FICTION / NONFICTION

THE 13TH BOY: A Memoir of Education and Abuse – The Teacher-Student Sex Scandal at the prestigious Horace Mann Prep School was revealed in a New York Times Magazine article in June 2012 ("Prep School Predators"), exploding the social fabric like a landmine.  It exposed the violations that private school students had long been subjected to, and it initiated a series of similar revelations from other prep schools around the country. It also contributed to changing the moral climate with regard to predatory behavior, helping to extend the statute of limitations in several states for such offenses and contributing to the wave of outrage that led to the #MeToo movement.

The 13th Boy tells the inside story of this groundbreaking public scandal from someone who lived it, and whose life has been deeply affected by it. 

"Steve Fife’s The 13th Boy is a rigorously honest portrait that explores the troubling and insidious nature of abuse of students by teachers.” – Marc Fisher, Senior Editor at The Washington Post

BEST REVENGE: How the Theater Saved My Life And Has Been Killing Me Ever Since – (Cune Press 2004) Middle-aged playwright Steve Fife – in conflict with his ex-wife, his current girlfriend, and a legion of creditors – journeys from Hollywood to Atlanta to work with the theater idol of his student days, legendary avant-garde director Joseph Chaikin. Thus begins a roller-coaster ride of a very unusual sort, combining personal revelations with theatrical obsessions, the step-by-step disclosure of a master director’s rehearsal process with a search for spiritual truth (and a decent night’s sleep). Just hop aboard and get a backstage pass to the “holding-on-by-your-fingernails” reality of life in the contemporary American theater.

"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