Near Flesh: Stories
short-story-collection · First published 2025
Author guide
Katherine Dunn Books in Order
Katherine Karen Dunn (1945–2016) was an American writer associated with Portland, Oregon. She published four novels—Attic, Truck, Geek Love, and the posthumously published Toad—as well as nonfiction, essays, short fiction, and poetry-related work. Her writing is noted for dark humor, grotesque imagery, outsider characters, and sustained interest in language, violence, and boxing.
literary fictionhorrornonfictionjournalismshort fiction
Catalog record updated .
Katherine Dunn's Newest Book
Not sure where to begin?
Start with one of these
Geek Love
Dunn's best-known and most representative standalone novel.
One Ring Circus: Dispatches from the World of Boxing
Best entry point to her nonfiction and boxing journalism.
Outside the series
Bibliography by category
Novels (7)
- Attic
novel · 1970
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…
- Truck
novel · 1971
- The Slice: Information With an Attitude
nonfiction · 1989
- Geek Love
novel · 1989
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 amphetamine, arsenic, and radioisotopes). Their offspring include Arturo…
- On Cussing: Bad Words and Creative Cursing
nonfiction · 2019
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…
- Toad
novel · 2022
A previously unpublished novel of the reflections of a deeply scarred and reclusive woman, from the cult icon Katherine Dunn, the author of Geek Love. Sally Gunnar has withdrawn from the world.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…
Short fiction (2)
- Snee's Pies
short-story · 2015
- Near Flesh: Stories
short-story-collection · 2025
Essays and speeches (1)
- One Ring Circus: Dispatches from the World of Boxing
essay-collection · 2009
Other (1)
- 3 Day Fox: A Tattoo
chapbook · 1979