The Slow Fix

Stories by Ivan E. Coyote

Ivan E. Coyote is one of Canada's most acclaimed storytellers; their first three collections were insightful, deeply personal stories about gender, identity, and community. Ivan's most recent book, Bow Grip (2006), was their first novel; it won the ReLit Award, was shortlisted for the Ferro-Grumley Fiction Prize in the US, and was named a Stonewall Honor Book by the American Library Association.

With The Slow Fix, Ivan returns to their short story roots in a collection that is disarming, warm, and funny while at the same time subverting our pre-conceived notions of gender roles. In "By Any Other Name," Ivan gets into some serious male bonding with her Uncle Rob; in "The Curse?" a cousin's stepdaughter helps her to overcome their lifelong dread of buying tampons; and in the title story, Ivan does their best to fix what's wrong in the world by telling the homophobe in the barber's seat next to theirs to shut up.

Ivan excels at finding the small yet significant truths in our everyday gestures and interactions. By doing so, Ivan helps us to embrace not what makes us women or men, but human beings.