of this book drew me in right away, and it wasn’t long before this character was a real person to me, and someone who I found myself loving and rooting for."
The Underworld (2017) Kevin Canty "[Canty] is one of my favorite contemporary writers because of his amazing gift for character and image… The Underworld is among his best work. Brutal and delicate, hilarious and totally heartbreaking. Like Charon, Canty makes a great ferryman into uncharted territory."
Heavy Metal (2017) Andrew Bourelle "Andrew Bourelle's first novel grabs you by the throat from the first sentence and drags you deep into a vividly imagined world. The milieu is working class, 1980's hard-luck America, where Headbangers Ball is playing on MTV and the kids aren't all right at all. Heavy Metal is an intense, suspenseful, and moving novel that gives due respect to lives that are mostly ignored. Heavy, indeed—and unforgettable."
Escape Velocity (2016) Susan Wolfe "Susan Wolfe's new book is wryly funny, suspenseful, and clever, and gives us an eye-opening look inside the high tech industry."
(b.1964)
