The winner of the 2015 Quarterly West novella contest was Mark Baumer’s Holiday Meat. Print copies of the novella have SOLD OUT. You may download a free PDF of the novella by clicking here.

Mark Baumer tragically passed away on January 21, 2017. He was walking barefoot across the US to raise money for the FANG Collective, a non-profit organization that “seeks to escalate resistance to the fracked gas industry while supporting other movements for justice,” when he was struck by an SUV and killed. We hope those who download the free novella will also make a donation to the FANG Collective in Mark’s honor. Mark’s parents have also started a fundraising page for The Mark Baumer Sustainability Fund, which you can donate to here.

About Holiday Meat, judge Lily Hoang writes:

Meet Paul.
“Paul sighed and when he finished sighing he sighed again.”
Paul lives in Mark Baumer’s Holiday Meat. Paul lives between a fairy tale world of genuine absurdity and the banally real workplace. Paul telescopes inward until his interior is made physical, given body and character. Baumer’s sentences similarly dive into themselves and expel a charming surprise every time. This is a magic story for people who don’t like magic stories; it is a patchwork novella that delivers satisfaction—again and again. Dazzling, hilarious, and absolutely astute, Mark Baumer’s Holiday Meat is a cynosure of abrupt delight.