." Patricia Zelver's humor is like a kitten hiding behind the sofa waiting to dart out and take a couple of slaps and dash back in. Her stories make me do what I practically never do, laugh out loud (What's to laugh at most of the time?)." -Wallace Stegner The stories in "A Man of Middle Age" are all distinctive, befitting a five-time winner of O. Henry Prize Story Awards. "Patricia Zelver created Same Winkle, a man of middle age, with style and masterful economy in the title novella. It is a minor classic." -"San Francisco Chronicle"