An Afternoon with Steven Fechter & C.B. Whitaker
Discussing Steven’s new book, The Big Breeze
Sunday, March 8, 2026
4:00 PM
Blue Heron Books
High Falls, NY 12440
Twenty-five years after the "Immaculate Game," a perfect twenty-seven up, twenty-seven down, all strikeouts, legendary pitcher Joseph "Big Breeze" Bye hides out on a small farm in upstate New York. He paints the legends he followed, the heroes he once stood beside, and keeps to a quiet routine after a hit-and-run stole his career and left him in a wheelchair. Silence is the only game he plays now. One day, his routine is interrupted when the phone rings. A young reporter wants the real story of the night that made him a ghost in the world of professional baseball. Minutes later, he receives a second phone call, a voice from the past. The caller reveals to Joseph that the crash that killed his career wasn't an accident, and the man who ordered the hit is still at large. As quickly as his career ended, Breeze is pulled off the sidelines and back into shadows he hoped to outrun. The trail winds through studio lofts and clubhouse tunnels, back rooms and midnight highways, into the dark underbelly of America's pastime, where every secret comes high and inside. The Big Breeze is a lean noir thriller about obsession, guilt, loss, second chances-and a fallen ace stepping back on the mound for one more inning.
Steven Fechter is a novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He co-wrote the screenplay for the award-winning film The Woodsman (based on his play) starring Kevin Bacon, and earned recognition as a Humanitas Prize finalist in screenwriting. The Woodsman and his other plays have been staged throughout North America and Europe. In 2022, The Memory Exam, premiered at 59E59 Theatres in New York where it had a sold-out run. The New York Times called it a “dystopian thriller.” His short film, Miracle Baby, which he wrote and co-produced, has been an official selection in over 30 film festivals, winning awards for screenwriting, directing, and acting. He lives in New York’s Hudson Valley with his wife.
C. B. Whitaker adapted novels into screenplays for production companies in Los Angeles, New York, London, and Buenos Aires before working in publishing at McGraw-Hill, Time-Life, and Book-of-the-Month Club in the Children’s and Paperback divisions. More recently, SUNY Press published his flash fiction pieces “Impresario,” “America in Crisis, 1969” and “Harlequin Resting” in separate anthologies, Habitat for Artists granted him a residency to write the short story “A Golden Opportunity,” Boise State University awarded his novel “Journey to Sunfire Mountain” second prize in the Basque Writing Contest, and Chronogram magazine selected his short story "Different" for first place in its Creative Writing Contest. His first novel will be published in 2026.
Reviews of Steven’s works:
"This is quite a challenge for a first-time filmmaker like director Nicole Kassell, but The Woodsman by and large meets it successfully... anchored by a fine ensemble cast and a controlled, focused performance by Bacon." — Los Angeles Times
"Steven Fechter's dystopian drama, The Memory Exam, currently staged at 59E59 Theaters, begins with a promising setup... Under the direction of Terrence O'Brien for the Oberon Theater Ensemble, the production explores the significance of both life and memory." — The New York Times
"Theatre Pro Rata's production of The Woodsman is a smart, skilled piece of theater. I'm still recommending it highly... Fechter’s script has a daunting task to perform... but The Woodsman does the more difficult and interesting job of putting the audience in the position of having to make up its own mind." — Twin Cities Daily Planet