Chanelle Benz

Billie James' inheritance isn't much: a little money and a shack in the Mississippi Delta. The house once belonged to her father, a renowned black poet who died unexpectedly when Billie was four years old. Though Billie was there when the accident happened, she has no memory of that day—and she hasn't been back to the South since. Thirty years later, Billie returns but her father's home is unnervingly secluded: her only neighbors are the McGees, the family whose history has been entangled with hers since the days of slavery. As Billie encounters the locals, she hears a strange rumor: that she herself went missing on the day her father died. As the mystery intensifies, she finds out that this forgotten piece of her past could put her in danger. Inventive, gritty, and openhearted, The Gone Dead is an astonishing debut novel about race, justice, and memory that lays bare the long-concealed wounds of a family and a country.

A Novel

The Gone Dead

A stunningly original debut collection, The Man Who Shot Out My Eye Is Dead is about lives across history marked by violence and longing. In ten stories of impressive range, Chanelle Benz displays a staggering command of craft as she crisscrosses through time and space to create a complex mosaic of humanity. In “The Diplomat’s Daughter,” a woman disappears and resurfaces across the world as a deadly force of nature with many names. “West of the Known” tells of a brother and sister who turn outlaw in a wild and brutal landscape. “James III” lays bare the struggle of a young Philadelphia boy who must contend with the contradictions of privilege, violence, and the sway of an incarcerated father. In “That We May Be All One Sheepefolde,” a sixteenth-century English monk suffers the dissolution of his monastery and the loss of all that he held sacred. The characters in Benz’s wildly imaginative collection are as varied as any in recent literature, subverting boundaries of race, gender, and class, but they share a thirst for adventure that sends them rushing toward moral crossroads, becoming victims and perpetrators along the way. Riveting, visceral, and heartbreaking, Benz’s stories of identity, abandonment, and fierce love come together in a daring, arresting vision. Benz emerges on the scene as an indomitable talent and a brilliant new literary force.

Stories

The Man Who Shot Out My Eye Is Dead

Gone Dead

"A ... debut collection ... about lives across history marked by violence and longing"--Flap page 1 of dust jacket.

stories

The man who shot out my eye is dead

Billie James's inheritance isn't much: a little money and a shack in the Mississippi Delta. The house once belonged to her father, a renowned black poet who died unexpectedly when Billie was four years old. Though Billie was there when the accident happened, she has no memory of that day--and she hasn't been back to the South since. Thirty years later, Billie returns, but her father's home is unnervingly secluded; her only neighbors are the McGees, a family whose history has been entangled with hers since the days of slavery. As Billie encounters the locals, she hears a strange rumor: that she herself went missing on the day her father died. As the mystery intensifies, she finds out that this forgotten piece of her past could put her in danger. Inventive, gritty, and openhearted, The Gone Dead is an astonishing story of race, justice, and memory that lays bare the long-concealed wounds of a family and a country. It's also an unforgettable debut novel that solidifies Chanelle Benz's place as "a riveting new voice in American fiction" (George Saunders).

“A riveting new voice in American fiction.” —George Saunders “Stops your breath…. ‘West of the Known’ parks a language before a reader’s eyes that shocks and hypnotizes.” —San Francisco Chronicle An electrifying story of two siblings turned outlaw in the Wild West, by the inimitable talent Chanelle Benz—plus an exclusive preview of her forthcoming debut novel, The Gone Dead Fifteen-year-old Lavenia is freshly reunited with her long-absent brother Jackson, joining the ranks of his roving band of outlaws on their unbridled spree through the West. Facing down the brutality of life on the plains, but intoxicated by her first taste of real freedom, Lavenia sets off on an adventure that sends her rushing full-tilt toward a moral crossroads. With crackling prose and a blazing intensity, “West of the Known” is a breathtaking tale that reveals the dark consequences of our youthful decisions. Plus, this publication includes an advance preview of Chanelle Benz’s highly anticipated debut novel, The Gone Dead. When Billie James returns to the Mississippi Delta for the first time since her father’s tragic death during her childhood, she hears a strange rumor: that she herself went missing on the day her father died. Gritty and openhearted, The Gone Dead lays bare the long-concealed wounds of a family and a country.

West of the Known

Rien dans la nuit que des fantômes

Les tribulations d'un frère et d'une soeur braqueurs de banque promis à la potence dans l'ouest américain. Une bande d'enfants tentant d'aider leur voisine à retrouver son amour de jeunesse, quitte à pervertir les règles du conte de fées. Une fille de diplomate plongée dans les eaux troubles et dangereuses des services secrets. Une esclave poète traversant le Sud ségrégationniste et récitant ses sonnets devant la bonne société. Un archéologue découvrant son propre passé dans les décombres d'une secte millénariste. Violence, trahison, vengeance et filiation - tels sont les fils rouges de ce recueil qui revisite avec panache le panorama des lettres d'Amérique. En dix nouvelles étourdissantes de variété, Dans la grande violence de la joie tord le cou à la langue et se joue de toutes les frontières pour créer un univers chatoyant, peuplé d'héroïnes puissantes et tarantinesques en diable. Iconoclaste, poétique, polymorphe, l'écriture de Chanelle Benz est un enchantement sans cesse renouvelé, qui met en scène les pouvoirs de l'imagination et démontre avec éclat que la fiction peut demeurer une grande aventure.

Chanelle Benz

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