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978-0-89587-197-8
0-89587-197-1
$19.95 hardcover
6" x 9"
313 pages
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Five thousand years out of
the Labyrinth that held him captive, and as many years beyond the
dubious bargain that set him free, the Minotaur finds himself struggling
to negotiate the American South with the body of a man and the head of a
bull.
The Minotaur tries to balance
the past, the present, and a looming future from behind the cooks' line
at Grub's Rib, where his coworkers know both his skill with a chef's
knife and the sometimes dangerous nature of his horns. At Lucky-U Mobile
Estates, the Minotaur lives in a boat-shaped trailer and shares with his
neighbors an appreciation for a quiet lifestyle and a respect for auto
repairs.
Over the duration of his
life, the Minotaur has roamed the earth and seen much, yet he has reaped
little wisdom to help him navigate the complex geography of human
relationships. Inarticulate, socially inept, tolerated at best by modern
folk, he has been reduced from a monster with an appetite for human
flesh to a broken creature with very human needs.
During the two weeks covered
by the novel, the delicate balance tips, and the Minotaur finds his life
dissolving into chaos while he simultaneously awakens to the possibility
of love.
Among the characters peopling
the Minotaur's world are Kelly, whose own debilitating flaw allows her
affinity for the Minotaur; Sweeny, the rough-hewn but kindly proprietor
of the mobile-home park; and Buddy, Sweeny's unforgettable, unlucky,
randy bulldog.
The Minotaur Takes a
Cigarette Break is an effortless blend of the mundane and the
mythic, a unique world in which kitchen work becomes high drama and
meetings between legendary creatures almost pass notice. But strangest
of all in Steven Sherrill's debut novel, everything seems to make
perfect sense.
about the author
Steven Sherrill is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at
Charlotte and holds an MFA in poetry from the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He
was the recipient of a Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest Fellowship to the
McDowell Colony. His poems and stories have appeared in such
publications as Best American Poetry, Kenyon Review, and Georgia
Review. He lives in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
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