Ever since I first read about M (aka the Minotaur) on his cigarette break a long time more than I care to think about ago, I've rated Steven Sherrill as one of my favourite writers.
A Minotaur takes a Cigarette Break (2003) gave us a whole new outlook on the famed half Man half Bull. He survived his fight with Theseus all those lillenia ago, struck some unnamed deal, and is now living in the redneck belt of America, working as a chef in a steakhouse. That book takes us deep into the minutae of his everyday life and was a fascinating study of loneliness and the life of the outcast.
The follow up - The Minotaur takes his Own sweet Time - was almost as good. M had moved on and was working for a civil war reenactment company. The levels of surrealism were increased, the story slightly more focussed.
This third book hasn't even been published yet. I'm very glad that the esteemed Mr Sherrill allowed me to be a beta reader for this novella.
It's much more episodic than the two previous books. This is surprising as this is a novella compared to a full novel. The file I was sent still contains some of Steven Sherrill's notes to himself so it is very clearly still a work in progress.
However, despite the episodic nature and the author's notes, this is still a fabulaous piece of writing. It deserves to be read in one long session for the full impact. The poetry in the prose is as evedent as it ever has been in the minotaur books.
M has moved on again and is operating a corn dog concession stand, touring it around various festivals in the state. Some characters appear just the once, others flit in and out of the narrative, giving us a hook to follow the story through. As in the previous novels, the minotaur is up front and centre stage for the entire story. Other than some asides about the foundation of the assorted festivals (ranging from easter based religious festivals with the most tasteless imaginable attractions to festivals that celebrate mooning passing Amtrak trains or the throwing of fish and typewriters...) the entire story is told from M's point of view.
He has more company this time. As the title (and subtitle) suggests, he gets a reasonable amount of carnal action in this one. At every festival he attends there is some type of sexual encounter, whether in his head or in the reality of the page. He has had encounters in the first two novels, but in this it's pretty much the main thrust of the story (so to speak). There are places where the book is laugh out loud funny, others where it is strangely erotic, occasionally creepy, sometimes creepy and starngely erotic at the same time, and elsewhere it shocks - and shocks deeply. The ending weirded me out more than anything I've read in many many years.
Subtlety does not appear to be a strong point here - lascivious is a good word to describe some sequences, particularly when he's asked to take part in a movie. That isn't a bad thing though, not by any stretch of the imagination. And imagination certainly gets a good workout in this book. This whole sequence of novels is as close to unique as I can think of.
Sherrill's writing has evolved over the past 15 years and the writing here is a strange hybrid between the first book and Joy PA (my absolute favourite of his works to date) - veering from the poetic style of TMTACB to the short sharp repetitions that made Joy PA as compulsive a read as it was.
I hope this book does see the light of day in print form. I really want to see the finished product.
Thank you for the honour of reading the WIP Mr Sherrill.
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