"[Dunn''s] collection is a welcome reminder that literature can be not only a showcase for polished, refined sentiment but also an arena in which both reader and writer grapple--with imminent challenges, with their own psyches, with the uncertainty of survival . Dunn''s pieces have an almost irrepressible kinetic energy." --Alexandra Kleeman, The New York Times "Violent, sensual, and at times delightfully off-putting . Dunn''s provocative and unflinching commitment to black-humor in the face of the taboo is on full display in Near Flesh ; this collection is unafraid to be nasty in ways that we don''t often get to see anymore." -- Mike Welch, Chicago Review of Books "[ Near Flesh ] invites us to take in Dunn''s short fiction on its own terms--to examine the collection in direct sunlight, beyond the long shadows of Geek Love and Dunn''s lived experience. Happily, the 18 stories gathered here (two-thirds of which have not been previously published) hold up to the scrutiny. Even--especially--at its most grotesque, Dunn''s prose has a real verve to it." -- Chelsea Davis, Los Angeles Review of Books "[The stories] feature all the hallmarks of Dunn''s oeuvre: the body as site of both fascination and repulsion; a natural sympathy with misanthropes and the marginalized; dark comedy and outrageous violence; an openness to genres such as sci-fi, horror, and magical realism; and an attitude toward romance that anticipates what we''ve lately taken to calling heteropessimism .

Near Flesh sheds welcome new light on Dunn''s work and working methods, but the book''s greatest value may be to remind us that she wasn''t a one-book wonder--that an oeuvre does, in fact, exist." -- Justin Taylor, n+1 "These nineteen pieces . capture many of the curiosities, domestic anxieties and derangements that Dunn explored in her other work, often with pitch-black humor. Her characters stick with you: a woman who plans to have sex with robots, a troubled teenager who dreams of meeting aliens, a college student who has a thoroughly disappointing affair with an older poet. Prepare to be unsettled." -- The New York Times "Dark, funny, and compulsively readable. Even from beyond, [Dunn''s] voice still cuts sharp. The collection reminds us why she remains one of Portland''s most treasured literary figures: a writer who found beauty in the grotesque, comedy in the horrific, and humanity in the most unlikely of places.

" --Brianna Wheeler , Willamette Week "Dunn gives ugliness a sense of worth, preferring her characters to be interesting and compelling in their ugliness . From her work, Dunn''s reflected the fear of being trapped in one''s circumstances and the unseemly quality of Portland in the 1980s. She responds to this fear, though, with a wink and sigh, daring her audience to understand her." -- Grace Mangali, Street Roots "Delightfully offbeat . Dunn vividly captures her protagonists'' attempts to cope with the turbulence of their lives." -- Publishers Weekly "These sharp-edged, disturbing, often black-humored and unabashedly nasty stories will fascinate Dunn fans." -- Kirkus Reviews Praise for Katherine Dunn "Dunn''s style is unlike that of anyone living or dead: simultaneously practical and bonkers; lovely and nasty." --Molly Young, The New York Times Book Review "An expansive novelist giving voice to American estrangement.

" --Michael LaPointe, The Atlantic "Nobody''s sentences heave and breathe like Dunn''s do. Her language scintillates and sheds its scales, revealing truths that nobody else dares to utter, or can." --Karen Russell, author of The Antidote "Dunn''s writing is dynamic and propulsive . Her didactic prose surpasses the spare, dispassionate style common among today''s novelists. One is never bored." --Terry Nguyen, Los Angeles Review of Books.