DENNIS CHANDLER BOOKS
about the bookS
In Dennis Chandler's first collection, The Devil Takes One, fifteen stories are set against a shifting economic landscape in the rural Midwest. In each, the protagonist is after something—money, status, equilibrium, redemption. But as most discover in the homestretch, their endgame goal isn’t so easy to come by...
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The stories in this second collection by Dennis Chandler are set in small towns and rural landscapes, from lakeside resorts and family farms to vast tracts of northern pine forest.
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The narrative themes, like finite chords on a guitar, play out similar refrains in the intricate repetition of fate and circumstance... tales of relationships, sacrifice, and the hope for a better life, but also long-buried secrets, greed, revenge, and the cold calculations of country justice.
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about the author
The son of a career navy man, Dennis Chandler moved from coast to coast until settling in rural Wisconsin at the age of twelve, where he took full advantage of every available outdoor opportunity the area had to offer.
After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison during the turbulent years of the Vietnam War, he drifted away from a planned future in academia but not from his passion for writing. ​So instead of becoming a teacher, Dennis became a self-employed carpenter, letting the work carry him from Wisconsin to California, Montana, Mexico, and Japan - then back again to Wisconsin.
He kept his "hand in the game" by writing during the stretched-out months of deep winter when carpentry work slowed to a trickle. Journals were filled with notes from travel and projects, and those notes became stories - both fiction and non-fiction.
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His stories have appeared in Journal from the Heartland: Wisconsin (2017) and Journal from the Heartland: Close to Home (2018) both from Blue Bus Publishing. In addition, Dennis has published two collections of short stories: The Devil Takes One in 2019 and his most recent book, The World We've Created, in 2024.
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Dennis currently lives with his longtime partner Gayle in a house he designed and built on forty acres near Blue Mounds, Wisconsin.
enjoy a story
Red Clay
Finding his professional life unsustainable, a school psychologist seeks refuge on the remote south shore of the largest freshwater lake in the world.
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PRESS
Backwoods Bard Dennis Chandler Pens a Riveting Collection of Stories by Matt Geiger for Mount Horeb Mail, December 2024
When Dennis Chandler released his debut book in 2019, a collection of 15 literary short stories set in an intimate and liminal Midwest, he offered a voice that felt both fresh and ancient. Like his influences - William Gay and William Faulkner among them - his writing hits the mind and the ear like some new Old Testament chapter, full of struggle, vice, and sometimes even redemption.
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Five years later, Chandler is back with another collection of riveting tales. It is funny, thoughtful and exciting, and the language is even sharper than in his first book. ​It is remarkable, and surprising, that an affable local man who spent the bulk of his life building houses could switch with such ease to building stories. But he does make it seem easy, as if he spent the better part of his life storing up - and working on - material. Now, in his two books, he offers a lifetime of wit and wisdom.
The cover of The Devil Takes One and Other Stories depicts author Dennis Chandler kicking back on the porch at his home near Blue Mounds - a bottle of whiskey at his side as he gazes out over a vast expanse of trees and rolling hills.
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It's an apt image for this self-published collection of 15 moody stories set in rural Wisconsin. The pieces are linked by characters trapped in the bleakness of small-town living, the hollowness of splintered families and the uncertain poignancy of aging. Heavy on exposition and ripe with ethereal details...they take readers far from where they begin before reaching a final destination, and some might even require a rewarding second reading to better illuminate characters' motivations and appreciate Chandler's narrative nuances. Read more...
It's almost easier to believe Dennis Chandler made a deal with the devil than it is to believe what really happened.
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In my experience, a young man does not enroll at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with hopes of becoming a writer, only to get sidetracked, live another unpublished life for 50 years, then reemerge as the author of a terrific new book. Read more...
'The Devil Takes One' in Chandler's literary debut by Matt Geiger for Mount Horeb Mail, January 2020
Chandler's stories fall squarely into the category of literary fiction. They are carefully crafted, but the author hopes they are authentic and true to the untidy nature of life. He tried to create stories not tethered to a specific time. The terrain is vast, ranging from the psychedelic revival to fishing and trapping.
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Chandler's influences are eclectic, but he is drawn to hard boiled high literature; authors including Cormac McCarthy and William Gay. "For me, it's really not about the themes," he says. "It's about the quality of the writing."
EVENTS
Book Release Reception: December 2024
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A Place To Be, 911 Williamson Street, Madison WI
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"The World We've Created and other stories"
Book Release Reception: November 2019
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A Place To Be, 911 Williamson Street, Madison WI
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"The Devil Takes One and other stories"
