The sixteen stories collected in Father Must are evidence of that rarest of sightings: a truly new writer. For Rick Rofihe, language is constant play. Each of his stories seems to begin from the inside, and lives with its characters as they move into a vivid and distinctive world of their own. The result for the reader is constant surprise and pleasure.
Recent arrivals, subtitute parents, "elevator neighbors," lovers of varying degrees of intimacy and commitment—each Rofihe situation and character is unique because of the singular, quirky, minutely modulated tone and voice that evoke it. Supple, delicate, and original in its responses to the varieties of experience, Rofihe's work bears no resemblance to any of the trends and fashions of contemporary fiction. It is utterly fresh, prismatic and affecting, a genuine discovery.
