The marvelous thing about fiction writing, I think, is the idea that you can escape from the real world and create your own. I find myself increasingly ill at ease with the real life that I see on the cable news networks, and the escapism available on television is so mindlessly numbing I’d rather do almost anything else than turn to it for entertainment. Books? There are lots of good books out there, but I’ve been finding it a hit-and-miss proposition. For every enjoyable story I’ve read, there is a disappointment.
So I write stories, out of my own head, that I attempt to make as entertaining and meaningful as the stories I hope to find when I go searching for reading material. You may have read the first story I wrote that got a national release, “The Genuine One,” and I sincerely hope you enjoyed it. I’ve got another one that is scheduled for national release on June 29 called “The Old Man in Section 129.”
Without going into great detail, it’s a fictional story about baseball, fathers and sons. But my hope is that beyond the fantasy that unfolds throughout the story, there is something real in it that fathers, sons and everyone, really — whether you’re a baseball fan or not — can identify with on a personal level.
The story centers upon a family man who is struggling through a personal crisis. He feels trapped in an unhappy job, he feels he is losing the closeness he once had with his wife, he feels that he is becoming more distant from his daughter and grandson, and the only thing he’s got that gives him comfort is his love of baseball. He’s a daydreamer, and he loses himself in his baseball daydreams, making it more difficult for him to adjust to his very troubling situation. He attends baseball games at Target Field in Minneapolis. He begins seeing visions of old-time deceased major league baseball greats that appear to be sent to him for his benefit.
Are they real? Is he dreaming these things? The ballplayers speak to him of their manager, who will come to see him next. When the “manager” finally arrives, the real drama unfolds — a life-changing drama for Austin Stoddard, his wife, and his family.
I won’t tell you anything more. You’ll have to read the story. And please, do. My wife, Sandy, tells her friends “The Old Man in Section 129” is her favorite book that her husband has written. She says that when she read it, she couldn’t wait to turn the page to see what happens next.
Sandy’s generally my toughest critic. So I’m impressed.
Please come to the Daily Globe book signing scheduled for Friday, June 19 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. I’ll be there. And so will Sandy. For every copy of “The Old Man in Section 129” that you buy for $12, (a $4 discount), I’ll sign your copy.
If you can’t make it, please consider another upcoming signing, June 27 (1-3 p.m.) at the Left Bank Café in Slayton. I’m not predicting that my autograph will be worth much 20 or 30 years down the road, but it’s the best I can do.