Fish Food (a novel about life, death and commas)

“A new voice shares an ironic tale about a biologist with a nutsy uncle and a tank filled with hungry piranha. You’ll wonder who’s going for a swim.”
- H. L. Osterman, Time Travel and Other Science Fiction Journeys

Michael Uxem is a grammar-obsessed, hearing-impaired evolutionary biologist who shares his home on Martha’s Vineyard with three cats, an irascible parrot, and a tankful of red-bellied piranhas (his wife left him years ago for an Andersen Windows salesman). The goal of his scientific work is to discover a shark repellent that can be applied by beach-going humans as part of their sun cream (hence the piranhas, small-scale experimental substitutes for sharks). Just as his research is reaching a critical point, Mike’s life is complicated when his senile uncle, Leroi Uxem, comes north from Tennessee and moves in. Uncle Leroi is not only demented, but also an outspoken creationist and a geriatric nudist. Loony but shrewd, Leroi quickly figures out that the piranhas can be used to dispose of unwanted dogs and cats, a business venture he calls Sans-a-Pet. Leroi also suspects that during one of Mike’s trips off island, an unknown trespasser may have fallen into the piranha tank and been consumed. Add to this zany mix a romantic interest for Mike—moray eel expert Nicki Thompson—the arrival of Mike’s cousin Velma Trailer to help prepare for Leroi’s 88th birthday, and the FBI interrogating Mike in connection to the disappearance of a local Selectman, and you’ve got some idea what you’re in for when you read Fish Food.

James D. Loy taught physical anthropology at the University of Rhode Island from 1974-2010 where he studied the social behavior of monkeys. In the mid-90s, he shifted his research to a biography of Charles Darwin’s wife (J. D. Loy and Kent M. Loy, 2010, Emma Darwin: A Victorian Life, University Press of Florida). Jim and his wife are enjoying retirement in the beautiful Appalachian mountains.