The Champ Escapes (Fiction Friday)

The Champ Escapes (Fiction Friday) Review

The Champ Escapes (Fiction Friday) Overview

As if newly promoted coach George Grunion's job wasn't hard enough...

He has a team of men (and one woman) from around the world, from all nationalities, and they're barely scraping by in the early years of the first world war. And then, the team faces off against Jack Johnson, the heavyweight champ of the world, in a winner-takes-all baseball game.

Excerpt:
Once you’ve seen a man who’s larger than life, you never forget him. You can tell who is he even from across a ball field, just by the way he walks or holds his shoulders. Even if years have passed since you last were in his presence him and time has taken more and more from you, greedy as a spoiled child, you can still tell he’s someone special.

The sleeves of his borrowed Giants jersey looked ready to burst at the slightest movement, and his golden front tooth glinted in the sun whenever he smiled. Towering over the other colored men on the Chicago American Giants, he was hard to miss, and the Giants had some big fellows to start with, like John Henry Lloyd and Bingo DeMoss. Their coach and owner, cigar-chomping Rube Foster, was no slouch in the size department either.

But this man was bigger than them, with a laugh that echoed around the diamond and doused my hopes for victory today.

I took off my cap and wiped sweat from my forehead, feeling every one of my sixty-four years. We were going to be fighting for our lives today against the Chicago American Giants, whose roster now included the former heavyweight champion of the world, Jack Johnson.


Note: This story is part of the novel The All Nations Team, available here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0041HXNQG

The Champ Escapes (Fiction Friday) Specifications

As if newly promoted coach George Grunion's job wasn't hard enough...

He has a team of men (and one woman) from around the world, from all nationalities, and they're barely scraping by in the early years of the first world war. And then, the team faces off against Jack Johnson, the heavyweight champ of the world, in a winner-takes-all baseball game.

Excerpt:
Once you’ve seen a man who’s larger than life, you never forget him. You can tell who is he even from across a ball field, just by the way he walks or holds his shoulders. Even if years have passed since you last were in his presence him and time has taken more and more from you, greedy as a spoiled child, you can still tell he’s someone special.

The sleeves of his borrowed Giants jersey looked ready to burst at the slightest movement, and his golden front tooth glinted in the sun whenever he smiled. Towering over the other colored men on the Chicago American Giants, he was hard to miss, and the Giants had some big fellows to start with, like John Henry Lloyd and Bingo DeMoss. Their coach and owner, cigar-chomping Rube Foster, was no slouch in the size department either.

But this man was bigger than them, with a laugh that echoed around the diamond and doused my hopes for victory today.

I took off my cap and wiped sweat from my forehead, feeling every one of my sixty-four years. We were going to be fighting for our lives today against the Chicago American Giants, whose roster now included the former heavyweight champion of the world, Jack Johnson.


Note: This story is part of the novel The All Nations Team, available here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0041HXNQG

Available at Amazon

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Natural Order (Fiction Friday)

Natural Order (Fiction Friday) Review

Natural Order (Fiction Friday) Overview

"They picked me up outside Wilmington, North Carolina, just before the rain began, but not before the gale-force winds blew the cigarette out of my mouth. In the dark, I touched the fresh pack of Camels in my coat pocket with relief, feeling more tired than usual. But as long as I had my smokes and my ride, the wind and the rain didn’t bother me. That was just my nature. In a matter of speaking."

A tale of responsibility, morality, natural disasters, and greyhounds. First published in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, June 2002.

Natural Order (Fiction Friday) Specifications

"They picked me up outside Wilmington, North Carolina, just before the rain began, but not before the gale-force winds blew the cigarette out of my mouth. In the dark, I touched the fresh pack of Camels in my coat pocket with relief, feeling more tired than usual. But as long as I had my smokes and my ride, the wind and the rain didn’t bother me. That was just my nature. In a matter of speaking."

A tale of responsibility, morality, natural disasters, and greyhounds. First published in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, June 2002.

Available at Amazon

• Meet the Madfeet (Fiction Friday)
• The Prisoner's Hat
• A Miracle in Shreveport (Fiction Friday)
• An Outrider's Tale (Fiction Friday)
• Skidmark and Mudbeam (Fiction Friday)

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Crossing the Camp (Fiction Friday)

Crossing the Camp (Fiction Friday) Review

Crossing the Camp (Fiction Friday) Overview

"At the west entrance to the detainment camp, government workers string another layer of wire against the wall. It uncoils through human hands like a metal snake without a head. I tell Jaime Mundo, my new trainee, that the fence will be electrified by the time we leave tonight. He nods, fingers twitching for rosary beads that aren't there, and I force a smile his way. We pass the guard house and enter the camp. He's going to have to learn quickly."

This story was first published at Strange Horizons in January 2001, and was named an Honorable Mention story in the Year’s Best Science Fiction vol. 19. It was reprinted in my SF novel "The Wannoshay Cycle," which is also available as an ebook.

"I thought the writing was powerful, the men and aliens sympathetic as they wrestle with their own emotions, and examine grim moral dilemmas while trying to do good work. A fine story. "— SF Site

Crossing the Camp (Fiction Friday) Specifications

"At the west entrance to the detainment camp, government workers string another layer of wire against the wall. It uncoils through human hands like a metal snake without a head. I tell Jaime Mundo, my new trainee, that the fence will be electrified by the time we leave tonight. He nods, fingers twitching for rosary beads that aren't there, and I force a smile his way. We pass the guard house and enter the camp. He's going to have to learn quickly."

This story was first published at Strange Horizons in January 2001, and was named an Honorable Mention story in the Year’s Best Science Fiction vol. 19. It was reprinted in my SF novel "The Wannoshay Cycle," which is also available as an ebook.

"I thought the writing was powerful, the men and aliens sympathetic as they wrestle with their own emotions, and examine grim moral dilemmas while trying to do good work. A fine story. "— SF Site

Available at Amazon

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A Miracle in Shreveport (Fiction Friday)

A Miracle in Shreveport (Fiction Friday) Review

A Miracle in Shreveport (Fiction Friday) Overview

"We were lucky to make it out of Shreveport alive on that early spring day in 1917.

"At noon, before the first game of our doubleheader, my All Nations team was taking batting practice, and as usual, I was studying the crowd. The people fascinated me: all those life stories that I’d never get a chance to hear, like that old colored man smiling and singing to himself next to his stern, frowning wife in her flowered hat, or the two white women with their cigarettes and exposed ankles. I was amazed by it all, though we never stayed in a place long enough to learn about anyone or anything more than the game and its players."

A story of the first truly integrated baseball team, decades before Jackie Robinson, set during the early years of World War I. Magic, miracles, and more...

"A Miracle in Shreveport" was first published in Electric Velocipede, May 2007, and was later reprinted in The All Nations Team. It also garnered an Honorable Mention in the Year’s Best Science Fiction vol. 25.

A Miracle in Shreveport (Fiction Friday) Specifications

"We were lucky to make it out of Shreveport alive on that early spring day in 1917.

"At noon, before the first game of our doubleheader, my All Nations team was taking batting practice, and as usual, I was studying the crowd. The people fascinated me: all those life stories that I’d never get a chance to hear, like that old colored man smiling and singing to himself next to his stern, frowning wife in her flowered hat, or the two white women with their cigarettes and exposed ankles. I was amazed by it all, though we never stayed in a place long enough to learn about anyone or anything more than the game and its players."

A story of the first truly integrated baseball team, decades before Jackie Robinson, set during the early years of World War I. Magic, miracles, and more...

"A Miracle in Shreveport" was first published in Electric Velocipede, May 2007, and was later reprinted in The All Nations Team. It also garnered an Honorable Mention in the Year’s Best Science Fiction vol. 25.

Available at Amazon

• Natural Order (Fiction Friday)
• An Outrider's Tale (Fiction Friday)
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• Meet the Madfeet (Fiction Friday)
• Skidmark and Mudbeam (Fiction Friday)

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