“In Fields of Butterfly Flames” - A Short Story by Steve Wade - from his debut collection,In Fields of Butterfly Flames and other Stories - 2020
For 12 years now March has been Irish Short Story Month on The Reading Life. Tradition is very important to the Irish, and is badly needed in our troubled times.
I have been following the work of Steve Wade since March of 2011. His debut collection can stand with the masters of the Irish Short Story. I am slowly working my way through his debut collection, In Fields of Butterfly Flames. The stories are just so powerful I think you must space them out.
“In Fields of Butterfly Flames” begins with a scene of disturbing evil. A man a few days ago just brought home a St Bernard puppy. He loves the puppy so much, getting much needed affection. He comes home to find his dead body, Shona his life partner with whom he has had two children, has killed the puppy. Having just recently added a wonderful Shin Tsu puppy to our family I cannot fathom him coming home to find a puppy murdered by the mother of his two sons. From here the sheer madness of the whole family begins to emerge.
The man decides to adapt, almost as one would a puppy, a child to replace his lost son. At first he fears leaving the boy, he calls him “Dale” after his lost son. We see the madness in Sonia and we wonder why he stays with her.
I do not want to tell more of this plot. Much of Irish literature focuses on dysfunctional families, on marginalized people. “In Field of Butterfly Flames” is a very disturbingly impactful version of this.
Mel Ulm
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