What do you think?
Rate this book
Soft Maniacs: Stories
A series of linked stories by the author of Diary of an Emotional Idiot follows the adventures of Jody, a kooky psychiatrist, and Katie, a lion tamer's daughter, as seen through the eyes of the men in their lives.
- GenresFictionShort Stories
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
157 people want to read
About the author
Maggie Estep
25 books57 followersMaggie Estep grew up moving throughout the US and France with her nomadic horse trainer parents. She attended the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics in Boulder, Co. and received a B.A. in Literature from The State University of New York.
Before publishing her first novel, Maggie worked as a horse groom, a go-go dancer, a dishwasher, a nurse's aide, and a box factory worker. Maggie has published seven books, DIARY OF AN EMOTIONAL IDIOT (Harmony Books 1997, Soft Skull 2003) SOFT MANIACS (Simon and Schuster 1999) LOVE DANCE OF THE MECHANICAL ANIMALS (Three Rivers Press 2003) HEX (Three Rivers Press 2003) GARGANTUAN (Three Rivers Press 2004) FLAMETHROWER (Three Rivers Press 2006) and ALICE FANTASTIC (Akashic Books 2009). HEX, the first book in Maggie's trilogy of crime novels, was chosen by the New York Times as a notable book of 2003.
Maggie has recorded two spoken word CD's, NO MORE MR. NICE GIRL (Nuyo Records 1994) and LOVE IS A DOG FROM HELL (Mercury Records 1997).
She has given readings of her work at cafes, clubs, and colleges throughout the US and Europe and has also performed her work on The Charlie Rose Show, MTV, PBS, and HBO's "Def Poetry Jam". Her writing has appeared in The New York Post, Self Magazine, Village Voice, New York Press, Harpers Bazaar, Spin, and Nerve.com, as well as in dozens of anthologies including but not limited to BROOKLYN NOIR, THE BEST AMERICAN EROTICA, and HARD BOILED BROOKLYN.
She is currently at work on The Angelmakers, a novel about female gangsters in late 19th century New York.
(from MaggieEstep.com 2-4-09)
Estep suffered a heart attack on February 10, 2014 and died from complications of it on February 12, 2014. She was 50. [Wikipedia]
Before publishing her first novel, Maggie worked as a horse groom, a go-go dancer, a dishwasher, a nurse's aide, and a box factory worker. Maggie has published seven books, DIARY OF AN EMOTIONAL IDIOT (Harmony Books 1997, Soft Skull 2003) SOFT MANIACS (Simon and Schuster 1999) LOVE DANCE OF THE MECHANICAL ANIMALS (Three Rivers Press 2003) HEX (Three Rivers Press 2003) GARGANTUAN (Three Rivers Press 2004) FLAMETHROWER (Three Rivers Press 2006) and ALICE FANTASTIC (Akashic Books 2009). HEX, the first book in Maggie's trilogy of crime novels, was chosen by the New York Times as a notable book of 2003.
Maggie has recorded two spoken word CD's, NO MORE MR. NICE GIRL (Nuyo Records 1994) and LOVE IS A DOG FROM HELL (Mercury Records 1997).
She has given readings of her work at cafes, clubs, and colleges throughout the US and Europe and has also performed her work on The Charlie Rose Show, MTV, PBS, and HBO's "Def Poetry Jam". Her writing has appeared in The New York Post, Self Magazine, Village Voice, New York Press, Harpers Bazaar, Spin, and Nerve.com, as well as in dozens of anthologies including but not limited to BROOKLYN NOIR, THE BEST AMERICAN EROTICA, and HARD BOILED BROOKLYN.
She is currently at work on The Angelmakers, a novel about female gangsters in late 19th century New York.
(from MaggieEstep.com 2-4-09)
Estep suffered a heart attack on February 10, 2014 and died from complications of it on February 12, 2014. She was 50. [Wikipedia]
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 11, 2008
I loved this book of short stories. I happened to find it on the street on top of a trash can one day. Things were kind of in the shitter for me at the time, and I think finding this book and subsequently reading it helped me through a bad spot.
The stories have a cast of shared characters, but are all narrated from a new character's point of view. The characters are insane, they are disenfranchised, they are marginal. They are transients, nymphomaniacs, ne'er-do-wells, and carneys. They are a collection of broken people trying to deal with the realities into which they are inserted. What redeems them in the end, is their warmth; they don't let the fact that they are unprepared, sexually preoccupied, addled, and pathetic beat them. They continue to hope and to try their best, despite the fact that it seems they will inevitably fail again.
I was surprised to find in the last 4 or 5 pages that the stories had the redemptive arc of a novel, suddenly and interestingly all of the parts connected and resolved into a whole which was more than the sum of its parts.
As to the formal qualities of the writing, I found the prose concise and pithy, the situations realistic but bent, the characters remarkably realistic, warm, and human despite their eccentricity. All in all a remarkable effort and a good writer.
not bad for a find on top of a trash can.
The stories have a cast of shared characters, but are all narrated from a new character's point of view. The characters are insane, they are disenfranchised, they are marginal. They are transients, nymphomaniacs, ne'er-do-wells, and carneys. They are a collection of broken people trying to deal with the realities into which they are inserted. What redeems them in the end, is their warmth; they don't let the fact that they are unprepared, sexually preoccupied, addled, and pathetic beat them. They continue to hope and to try their best, despite the fact that it seems they will inevitably fail again.
I was surprised to find in the last 4 or 5 pages that the stories had the redemptive arc of a novel, suddenly and interestingly all of the parts connected and resolved into a whole which was more than the sum of its parts.
As to the formal qualities of the writing, I found the prose concise and pithy, the situations realistic but bent, the characters remarkably realistic, warm, and human despite their eccentricity. All in all a remarkable effort and a good writer.
not bad for a find on top of a trash can.
September 7, 2023
With notes of Denis Johnson and even a bit of Steinbeck and a soupçon of Joyce Carol Oates, this book is the platonic form of an interconnected short story collection. Following the lives of horse lovers, regular lovers, vagabonds, and those who struggle with mental illness, this is a definitive book that has no direct peers. One story towards the middle dips a bit, but even then it serves a larger purpose any reader can appreciate. Estep writes with such economy and tact that one instantly falls under the voice of every protagonist, and grows to love the two women who appear throughout. One day this book will have its due; until then, read, feel, and enjoy.
August 21, 2014
Punk goddess Maggie Estep RIP. I live in the East Vllage and loved to watch Maggie read live in bars around the neighborhood. She was a very self-deprecating and dynamic performer.
Soft maniacs is a very gritty and down and dirty novel filled with rough sex. It is narrated by a series of borderline homeless male characters who manage to find women to take them in regularly and are indistinguishable. The story swirls around two female characters and their search for sex and love. One, a red-haired psychiatrist, is too much of a nasty sex-crazed lunatic to be sympathetic. The other, daughter of a lion tamer, is more like a normal NYC girl (circa 1980s club world).
There are some great lines in between all the crazy people.
Soft maniacs is a very gritty and down and dirty novel filled with rough sex. It is narrated by a series of borderline homeless male characters who manage to find women to take them in regularly and are indistinguishable. The story swirls around two female characters and their search for sex and love. One, a red-haired psychiatrist, is too much of a nasty sex-crazed lunatic to be sympathetic. The other, daughter of a lion tamer, is more like a normal NYC girl (circa 1980s club world).
There are some great lines in between all the crazy people.
January 14, 2025
3.5. Quite perverse. I guess you'd call it literate smut. Several of the stories work, some just don't. A bit less random than her spoken word stuff.
December 30, 2015
This book had one thing going for it out of the gate; Maggie Estep. I have loved her since I was introduced to her spoken word CDs in my early 20s. However, it had two things working against it; I am not a fan of the short story format and I don't like reading about sex. (I am not a prude. I love having sex and talking about sex I just don't like readying about sex. I suppose that is because it is usually of heterosexual nature and that is just not my bag. I digress.) At any rate, as it turns out, this book was fantastic. While there were indeed short stores, they all connected in some small way so it felt like you were getting a big picture -- of sorts. There was a LOT of sex in this book, but everyone was fucking everyone, so no one felt left out. That, and most of the sex was tied to someone's crazy behavior. All in all, it was an enjoyable read. Strange but good.
April 1, 2019
I love this book. I love Maggie Estep. Regardless of the fact that her characters are circus folk, sex addicts, and lost degenerates with a hearts of gold, you see the craft in which she create them and their world. All fiction authors should admire the way that she created these characters through nuance and speech. The words they use, the specific vocabulary that is specific to each one without feeling heavy handed. I read this every few years to enjoy, but it is marked and underlined for when I need small reminders of craft.
But when I finish it, I am always sad, because sometimes I forget that we live in a world where Maggie Estep will never write another story or poem.
But when I finish it, I am always sad, because sometimes I forget that we live in a world where Maggie Estep will never write another story or poem.
January 31, 2008
I love how the eccentric characters in the short stories are all somehow connected. This is my second favorite collection of short stories of all time. My favorite is Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger.
Read
July 24, 2008interconnected short stories, which i always like because i find myself trying to connect them anyway. lots of fucked up people.
September 16, 2008
Funny, but Emotional Idiot was a better read.
November 16, 2009
She fan-dances with words, and you'll be enthralled.
December 5, 2007
Bizarre, but very good.
October 27, 2012
One of my absolute favorites!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews