Lover Boy
Lust. Long. Lose. Learn. Leave. That’s exactly how many L’s it takes to get over Her.
From first-time author Damir Ferhatovic comes a short story collection like no other: One-part self-reflexive account of a fragmented mind, one-part longing for things past. Confrontations with the subconscious have never been this personal.
Haunting these shards are themes of loss, unrequited love, the ambiguity of time, and the seductiveness of nostalgia. Amidst an impending apocalypse, a middle-aged woman struggles to escape her past. Meanwhile, a driver travelling the empty streets of his youth discovers that the world he knew has suddenly disappeared. You’ll travel from a man living out his most debased fantasies with disastrous consequences to a waitress slowly arriving at the conclusion that some things can’t be reasoned through. At the centre of it all, a boy’s car breaks down en route to his anniversary dinner, setting in motion events that threaten to sever his reality.
These abstract pieces shine a light on the deepest recesses of a broken heart.
Call it exorcised trauma.
Call it Lover Boy.
Writing Period: 01/2013 - 05/2019
Publication Date: 05/2021
Cover: Matea Radic
Editor: Ryan Paterson