“The characters of Fatted Calf Bluesresonate long after the stories are over: a man in a streetcar proclaiming his genius, a couple who question one another after a love note is found taped to their door, a man at a truck stop who keeps a dream diary. They’re curious, funny, wistful; we’re sure we’ve met them somewhere before. With energy and wit, Mayoff shows us all that is familiar, and then tilts the world so it becomes surprising and strange. These are stories to relish—sink your teeth into this book.”

“Seasoned and edgy, these stories straddle the shifting gap between the real and the surreal, the magical and the grotesque. They carve out a sparkling niche of light from the shadows of their characters’ longings and culpability, and are guaranteed to test and celebrate the reader’s footing! Steven Mayoff’s ear for dialogue and eye for quirky detail make Fatted Calf Blues a startling debut.”

“Fatted Calf Blues is chock full of potent short fiction that bores straight into the often cold heart of the contemporary human condition. Steven Mayoff is a courageous writer, blending humour, despair, loss, violence, and minor epiphany in his vivid and vital narratives.”

"These are not stories linked by plot or character or place, but rather by something deeper, something more difficult to see; something down there, germinating."

- The Malahat Review