Chance
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Shilstone, Steve, PUBLISHER: Breakaway Books, Wondering wheong>theong>r Nabokov might have left any unpublished manuscripts behind and if so, did ong>theong>y have baseball ong>theong>mes? If anyone reading this knows ong>theong> answer, please check ong>theong> files to see if ong>theong>re's a manuscript for a novel named "Chance."... It's a very good one, full of wit, good humor, and baseball. And if you don't care about ong>theong> latter, take ong>theong> advice ong>theong> book offers in its first paragraph and 'Read it anyway. ong>Theong>re's oong>theong>r stuff in it, too.' -Allen Barra, "ong>Theong> Palm Beach Post" An excerpt Okay, here's ong>theong> deal. This is a book about a baseball player. Do you care? If you don't care, read it anyway. ong>Theong>re's some oong>theong>r stuff in it, too. Chance Caine. Recognize ong>theong> name? Well, he wants me, an old weird guy poet, to write his story. Why? I'll tell you why. He has made rhythmic marks on paper himself. Some of his efforts aren't even dreck. You can judge for yourself in a minute. He took a class. I gave him an A. So one day he comes to me with a load of scrapbooks, diaries, videos. He says, "Here's my ong>lifeong>. How would you like to write my book?" I say, "ong>Theong> thing I make will be ong>theong> thing I make." I talk like that on ong>purposeong> sometimes. Art is a conscious attempt at nonverbal communication. Okay? Okay. I lie to convey truth. I lie to make ong>theong> story better. I am a lying guy. ong>Whatong> can I say? I want to write this story. ong>Theong>re may be money in it. Why lie? Okay, ong>theong>re's anoong>theong>r reason. I gave my students an assignment to write a short short short story no longer than ten sentences. Mr. Caine wrote: ong>Theong> Angry Fish ong>Theong> fish hurled himself into ong>theong> boat slashing left and right with fins, teeth, and daggers. Blood spurted from ong>theong> severed limbs of ong>theong> screaming crew. ong>Theong> fish turned a final somersault, stood on its tail on ong>theong> rail, and shreiked in trembling rage, "Vengeance is mine, haa ha haaa ha " ong>Theong>n he dove under ong>theong> waves and was gone. ong>Theong> End ong>Whatong> ong>theong> I graded it A and from ong>theong>n on leaned back a little in my chair when he walked by. I leaned back furong>theong>r after I had read his science fiction slash fantasy effort a few weeks later. You'll see that one, too, in time. Who is this guy? Let's see if I can answer that question. So ong>whatong>