Bücher von Susan Knier

The character-driven short fiction and poetry of Susan Knier are on full display in her fifth collection, "The Week Before Evanston." In these pages, you will meet a U.S. president hilariously in touch with his inner child, a woman who fabricates her history in a desperate bid to win friends, a grandfather harboring a life-altering secret and many memorable others. These stories speak to the core of human motivation: Why do we behave as we do, especially if the results are unpredictable, disappointing or perhaps dangerous? The engaged, open-minded reader will find much to ponder in the author's dream accounts. These pieces crisscross genres and sometimes defy categorization. Dystopian scenarios, humor and social commentary stand next to encounters with rogue creatures and even a classic nightmare or two.

The short fiction of Susan Knier spans generations and time periods, ranging from the drama of human life to the unexplained on the outer fringes of reality. In "Leaving," two children face a dangerous dilemma when their fugitive father is seriously injured in a remote wilderness camp. A woman struggles to adapt to 21st century life after many years in a cloistered monastery in "Matins And Lauds." A mysterious young man protects the grand destiny of an impoverished but brilliant classmate in "Saving Grace." In "Under A Butterscotch Sky," a woman and her terminally ill daughter immerse themselves in coverage of the first manned mission to Mars, their isolation paralleling that of the astronauts. This collection of short fiction is accompanied by poetry and selected dream accounts of the author.