The Corn Husk Experiment
The Corn Husk Experiment is a captivating, entertaining novel that walks readers through characters' gritty reality before unexpectedly delivering light to their own situation.
The Scout Quarterback
The Scout Quarterback is a standout sports novel sure to satisfy the desire for a good book from fans. Matt Mallory is a young collegiate quarterback whose solid situation at Western Nebraska is overthrown when a new coach arrives. This coach is bent on winning at any cost, integrity of the game be lost! This is not the way Matt learned to do the game and his struggle to maintain his ethics, while also succeeding in football and in life, makes for a most action-filled adventure. Full of excitement and lessons learned, both on and off the field, this readable novel even adds an extra point: an outline of some of the strategy, formations, and points of execution of America's fall pastime. No doubt about it, Al Hooker has put this new gridiron tale through the uprights! About the Author Al Hooker has BA and MA degrees in Physical Education from California State University. He has been an educator and an administrator in schools for many years, and has fifty-eight years of experience as a football and a track coach at various levels. He has also served as an Athletic Director. His teams have a lopsided winning percentage and have garnered many conference championships. He is in the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame, the La Salle Club Hall of Fame, and the Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame. He is currently the commissioner of a high school athletic league.
Finding Fairways and Dreams
An unlikely turn of events inspires Davey Neilson to become one of the most highly regarded caddies in professional golf. Growing up in a small town north of Melbourne, he enters the world of golf almost by accident. He possesses a remarkable intuition and emotional intelligence, both of which help to propel him to the top of golf--and enrich the lives of those around him.In a series of tales narrated by his closest friend, Dave demonstrates almost supernatural abilities over the course of an extraordinary career. He holds deeply ingrained values and principles that face continual challenges throughout his career and his life, yet he rises above these setbacks to serve as an example for those around him. His story provides simple yet powerful lessons as he evolves from an observer and learner to a teacher and mentor, sharing knowledge about how the right state of mind can improve anyone's performance and quality of life.This novel explores the power of having a caddy figure in one's life to serve as a mentor, guide, protector, psychologist, manager, and friend.
Rotten to the Core
2009. Russia and England are bidding to stage the 2018 World Cup. FIFA Secretary-General, Fran癟ois Picard, has been offered a small fortune that will enable him to retire in luxury if he secures the World Cup for Russia. Picard works out that a no-hoper bid for the European football championships in 2016 will undermine England's World Cup bid, and supports it against a bid from his own country. But when the no-hoper bid proves more credible than anyone thought, Picard finds himself in a hole which gets ever bigger as he desperately tries to dig his way out.
Rotten to the Core
2009. Russia and England are bidding to stage the 2018 World Cup. FIFA Secretary-General, Fran癟ois Picard, has been offered a small fortune that will enable him to retire in luxury if he secures the World Cup for Russia. Picard works out that a no-hoper bid for the European football championships in 2016 will undermine England's World Cup bid, and supports it against a bid from his own country. But when the no-hoper bid proves more credible than anyone thought, Picard finds himself in a hole which gets ever bigger as he desperately tries to dig his way out.
That Crazy Perfect Someday
The year is 2024. Climate change has altered the world's wave patterns. Drones crisscross the sky, cars drive themselves, and surfing is a new Olympic sport. Mafuri Long, UCSD marine biology grad, champion surfer, and only female to dominate a record eighty-foot wave, still has something to prove. Having achieved Internet fame, along with sponsorship from Google and Nike, she's intent on winning Olympic gold. But when her father, a clinically depressed former Navy captain and widower, learns that his beloved supercarrier, the USS Hillary Rodham Clinton, is to be sunk, he draws Mafuri into a powerful undertow. Conflicts compound as Mafuri's personal life comes undone via social media, and a vicious Aussie competitor levels bogus doping charges against her. Mafuri forms an unlikely friendship with an awkward teen, a Ferrari-driving professional gamer who will prove to be her support and ballast. Authentic, brutal, and at times funny, Mafuri lays it all out in a sprightly, hot-wired voice. From San Diego to Sydney, Key West, and Manila, That Crazy Perfect Someday goes beyond the sports/surf clich矇 to explore the depths of sorrow and hope, yearning and family bonds, and the bootstrap power of a bold young woman climbing back into the light.Michael Mazza is a San Francisco-area fiction writer whose stories have appeared in Other Voices, WORDS, Blue Mesa Review, TINGE, and ZYZZYVA. He is also an internationally acclaimed art and creative director working in the advertising industry. That Crazy Perfect Someday is his first novel.
Defenseman
"This isn't a story about putting the puck in the net, although that is part of it, but of understanding your brothers on the ice and your brother in real life. But when your brother in real life has a mental illness, it brings an entirely new look to the picture." Steve Tomassini is a gifted, All-American athlete with a promising future in hockey and the smarts to run his own small business. As one of the most talented defensemen to play for Boston University, Steve is known for an unfailing drive and determination that continue to make him a success. His brother, Tony, is a fiction writer and business graduate who has been in and out of mental institutions since the age of 22. Not willing to give up the fight, Tony is determined to try and get his life back, and Steve is the only one that can help him do it. A winning story of brotherhood, courage and team spirit, Defenseman shows how the bonds of true friendship are forged. Michael J. Maloni is the author of two published novels, Defenseman and Shortstop: Where Grace and Power Collide! He is a graduate of Boston University, after attending Northeastern University and Keene State College. He has been blessed with talent and would like to thank his fans! They should be on the lookout for his novel about college football. http: //sbpra.com/MichaelJMaloni
Full Cycle
Eleven-year-old Alex Peterson may be the least-athletic boy at his school, yet he dreams of accomplishing something "not a whole lot of other people in the world have ever done" a 200-mile, single-day bicycle ride from Seattle to Portland. Alex discovers that if he's to reach even the starting line, he must overcome more than his physical disability. He must also find a way to revive his father's own long-dormant dreams, and convince his dad to join forces with him, before they can achieve together what neither would on his own.
God, Forgive These Bastards
God, Forgive these Bastards is a jazz punk album by The Taxpayers. It is also the name of the book that inspired the album, Taxpayer vocalist Rob Morton's experimental novel about a life filled with contradictions--cowardice and bravery, falsehoods and candidness, glory and failure. The story is told from the perspective of Henry Turner, and spans his trajectory from local hero and star pitcher of the Georgia Tech Wildcats to an abusive, alcoholic drifter. After spending his later years in homeless encampments and psych wards, Turner turned his demons to his advantage and became a kind, beloved street story-teller, a friend of the down-and-out, and a public transit angel. God, Forgive These Bastards explores the brief moments that can shape our lives and the power of forgiving even the most wretched actions with compassion and understanding. This package includes a 4.25x7" book + a 12x12" vinyl LP packaged together in a resealable polyvinyl sleeve.
Below the Belt
Sean O'Connor, retired boxer, is asked by Maybelle Preacher to check out the boxing gym her grandson joined. Doing a quick check, Sean agrees that the place feels wrong. To help him find out exactly what, he contacts the professional private investigator, Cindy Matasar, who helped him with his car accident. While they begin their investigation together, quickly developing a romantic interest, they soon learn that their efforts are not appreciated by well placed political figures. When boxers from he and his friend's gym end up murdered, Sean and Cindy find themselves targets of a well-organized criminal enterprise with political clout. Just when they think they know who is behind it all, they find their prime suspect has been dead for years. Now it is a race against time to uncover the killer before he strikes any closer to home.
Daniel, Luke, and John
The only thing Luke was sure of was that he didn't want to be like his father, John. Raised on a one-way ghetto street in North Philly the odds weren't in his favor. Nothing special had ever happened to him until he met Ruthie on the day Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. When Ruthie got pregnant, he finally had something to live for. Even being drafted into Vietnam wasn't about to take that away from him. Back home Ruthie did hair to help make ends meet and developed a cream that made kinky hair curly. Together she and Luke built a successful cosmetic company. Luke's dream was to pass it on to his son, Daniel. Except Daniel doesn't want it, he wants to box and be the next Mike Tyson. This is a story of love, loss, success, disappointment, redemption, and acceptance.
Miracle at Augusta
One year after his big golf tournament win, Travis McKinley struggles to find a place in the world of professional sports in this inspiring novel.A year ago, unknown golfing amateur Travis McKinley shocked the world by winning the PGA Senior Open at Pebble Beach. Now he's famous, he makes his living playing the game he loves, and everything should be perfect. Still, Travis can't shake the feeling that he's a fraud, an imposter who doesn't deserve his success-and after a series of disappointments and personal screw-ups, he might just prove himself right. A shot at redemption arrives in an unexpected form: a teenage outcast with troubles of his own . . . and a natural golf swing. As this unlikely duo sets out to achieve the impossible on the world's most revered golf course, Travis is about to learn that sometimes the greatest miracles of all take place when no one is watching.
Miracle at Augusta
One year after his big golf tournament win, Travis McKinley struggles to find a place in the world of professional sports in this inspiring novel.A year ago, unknown golfing amateur Travis McKinley shocked the world by winning the PGA Senior Open at Pebble Beach. Now he's famous, he makes his living playing the game he loves, and everything should be perfect. Still, Travis can't shake the feeling that he's a fraud, an imposter who doesn't deserve his success-and after a series of disappointments and personal screw-ups, he might just prove himself right. A shot at redemption arrives in an unexpected form: a teenage outcast with troubles of his own . . . and a natural golf swing. As this unlikely duo sets out to achieve the impossible on the world's most revered golf course, Travis is about to learn that sometimes the greatest miracles of all take place when no one is watching.
Race Across the Sky
Who would you run one hundred miles for? Caleb Oberest is an ultramarathon runner, who severed all ties to his family to race brutal 100-mile marathons across mountains. Shane Oberest is a sales rep for a cutting-edge biotechnology firm, creating new cures for the diseases of our time. Shane has spent his life longing to connect with his older brother, but the distance between them was always too vast. Caleb's running group live by strict rules, but Caleb is breaking one of them. He has fallen in love with a new member and her infant daughter. When Caleb discovers that the baby has a fatal genetic disease, he reaches out to Shane. On the verge of becoming a father himself, Shane devises a plan that could save this baby and bring his lost brother home. But to succeed, both brothers will need to risk everything they have. And so each begins a dangerous race that will push them past their boundaries, and take all of Caleb's legendry endurance to survive. Derek Sherman's authentic, compelling story of ultramarathons, biotechnology, and family takes us deep into new worlds and examines how far we will go for the people we love.
Calico Joe
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A surprising and moving novel of fathers and sons, forgiveness and redemption, set in the world of Major League Baseball... "Grisham knocks it out of the park."--The Washington Post It's the summer of 1973, and Joe Castle is the boy wonder of baseball, the greatest rookie anyone has ever seen. The kid from Calico Rock, Arkansas, dazzles Chicago Cubs fans as he hits home run after home run, politely tipping his hat to the crowd as he shatters all rookie records. Calico Joe quickly becomes the idol of every baseball fan in America, including Paul Tracey, the young son of a hard-partying and hard-throwing New York Mets pitcher. On the day that Warren Tracey finally faces Calico Joe, Paul is in the stands, rooting for his idol but also for his dad. Then Warren throws a fastball that will change their lives forever.
Sunlit Riffles and Shadowed Runs
Following World War II, the communist government of Poland forcibly relocated the country's Ukrainian minority by means of a Soviet-Polish population exchange and then a secretly planned action code-named Operation Vistula. In Scattered, Diana Howansky Reilly recounts these events through the experiences of three siblings caught up in the conflict, during a turbulent period when compulsory resettlement was a common political tactic used against national minorities to create homogenous states. Born in the Lemko region of southeastern Poland, Petro, Melania, and Hania Pyrtej survived World War II only to be separated by political decisions over which they had no control. Petro relocated with his wife to Soviet Ukraine during the population exchange of 1944 46, while his sisters Melania and Hania were resettled to western Poland through Operation Vistula in 1947. As the Ukrainian Insurgent Army fought resettlement, the Polish government meanwhile imprisoned suspected sympathizers within the Jaworzno concentration camp. Melania, Reilly's maternal grandmother, eventually found her way to the United States during Poland's period of liberalization in the 1960s. Drawing on oral interviews and archival research, Reilly tells a fascinating, true story that provides a bottom-up perspective and illustrates the impact of extraordinary historical events on the lives of ordinary people. Tracing the story to the present, she describes survivors' efforts to receive compensation for the destruction of their homes and communities. Silver Medal for World History, Independent Publisher Book Awards Finalist, Housatonic Book Awards Finalist in History, Foreword Books of the Year"
Basketball
BJ's mother is short.Mom is an abstract painter who runs an arty cafe. BJ, however, takes after her missing father. Just twenty-one, she's a college basketball player who lives and breathes the game. High tops and hoops occupy her every waking moment. When she accidentally discovers her dad, a shadowy presence throughout her whole life, she suspects her best friends may actually be closer than she thinks--are they her sisters? Maybe there is more family she's never met! BJ just wants to keep her mind on the game.
Calico Joe
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A surprising and moving novel of fathers and sons, forgiveness and redemption, set in the world of Major League Baseball... "Grisham knocks it out of the park."--The Washington Post It's the summer of 1973, and Joe Castle is the boy wonder of baseball, the greatest rookie anyone has ever seen. The kid from Calico Rock, Arkansas, dazzles Chicago Cubs fans as he hits home run after home run, politely tipping his hat to the crowd as he shatters all rookie records. Calico Joe quickly becomes the idol of every baseball fan in America, including Paul Tracey, the young son of a hard-partying and hard-throwing New York Mets pitcher. On the day that Warren Tracey finally faces Calico Joe, Paul is in the stands, rooting for his idol but also for his dad. Then Warren throws a fastball that will change their lives forever.
Baseball's Best Short Stories
This expanded edition features the best-loved short stories from the 20th century as well as new tales from some of the 21st century's most iconic names in fiction. No other sport has inspired as many great writers as baseball has, and this exceptional anthology brings together 34 short stories about the nation's favorite pastime. The stories span several decades and are written by some of America's favorite writers, including Zane Grey, James Thurber, Robert Penn Warren, T. Coraghessan Boyle, and Michael Chabon, among others. Many of the stories are about the game itself, while others use baseball as a backdrop for timeless themes, such as morality, greed, and love. Eight new stories have been added to this expanded edition and include "Bullet in the Brain" by Tobias Wolff, in which baseball is the surprising last memory of a dying man; George Plimpton's "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch," a fictional story about a baseball player who throws a 150-mph fastball that was a notorious April Fools' Day hoax in Sports Illustrated; and Leslie Pietrzyk's "What We All Want," about a pitcher's wife's concern for her aging husband. This collection is for all baseball lovers--long after the season is over.
The Art of Fielding
A disastrous error on the field sends five lives into a tailspin in this award-nominated tale about love, life, and baseball.At Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big league stardom. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five people are upended. Henry's fight against self-doubt threatens to ruin his future. College president Guert Affenlight, a longtime bachelor, has fallen unexpectedly and helplessly in love. Owen Dunne, Henry's gay roommate and teammate, becomes caught up in a dangerous affair. Mike Schwartz, the Harpooners' team captain and Henry's best friend, realizes he has guided Henry's career at the expense of his own. And Pella Affenlight, Guert's daughter, returns to Westish after escaping an ill-fated marriage, determined to start a new life. As the season counts down to its climactic final game, these five are forced to confront their deepest hopes, anxieties, and secrets. In the process they forge new bonds, and help one another find their true paths. Written with boundless intelligence and filled with the tenderness of youth, The Art of Fielding is an expansive, warmhearted novel about ambition and its limits, about family and friendship and love, and about commitment -- to oneself and to others.
One Home Run
For Randy Wilson, a junior at St. John's College in northern Indiana, life's challenges include dealing with his parents' tragic deaths. Meanwhile, as the school's star center fielder, his home-run hitting and defensive ability attract the interest of baseball scout Charlie Becker. Recommended by Becker for employment in a sporting goods store and a place on a men's team in southern Illinois, Randy has an opportunity to hone his athletic skills and mature as a person. In Ashville, he not only encounters his boss, and the boss' son and niece, but an array of characters also facing personal conflicts.
One Home Run
For Randy Wilson, a junior at St. John's College in northern Indiana, life's challenges include dealing with his parents' tragic deaths. Meanwhile, as the school's star center fielder, his home-run hitting and defensive ability attract the interest of baseball scout Charlie Becker. Recommended by Becker for employment in a sporting goods store and a place on a men's team in southern Illinois, Randy has an opportunity to hone his athletic skills and mature as a person. In Ashville, he not only encounters his boss, and the boss' son and niece, but an array of characters also facing personal conflicts.
Doubles
Slow Smith is in a slump. He's a professional tennis player stuck in his hometown, serving to an empty court. His wife is in a coma and he's afraid he's to blame. Left behind are her Polaroids, obsessive daily records of their life together. Meanwhile Kaz, Slow's lifelong doubles partner, is traveling the world while playing with someone new. Then one afternoon his old coach Manny appears in a dumpy Fiat convertible and persuades Slow to get in. When they return to Forest Hills -- the site of a six-year winning streak -- they reunite with old friends who call up long-buried desires and reveal a secret that threatens to destroy Slow's marriage as well as his friendship with Kaz. Slow just can't win -- and especially not back on the court. Turns out Kaz can't either. Theirs is a bond driven as much by odd habits as by shared life experiences -- a marriage not unlike the one rendered comatose -- and the only way to get their lives back on track is by playing together again. At once hilarious and heartbreaking, Doubles serves up a tale of melancholy and redemption -- both on the court and off.
Third and Long
Can the handsome, haunted stranger with a mysterious past save the soul of a dying Midwest factory town?"This novel is so good-hearted, so life-affirming, it's a joy to read...-Mary Ann Grossman, St. Paul Pioneer PressMeet Nick Remke, a damaged former Notre Dame football star desperate for a job and maybe redemption.It's 1997. Longview, Ohio, U.S.A. Nick finally gets his chance when he's hired to run Made Right, a family-owned clothing factory severely threatened by offshore competition. The entire town depends on the fragile fortunes of the overworked factor. All eyes now turn to Nick .Marie Zanay is among them. A single mother whose son stars on the Longview High football team, she's spent a lifetime rooting for her hometown and is acutely aware of the overwhelming odds against it. Still, Marie is forced to admit that Nick the newcomer suddenly has the townsfolk feeling inspired. Is that hope misplaced, or is it possibly real?For Nick, it's been a long, winding, rocky road filled with disappointment and doubt. Becoming MVP of a small town on the Ohio River was never his goal . . . until it became his dream.Third and Long is the saga of a vanishing America hanging by a thread, with perhaps just enough time remaining for one last hail-Mary. Think Friday Night Lights meets It's A Wonderful Life.With a cast of characters both unforgettable and strikingly familiar, Third and Long takes you on a poignant, emotional journey across an iconic American landscape."Third and Long is an American classic. It's a story about hope and possibilities, crumbled dreams, and surprising redemption. I loved it!"-Lynne Cox, author of Swimming to AntarcticaGet your copy of Third and Long today!Third and Long is the winner of the Independent Book Publishers Association Popular Fiction award.Bob Katz is the author of several acclaimed books, including Elaine's Circle, a non-fiction account of a dramatic year in the rural Alaska classroom of an innovative schoolteacher, the novel Hot Air, which was optioned by actor Michael Keaton and MGM for a movie, The Whistleblower, a nonfiction exploration of the world of college basketball referees, and, most recently, EZ and the Intangibles, a novel for middle readers. More at BobKatz.info."If John Steinbeck had known as much about sports as Bob Katz does, he would have been proud to have written Third and Long. Katz has offered us a smart, moving, beautiful and important book."--E. J. Dionne Jr., syndicated columnist, NPR commentator"A sly, lyrical novel (think Friday Night Lights meets All the Right Moves, only funny) . . . "--Sports Illustrated
Miracle on the 17th Green
Just when we need some magic in our lives, bestselling author James Patterson and Peter de Jonge bring us a stirring tale of life, love, and the power of miracles. Travis McKinley is an ordinary man living an ordinary life - he has a job that he despises, a marriage that has lost its passion, children from whom he feels disconnected, and at age fifty, a sense that he has accomplished nothing of consequence with his life. But on Christmas Day, he goes out to play a round of golf, and for the first time, he finds himself in the "zone". He sees the putting line that has eluded him for years. Always a fairly good golfer, he finds himself playing like a pro and is so caught up in his excitement that he continues to play, sinking putt after putt, missing Christmas dinner with his wife and family. It is too much for his already troubled marriage. His family collapes--but Travis is soon too busy living his dream to notice. His amazing new golf skills catapult him into the PGA Senior Open at Pebble Beach, where he advances to the final round with two of his heroes, Jack Nicklaus and Raymond Floyd. And with his wife, children, and a live television audience watching, a miracle takes place on the 17th green that will change Travis, and his family, forever.
Miracle on the 17th Green
Travis McKinley's life has drifted sideways. His job, his marriage, even his children all feel disconnected and distant. Has he really accomplished nothing of consequence in his life? One Christmas Day, Travis plays a round of golf and finds himself for the first time in the zone--playing like a pro. In astonishingly short order, Travis is catapulted into the PGA Senior Open at Pebble Beach, where he advances to the final round. And while his wife, his children, and a live television audience watch, a miracle takes place that changes Travis, and his family, forever.
Once a Runner
The undisputed classic of running novels and one of the most beloved sports books ever published, Once a Runner tells the story of an athlete's dreams amid the turmoil of the 60s and the Vietnam war. Inspired by the author's experience as a collegiate champion, the novel follows Quenton Cassidy, a competitive runner at fictional Southeastern University whose lifelong dream is to run a four-minute mile. He is less than a second away when the turmoil of the Vietnam War era intrudes into the staid recesses of his school's athletic department. After he becomes involved in an athletes' protest, Cassidy is suspended from his track team. Under the tutelage of his friend and mentor, Bruce Denton, a graduate student and former Olympic gold medalist, Cassidy gives up his scholarship, his girlfriend, and possibly his future to withdraw to a monastic retreat in the countryside and begin training for the race of his life against the greatest miler in history. A rare insider's account of the incredibly intense lives of elite distance runners, Once a Runner is an inspiring, funny, and spot-on tale of one individual's quest to become a champion.
Let's Play Ball
Miranda is a bright, attractive woman with an important government job, a nice home, and a prominent lawyer husband. Her fraternal twin sister, Jessica, is a sportswriter who has spent years sacrificing her social life and conventional career prospects to establish a magazine. Jessica's publication has finally caught on after she receives renown for an article she writes about local baseball star Manny Chavez and his perilous journey back to his native Cuba to retrieve his abducted son. Jessica, now engaged to Manny, invites Miranda, her husband, and their parents to join her in a luxury suite to watch the hometown Washington Filibusters take on their archrivals, the Florida Keys, in a championship game. As they are wined and dined by the team owner, Miranda envies her sister's seemingly perfect life and faces the reality that her own is a facade. But when the forces of revenge and corporate greed catch up to the "perfect" couple and blow their world apart, Miranda is suddenly thrust into a world of international politics. Let's Play Ball dramatizes the struggles of two ambitious sisters against the backdrops of immigration, global conflict, and the nation's pastime.
Let's Play Ball
Miranda is a bright, attractive woman with an important government job, a nice home, and a prominent lawyer husband. Her fraternal twin sister, Jessica, is a sportswriter who has spent years sacrificing her social life and conventional career prospects to establish a magazine. Jessica's publication has finally caught on after she receives renown for an article she writes about local baseball star Manny Chavez and his perilous journey back to his native Cuba to retrieve his abducted son. Jessica, now engaged to Manny, invites Miranda, her husband, and their parents to join her in a luxury suite to watch the hometown Washington Filibusters take on their archrivals, the Florida Keys, in a championship game. As they are wined and dined by the team owner, Miranda envies her sister's seemingly perfect life and faces the reality that her own is a facade. But when the forces of revenge and corporate greed catch up to the "perfect" couple and blow their world apart, Miranda is suddenly thrust into a world of international politics. Let's Play Ball dramatizes the struggles of two ambitious sisters against the backdrops of immigration, global conflict, and the nation's pastime.
Clutch
It has healed generations after times of war and throughout the depression. In more recent years, America's pastime has lost its prestige. Even so, baseball is still one of the most popular sports among youth all over the world. These kids don't care about contracts and don't cheat to be better at baseball. They still dream about playing for their favorite team. Zeke Morgan had the same dream. He and his best friend, Ronnie, dreamed of playing on the same diamond in the pros throughout their childhood. After a falling out and after fielding many of life's curve balls, Zeke Morgan followed that dream and made it his own. Follow young Zeke Morgan as he breaks into the world of baseball, makes a name for himself, and tries to resurrect a dream that died years earlier, while fending off a greedy and corrupt baseball system. Can he remain the pure and innocent baseball player he always wanted to be or will he fold under the dollar signs and glamour that are just within his reach?
Running
Following his brilliant portrait of Maurice Ravel, Jean Echenoz turns to the life of one of the greatest runners of the twentieth century, and once again demonstrates his astonishing abilities as a prose stylist. Set against the backdrop of the Soviet liberation and post-World War II communist rule of Czechoslovakia, Running--a bestseller in France--follows the famed career of Czech runner Emil Z獺topek: a factory worker who, despite an initial contempt for athletics as a young man, is forced to participate in a footrace and soon develops a curious passion for the physical limits he discovers as a long-distance runner.Z獺topek, who tenaciously invents his own brutal training regimen, goes on to become a national hero, winning an unparalleled three gold medals at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and breaking countless world records along the way. But just as his fame brings him upon the world stage, he must face the realities of an increasingly controlling regime.Written in Echenoz's signature style--elegant yet playful--Running is both a beautifully imagined and executed portrait of a man and his art, and a powerful depiction of a country's propagandizing grasp on his fate.
Corbett Lake Diaries
J.E. Baker's Corbett Lake Diaries will transport you on a nostalgic trip through the "Golden Age" of fly-fishing and five-star wilderness lodges from the era of Roderick Haig-Brown and General Money. Along the way you'll experience fishing for grayling in the waters that drain into the Arctic Ocean, angling for trout in the big lakes of Interior British Columbia, and searching for steelhead and salmon in the waters along the Pacific Northwest. In Baker's short stories, you'll be introduced to a host of characters that the author meets through his connection with a very special fishing lodge, Corbett Lake. These insightful anecdotes approach the world of fishing and nature with reverence and humor. You'll long to travel these highways and byways for yourself.
Corbett Lake Diaries
J.E. Baker's Corbett Lake Diaries will transport you on a nostalgic trip through the "Golden Age" of fly-fishing and five-star wilderness lodges from the era of Roderick Haig-Brown and General Money. Along the way you'll experience fishing for grayling in the waters that drain into the Arctic Ocean, angling for trout in the big lakes of Interior British Columbia, and searching for steelhead and salmon in the waters along the Pacific Northwest. In Baker's short stories, you'll be introduced to a host of characters that the author meets through his connection with a very special fishing lodge, Corbett Lake. These insightful anecdotes approach the world of fishing and nature with reverence and humor. You'll long to travel these highways and byways for yourself.
The Caddie Who Played With Hickory
Before there were titanium woods and graphite shafts, golf clubs were made from the wood of hickory trees and had intriguing names like cleek, mashie and jigger. Golf was a game played not with high-tech equipment but with skill, finesse, and creativity. And the greatest hickory player of all time was Walter Hagen---until the day he met a teenage caddie at a country club outside Chicago. America's first touring golf professional, Hagen made (and spent) more prize money than his friends Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey earned from baseball and boxing during the Golden Age of Sports. In this novel, set in the halcyon post-war Midwest of 1946, Hagen comes to historic Midlothian Country Club as the champion he is---but also as a man handicapped by a secret. Waiting for him are two caddies. Harrison Cornell--a onetime rich playboy from the Bahamas--has a past; the other---Tommy O'Shea, a farm boy who caddies at the country club---may have a future . . . but only if he can somehow beat Hagen on the links, in one last game played with hickory. Cornell is a mystery man who appears from nowhere and presents himself as a "looper," a professional caddie. Soon everyone sees that he has a gift---within weeks he has improved the games of dozens of members. Only Tommy O'Shea, his eager pupil, knows Cornell's real motive for coming to the club: his grudge against Walter Hagen, over something that happened during the Second World War in the lovely paradise known as the Bahamas. As the playboy and the farm boy become friends, Harrison teaches Tommy the secrets of playing golf with hickory, along with lessons in life and love. But the shadow of Hagen, and the upcoming match, fall across the Midwest summer, and as the competition nears, Tommy's hopes for the future---and his love for a member's daughter---are threatened when the truth about Harrison's past is revealed. Not until the climax, played out in an exciting shot-for-shot match, will all the questions be answered and all the scores settled. As in his previous novel, The Caddie Who Knew Ben Hogan, author John Coyne has created a world rich in characters, action, and golf lore---this time including the fascinating history of hickory play. An entertaining, suspenseful read for anyone who loves the game, it is also a book that offers a pure dose of Midwestern soul, written by a new voice in golf literature who has firmly established himself as one of the leaders of the genre.
Safe at Home
Safe at Home is a heartwarming story about Trevor, an 11-year-old boy whose aged great-grandfather gives him a 1915 Babe Ruth baseball card valued at $50,000. Trevor's joy is threatened by the mysterious disappearance of the card and by his friends' skepticism about great-grandpa's claim of being the only man in baseball history to steal home off Babe Ruth. Eventually Trevor learns some priceless lessons about friendship, truth and forgiveness.
In High Germany
An Irish emigrant in Germany tells his son about football, and about home, through nostalgia for a match played many years ago. This is the story of Euro '88, the largest football event on the continent, and the Irish team are front and center. The excitement is high for football fanatics like Eoin, Shane and Mick, all working abroad. Supporting the Irish team in Germany, they witness the highs and the lows and the cultural divides that separate fans. For these emigrant friends, home is no longer a birthplace. Home is where their team plays, and there will be many adventures on and off the field before the final whistle blows. Included in this first Open Door is ""A Poet's Notebook,"" a selection of short poems about ordinary life by the author, with his notes on how they were written. The Open Door Series: Originally designed to promote adult literacy in Ireland, these original stories from best-loved authors and new voices showcase some of our best writing in short fiction.
The Caddie Who Knew Ben Hogan
Returning as an honored guest to the exclusive country club where he worked in his youth, Jack Handley remembers the summer of '46 when he caddied for Ben Hogan in the last Chicago Open. Now a respected historian, Jack recounts to the assembled sons and daughters of members he once knew the dramatic match between the mysterious and charismatic Hogan and the young club pro he idealized. The Caddie Who Knew Ben Hogan is filled with dazzling descriptions of hole-by-hole match play drama, and laced with anecdotes from that golden age of sports. This bittersweet novel of friendship, lost love, and great golf is told through the eyes of a 14-year-old boy whose life is forever changed by one of the greatest players of the game.
Addled
Eden Rock Country Club is a grand New England institution, a lush haven of leisure and cocktails, where gossip and intrigue lurk discreetly behind a veil of old-world propriety. But one Fourth of July, a flock of geese descends on the club's manicured lawns; never fond of outsiders, the Eden Rock denizens find these new guests distinctly unwelcome. When Charles Lambert, a bond trader with a strong portfolio but a weak golf game, accidentally kills a goose with a wayward drive, he sets in motion a series of events that will leave the club and its members changed forever. His wife, Madeline, must face the mutterings of other members about the state of her marriage -- and his sanity. Meanwhile, their daughter, an animal rights activist, mounts a quixotic campaign to make the club go vegan, much to the annoyance of Vita, a talented, obsessive chef who has her own plans for the geese. A deftly observed social comedy, Addled is a rich and riotous story of old money, new ideas, and the power of passion to disrupt even the most orderly of worlds.
