DEFINITELY Maybe Not
A Novel
(Cune Press, 2022)
My novel DEFINITELY MAYBE NOT is being published later this month by Seattle-based indie publisher CUNE Press, distributed by Ingram Plus.
The novel is about a turbulent pregnancy in which the end-result is very much in doubt, mostly because the male-female couple is about to break up when the woman discovers she's pregnant. To add to the uncertainty, she has dealt with significant depression for her entire life, and her mood swings become enormously scary when she goes off her meds for the sake of the fetus.
The novel is told mostly from the man's POV, for reasons that I hope will be evident to anyone who reads the novel. The woman's POV is very much represented, though we experience it mostly through the man's attempt to protect the pregnancy. Eventually he must make a decision about what is most important, the pregnancy or the woman who is pregnant.
I know this sounds serious, and it is - though the tone of the book has a lot of comedy in it, as the two major characters are artists in their early 40s who have developed a very tongue-in-cheek way of looking at life's pains and disappointments, including their own. They will end up involving a huge swath of friends and family - in LA and NYC - in their very personal dilemma.
REVIEWS:
"DEFINITELY MAYBE NOT by Stephen Fife is thoughtful and compulsively readable, inventive and fast-paced, with well-timed, darkly comic moments... Holly's story is explored with candor and nuance, as her moods shift wildly on a daily basis... A haunting and keenly observed meditation on relationships, parenthood, and the vagaries of celebrity and fame.” – Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews
“Fife creates a parallel universe, a self-referential pop-culture myth. He never takes his eyes off the prize: finding our way back to our better angels.” – Allison Burnett, author of The Undiscovered Gyrl and The Escape of Malcolm Poe
“Definitely Maybe Not is a love story complete with all the heartbreak, exhilaration, illusions, delusions, twists and turns. It’s real page turner!" – Sharon Sharth, author of the novel Wild Mind
“Steve Fife turns gender roles upside down in this provocative and hilarious novel!” – Mindy Lewis, author of Life Inside: A Memoir
Note: This novel is coming in August 2022.