Soft-Boiled: An Investigation of Masculinity and The Writer's Life

Soft-Boiled follows Stephen J. West as he shadows a private investigator by the name of Frank Streets. What starts out as a last-ditch effort to write West's first book—while juggling responsibilities as a husband and new father—becomes a critical reflection on art-making, storytelling, and masculinity in America. Blending memoir, reportage, criticism, and detective thriller into one capacious yet focused narrative, Soft-Boiled is a lyrical and aching self-reflexive portrait of an artist that asks the questions so many men are afraid to ask.   Stephen J. West is a writer, teacher, and parent who previously lived in West Virginia.   "Soft-Boiled is a magical genre remix that challenges received ideas of American Manhood and the Lone Artist, while simultaneously delivering a thrilling and comedic detective noir and moving family drama." - Torrey Peters "In tackling a subject as ever-present and fraught as masculinity, it's easy for writers to retreat to the two poles of the conversation: