The stories of Vincent Abbate, though they vary widely in subject matter, bring with them a consistent high quality and easily-recognizable style. His strange tales of sex, murder, and music show a grace born of love of the language, and a compassion for his characters that many graceful writers try --and fail-- to fake. We're proud to present four of these stories here.
Vincent, who was kind enough to recommend that I use a tube of saltwater called a neti to clean out my muddled sinuses, says: "I'm a pretty low-key, easy-going individual, so people tell me. They're often surprised or even shocked when they read my stories. 'Where did that come from? Were you there?' But I stopped being autobiographical a long time ago. Rather, I take an image, an impulse, some shock that's inside me, and follow it wherever it leads.
"Three years ago I began writing for a German quarterly called Blues News. The music and musicians I've met along the way have since flowed back into my fiction. Two of the stories being published here for the first time come from this "blues-inspired" place. I'm happy they're finally seeing the light of day.
"To date, my fiction has appeared in PBW, Paris/Atlantic, Onionhead Literary Quarterly and at the Storisende website. Other pieces have shown up in R & R, Blues News, Big City Blues and Renaissance. Originally from New York, I now live in Cologne, Germany, and welcome readers' feedback at vabbate@csi.com."
Vincent's works here at Unlikely Stories are:
July 1999 - July 2000:
Apricot Nectar
Reckless Life Blues
Old Man's Blues
Dixie's Story