I spoke with Steven Fechter about his newest novel -- \"The Big Breeze\" -- the story of Joseph Bye a phenom baseball pitcher who at the peak of his career was hit by a car and crippled. Eventually, he became a painter of baseball pitchers. Many years after the accident, he learned that he was run-over intentionally. In part this is the story of what Breeze will he do about it. But I did not want to ask Mr. Fechter about attempted murder but about baseball -- and an American culture obsessed with its heroes. “The Big Breeze” is a primer on the mind and spirit of the baseball pitcher – and how fame is treated in this country.
Mr. Fechter also wrote the play «The Woodsman» which he adapted for the film starring Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick.
Fechter’s reputation was established when he won first prize in the 2001 Slamdance Screenwriting Competition for “The Woodsman.”
His website states his goal is to “write daring stories that take audiences into unfamiliar emotional spaces.”
Recorded at 5Napkins Burger on Broadway and W. 84th Street in Manhattan.
Alan Winson
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