Winner: Prince Edward Island Book Award for Fiction
Spare, but warm and quietly elegant, Fatted Calf Blues uses metaphor, simile, and imagery to leave a lasting impression on the reader.
In “Forgiveness,” an encounter with a hawk on a beach causes a suicidal man to reflect on forgiveness versus the weight of the stones in his pockets. In “New Glasgow Kiss,” an ex-con flies across the ocean in the hope of reconciling with his estranged daughter. In “The Bridge by Moonlight,” a woman mourns her dead son and struggles to understand the depth of her daughter-in-law’s grief.
Many of the stories in Fatted Calf Blues have appeared in literary journals including Front’N’Centre, the Windsor Review, The Dublin Quarterly, Filling Station, Pottersfield Portfolio and Grain Magazine.
Praise for Fatted Calf Blues
“The characters of Fatted Calf Blues resonate 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.”
