K Chess

Praise

• A beautifully written and conceived novel, and one whose message of empathy across lines of difference is much needed.

  —Tor.com

• Eerie and ingenious. . . . Describes an impossible world in order to more clearly show us our own.

  —Karen Thompson Walker, author of The Dreamers

• Incredibly intriguing.

  —The Washington Post

• Powerfully written.

  —Jo Walton, Tor.com

• Spectacular.

  —Dana Spiotta, author of Innocents and Others

• A beautiful labyrinth of a novel—electric, formidable, and wildly moving.

  —Laura van den Berg, author of I Hold a Wolf by the Ears

• Remarkable.

  —A.V. Club, Best Books of the Year

• Impossible to forget.

  —Book Riot

• As timely and powerfully written as it is jaw-droppingly imaginative.

  —Salon

• A story about immigration wrapped inside a post-apocalyptic fable with multiple universes that also manages to be a meditation on art, fate, trauma, and loss.

  —The Millions

• Intriguing and fresh . . . a promising new voice in speculative fiction.

  —Booklist

• Magnificent. . . . An awesome and humbling literary achievement.

  —Foreword Reviews, Starred Review

• Impressive.

  —Vol. 1 Brooklyn

• A gripping and thought-provoking read.

  —Popular Science

• Powerful.

  —The Verge

• Stands among the best works of hybrid SF.

  —New York Journal of Books

• 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 Interior Chinatown