susan taylor chehak

Publications

Short Stories

Interviews

THE FUTURE PERFECT: AN INTERVIEW WITH JOHN IRVING

The novelist on what atheists and true believers have in common and how Mark Twain, Henry James, and “Sigmund-fucking-Freud” lack imagination.

Read the whole interview at Guernica Magazine

Novels

THE MINOR APOCALYPSE OF MEENA KREJCI

Told through alternating narratives—a portrayal of the last few days of Meena's life and an account of the events in the past that have brought her to where she is now—this is the story of a woman running away from home for the first time and the strong, nearly universal desire to shed one's identity to become somebody else. BUY THE BOOK HERE

THE GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT, A CONFESSION

“[Chehak's] ambitiously imaginative novel questions the very nature of reality… [a] diverting exploration of metaphysical concepts. Winsome and smartly playful.” —Kirkus Reviews

BUY THE BOOK HERE

RAMPAGE

“In Susan Taylor Chehak’s skilled hands, Iowa becomes the seething, steamy setting for a tale of pure evil… This is a marvelous, creepy story.” -The Kansas City Star

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SMITHEREENS

"Chehak is a very accomplished storyteller, always in control of her narrative, which moves ahead with grace and speed. But it's not only the plot that matters to this writer. It's the telling little details, particularly of teenage angst and of domestic life that makes the novel rich... SMITHEREENS is a novel fully worthy of the title thriller. It's hard to put down. It has a kind of dark allure." - The Los Angeles Times

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DANCING ON GLASS

"A dark tale of obsession among the posh ranks of a midwestern town... Chehak's poetic style exposes the passionate longings beneath the mannered sterling-and-crystal patina of Cedar Hill life; she renders both violence and love with an unflinching eye and casts a mournful spell." -Vogue

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HARMONY

"Haunting . . . Clodine Wheeler is the bemused narrator who strings together brilliant beads of descriptive phrases as she sorts through her memories . . . Chehak skillfully depicts small-town meanness and ironic generosity . . . . Her mesmerizing tale has classic resonances." – Publishers Weekly

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THE STORY OF ANNIE D.

"Chehak's prose provides a seamless, calm flow to a novel whose elements of love and murder ripple enticingly, fully surfacing only gently, only eventually, in the most satisfying kind of storytelling." -Booklist

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Jane Doe

WINNER OF THE THREE SISTERS AWARD IN FICTION FROM NELLE

Nobody wants to read a story about Iowa, or so I've been told. Nothing happens there, or if something does happen there, it probably isn't anything very interesting, not even to the people to whom it happens, because, on the whole, they're not very interesting either. Even if the story isn't about Iowa per se but is about something that just happened to finally have happened there, nobody would want to read it. Everybody knows that this is true, and no one will blame you if you happen to be somebody who is one of those nobodies yourself...