Kendall Klym, Ph.D.

Step Lightly

Award-Winning Short Story Collection

A Tartt First Fiction Award winner, Step Lightly immerses readers in the exciting world of dance, from ballet to belly. Challenging and expanding accepted definitions of dance, each of the fifteen short stories centers on physical movement as a driving force, placing characters in precarious situations and leading to unusual outcomes. Like the divertissements in the second act of The Nutcracker, the collection sports a diverse repertory, including a classic yet tragic tribute to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, a dance narrative designed as a multiple-choice quiz, and a recipe incantation that brings back the ghost of a famous ballerina. With a combination of intensity and aplomb, Step Lightly grapples with movement that defines who we are and what we do with our lives.

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Step Lightly

Tartt First Fiction Award!

A Tartt First Fiction Award winner, Step Lightly immerses readers in the exciting world of dance, from ballet to belly. Challenging and expanding accepted definitions of dance, each of the fifteen short stories centers on physical movement as a driving force, placing characters in precarious situations and leading to unusual outcomes. Like the divertissements in the second act of The Nutcracker, the collection sports a diverse repertory, including a classic yet tragic tribute to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, a dance narrative designed as a multiple-choice quiz, and a recipe that brings back the ghost of a famous ballerina. With a combination of intensity and aplomb, Step Lightly grapples with movement that defines who we are and what we do with our lives.

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Dr. Kendall Klym

Inspiring Novelist and Award-Winning Author

Dr. Kendall Klym has won numerous awards for his short stories, which have been published in literary journals including Puerto del Sol, Hunger Mountain, and Fiction International. In addition to winning the Tartt First Fiction Award for Step Lightly, his collection of short stories, Klym is a three-time honorable mention winner of the Great American Fiction Contest, sponsored by the Saturday Evening Post.

Book Reviews

What People Are Saying

Joan Kunsch

Playing With Gravity: Selected Poetry, Translations, and CD

Dr. Kendall Klym is one choreographer whose ideas admit no limitations. His short stories spring from firsthand experience as an internationally performing dancer, combined with an imagination that uses the page as his stage, romping with the willing reader into situations that can astonish, engage, and even edify. Klym’s short stories not only open an inside view of dance and dancers’ lives but also lead us into unpredictable fantasy in a way that no other writer in my experience has done. Bravo, Kendall, and may there be many more stories to come!

Andy Plattner

Dixie Luck, Winter Money, Offerings from a Rust Belt Jockey

In Kendall Klym’s stories, complex characters find themselves isolated and misunderstood, yet they thrive. They dance . . . they find surprising allies. Step Lightly is a brave, winning collection. A solid first book from a promising new writer.

Kirkus Reviews

"Klym has an accomplished command of narrative voice."

Kendall Klym, PhD

Step Lightly

Step Lightly

Dr. Kendall Klym

Book Reviews