The Cut Man Cometh perhaps

Geek Love is one of my favorite books by author Katherine Dunn who lives in Portland. Forever I've been wondering if she's got another novel in her and it seems perhaps there is one. See the interview, a little dated below. I like the editors quote about some authors are on free flow and others drip...

"I have been a believer in the magic of language since, at a very early age, I discovered that some words got me into trouble and others got me out."

"I think everybody should write. I think those people with stories who don't write should be stomped on."
 
 

Where is the (follow-up to Geek) Love? The author has come un-Dunn.

The promise maker: Portland-based author Katherine Dunn

The promise:  Former WW columnist Dunn, one of Portland's finest writers and the author of National Book Award finalist Geek Love, pledged 17 years ago to write another novel .

What she actually said: Dunn told London's The Guardian newspaper in an Aug. 19, 1989, interview that she was busy on her fourth novel, then titled The Cut Man, which was already under contract with Knopf (the publisher of Geek Love). "'The cut man in boxing is the person who stops the bleeding in a boxing match. The new novel is about boxing and serial killers," Dunn said.

So what happened? No Cut Man, but lots of great journalism—Dunn remains one of the better boxing writers in the United States and contributed to the award-winning School of Hard Knocks: The Struggle for Survival in America's Toughest Boxing Gyms. While that all may ultimately add great detail to Cut Man, fans of Dunn's vivid, warped imagination want fiction, not recaps of boxing matches.

What she says now:  Dunn politely refused WW's interview request. Her agent, Richard Pine, told The New York Times in 2004, "Katherine once told me that writers are like faucets ... Some drip and some are on free flow. She drips, and she's happy dripping." In a more recent email interview, Pine told WW, "I don't know when Katherine will deliver Cut Man, but I do know that she's working on it and, like her many fans, I look forward to reading it soon after she's typed 'The End.'"

Cutting through it all: Knopf is currently scheduling Cut Man for a September 2008 release. —Karla Starr

Comments

[Chuck]

Hi Susan,

I LOVE Geek Love! One of my fav books of all time. When I was teaching in Poulsbo it was one of the books I tried to force all my students to read! There are two other novellas by Katherine Dunn titled "Attic" and "Truck." Both good reads but not very long. Can't wait for Cut Man!!!

And you didn't ask but I'll include below the other books I had on the list for my students.

Perfume...Patrick Suskind

The Pigeon...Patrick Suskind

Geek Love...Katherine Dunn

Danzig Trilogy (Tin Drum, Cat and Mouse, Dog Years)...Gunter Grass

Screwtape Letters...C.S.Lewis

Maybe the Moon...Armistead Maupin

New York Trilogy...Paul Auster

The Tunnel: Poems...Russell Edson