Famous Men Who Never Lived - Hardcover

K Chess was a W.K. Rose Fellow and her short stories have been honored by the Nelson Algren Award and the Pushcart Prize. She earned an MFA from Southern Illinois University and currently teaches at GrubStreet. She lives with her wife in Boston, MA.

“With an eerie and ingenious premise, K Chess explores in a fresh way the most universal of human experiences: loss, regret, and the longing for what might have been. With its refugees from a parallel universe, this inventive book does what only fiction can do: describes an impossible world in order to more clearly show us our own.”
- Karen Thompson Walker, author of THE AGE OF MIRACLES

“Famous Men Who Never Lived is a fascinating novel: complex, uncanny, powerful. K Chess adroitly enacts Joyce’s  'cracked looking glass' and gives us an off-kilter reflection that allows us to really see who we are. The wit, elaboration, and detail of her invention are spectacular.”
- Dana Spiotta, author of INNOCENTS AND OTHERS

“The novel jumps off from a fascinating premise into strange and fertile territory. K Chess constructs not just one universe, but two, and delicately entangles them to create a rich, engrossing exploration of displacement, history, memory, of the past and the present. Conceptually adventurous yet full of feeling, Famous Men Who Never Lived is a smart, thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable debut.”
- Charles Yu, author of HOW TO LIVE SAFEY IN A SCIENCE FICTIONAL UNIVERSE

“This novel is beautiful, thoughtful, and impossible to forget. . . . I’ve already recommended it to everyone I know.”
- Book Riot

“Chess’ debut novel offers an intriguing and fresh spin on the parallel-worlds theme with its timely emphasis on the challenges facing migrants in hostile, unfamiliar surroundings, marking her as a promising new voice in speculative fiction.”
- Booklist

“Fantastic world-building . . . Chess is a writer to watch.”
- Kirkus

“An awesome and humbling literary achievement . . . As its characters grasp for a concrete place to rest in a world that ever diverges from its set paths, Famous Men Who Never Lived is mesmerizing.”
- Foreword (Starred Review)

“[A] beautifully-written and conceived novel, and one whose message of empathy across lines of difference is much-needed.”
- Tor.com