Most Popular Books by Katherine Dunn

National Book Award Finalist • Here is the unforgettable story of the Binewskis, a circus-geek family whose matriarch and patriarch have bred their own exhibit of human oddities—with the help of amphetamines, arsenic, and radioisotopes. One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years Their offspring include Arturo the Aquaboy, who has flippers for limbs and a megalomaniac ambition worthy of Genghis Khan . . . Iphy and Elly, the lissome Siamese twins . . . albino hunchback Oly, and the outwardly normal Chick, whose mysterious gifts make him the family’s most precious—and dangerous—asset. As the Binewskis take their act across the backwaters of the U.S., inspiring fanatical devotion and murderous revulsion; as its members conduct their own Machiavellian version of sibling rivalry, Geek Love throws its sulfurous light on our notions of the freakish and the normal, the beautiful and the ugly, the holy and the obscene. Family values will never be the same.

Here is the slim, stunning debut novel from the acclaimed author of Geek Love. Attic follows a young woman named Kay who has joined a cult-like organization that sells magazine subscriptions in small towns. When Kay tries to cash a customer’s bad check, she lands in jail, and Dunn’s visceral prose gives us a vivid, stream-of-consciousness depiction of the space in which she’s held. As Kay comes to know the other inmates, alliances and rivalries are formed, memories are recounted, and lives are changed. Based on Katherine Dunn’s own formative coming-of-age experiences, Attic was critically lauded when it was first published in 1970. Now, it stands as an extraordinary, indelible work from one of our most celebrated writers.

Reissued to coincide with the publication of Geek Love.

A previously unpublished novel of the reflections of a deeply scarred and reclusive woman, from the cult icon Katherine Dunn, the author of Geek Love. Sally Gunnar has withdrawn from the world. She spends her days alone at home, reading drugstore mysteries, polishing the doorknobs, waxing the floors. Her only companions are a vase of goldfish, a garden toad, and the door-to-door salesman who sells her cleaning supplies once a month. She broods over her deepest regrets: her blighted romances with self-important men, her lifelong struggle to feel at home in her own body, and her wayward early twenties, when she was a fish out of water among a group of eccentric, privileged young people at a liberal arts college. There was Sam, an unabashed collector of other people’s stories; Carlotta, a troubled free spirit; and Rennel, a self-obsessed philosophy student. Self-deprecating and sardonic, Sally recounts their misadventures, up to the tragedy that tore them apart. Colorful, crass, and profound, Toad is Katherine Dunn’s ode to her time as a student at Reed College in the late 1960s. It is filled with the same mordant observations about the darkest aspects of human nature that made Geek Love a cult classic and Dunn a misfit hero. Daring and bizarre, Toad demonstrates her genius for black humor and her ecstatic celebration of the grotesque. Fifty-some years after it was written, Toad is a timely story about the ravages of womanhood and a powerful addition to the canon of feminist fiction.

F uck the Fuckity Fuckin’ Fucker. Readers of Katherine Dunn won’t be surprised that this was her father’s favorite sentence, or that, as a young girl, she heard it as a kind of profane poem, a secret song. For many of us, the language of Geek Love carries a similar staying power, born of Dunn’s agile use of language and her strange, beautiful diction. And as a true exegete of the expletive, she remained undividedly devoted to obscenity—both as scholar and practitioner. In On Cussing, Dunn sketches a brief history of swear words and creates something of a field guide to their types and usages, from the common threat (“I’ll squash you like a shithouse mouse”) to the portmanteau intensifier (“Fan-fucking-tastic”). But she also explores their physiology—the physical impact on the reader or listener—and makes an argument for how and when to cuss with maximum effect. Equal parts informative and hilarious, this volume will delight Dunn’s legion of fans, but it’s also a must-have for anyone looking to more successfully wield their expletives, be it in writing or in everyday speech.

Published together for the first time, this anthology of essays on boxing covers the sport in all its forms and at its many levels. Written in bestselling author Katherine Dunn''s characteristic vernacular, these pieces range from portraits of legendary fighters such as Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler, and Mike Tyson to the unsung stories of trainers, amateurs, promoters, cutmen, and a pair of pugilistic priests. Spanning 30 years and including all who make up the vibrant boxing world, this compilation--from one of the most original voices in American sports literature--finely elevates the sport and communicates its beauty, passion, and character.

Zoological/ botanical paintings.

Whether you have experience drawing or are completely new to it, this exciting workshop-style book provides practical, inspiring, and creative exercises which will expand your drawing skills and provide a framework for integrating illustration with other mixed-media techniques, With a focus on drawing what you love and what is familiar, you will be led through the development of several illustration exercises, which launch from jotted notes and eventually blossom into unique mixed-media creations. You will become familiar with a wide variety of media and approaches to drawing, learn how to work through "creative blocks," and discover ways to scan and layer your illustrations using a computer.

Muchos ven en Olympia Binewski un monstruo: es enana, albina, jorobada. Sin embargo, nada hay menos monstruoso que amar. Y Olympia ama a Al y Lil, porque diseñaron cada una de sus malformaciones. Ama a Chick, su hermano pequeño, por su bondad infinita y su ingenuidad sin mácula. Ama a Elly y a Iphy, las siamesas, las más bellas y virtuosas pianistas. Ama a Arturo, el chico que nació con aletas allí donde debiera tener extremidades, más que a nadie en este mundo. Ama a Miranda, pese a que ésta no sabe que salió de su vientre. Tanto la ama que la seguirá allá donde vaya para que nada le falte. Ama a la señora Lick aunque sabe que no debe, pese a que esta invierte su fortuna en corregir a los monstruos como ella. Los ama tanto que haría lo que fuese por protegerlos. Y a aquellos que la llaman monstruo, que la saltan con la mirada o le disparan atrincherados en aparcamientos, a esos también podría aprender a amarlos. Un libro lleno de amor aunque terrorífico, que sacudió el panorama literario y se erigió novela de culto. La favorita de Kurt Cobain, Tim Burton y Douglas Coupland.

La joyeuse famille Binewski est tout sauf banale. Ivres d''amour et nourrissant de grands projets pour leur spectacle itinérant, Al et Lil décident d''engendrer à coup d''amphétamines et de radiations la plus belle brochette de phénomènes de foire au monde. Alors, bienvenue chez les monstres : il y a Arturo l''Aquaboy, doté de nageoires et d''une ambition digne de Genghis Khan ; Iphy et Elly, sœurs siamoises et musiciennes talentueuses ; Oly, naine bossue et albinos. Seul détonne l''étonnamment normal Chick... jusqu''à ce qu''il révèle des qualités bien particulières. Pour autant, cette famille est habitée de passions bien humaines, et une terrible rivalité entre frères et sœurs ne tarde pas à menacer le bonheur des Binewski. Amour monstre, œuvre unique et fascinante, interroge les notions de monstruosité et de normalité, de beauté et de laideur, de sacré et d''obscène. Avec ce roman culte aux États-Unis, Katherine Dunn brise tous les tabous pour refaire le monde et nous parler d''amour.

A previously unpublished collection of stories about motherhood, violence, and desire, from the cult icon Katherine Dunn, the author of Geek Love. A woman invests in a series of sex robots to get her off and comes to terms with the limitations—and real threat—of automated companionship. A knowing young student pursues an affair with an older man, the poet in residence at the university where she studies writing, and weighs the benefits and costs of their arrangement. A mother moves to a farm with her family and must come to terms with the violence simmering beneath her skin. Near Flesh is the first and only collection of short fiction by Katherine Dunn, the author of the bestselling novel Geek Love. These nineteen stories are, like Dunn’s entire body of work, attuned to the spit and grit of tough living. They pulse with yearning for a more prosperous life, for sexual satisfaction, to escape abusive husbands and the disappointments of convention. A better life, for these mostly female protagonists, seems always just out of reach. In Near Flesh, Dunn explores the struggle of women to live on their own terms, and the desire to relish—rather than squash—what distinguishes a person.

While grieving her elderly father''s death, artist Katherine Dunn learns that the time she spends hospicing and caring for the many old barn animal at her farm also bring her comfort, and understanding, about her father''s death. Illustrated with 60+ emotive art and photographs, the book shows a journey through grief with Nature as teacher. The author''s time in the barnyard gives her opportunities to reflect on memories, helped by the internal dialogues she has with her old goats, donkeys and other "Misfits" as she calls them - the many barn animals that either wandered to her farm, or been adopted by her from neglected situations. This book shows the healing power of animals and art.

A magical tale/memoir of a woman''s transportation out of one life into another where she not only finds love, she shares I through pie and farm animals. Illustrated.

The acclaimed author of Greek Love, Attic, and Truck answers inquiries from why men have nipples to how the space shuttle toilet really works. The irreverent indefatigable "Slicer" reveals the answers to life''s great and not-so-great questions--such as "How do they get the little m''s on M&M''s?" and "How come we see millions of pigeons, but never pigeon babies?"