Brendan Shea's Blog, page 22
July 22, 2024
My Book is at “#1”!
Please check out my new historical fiction book about the Negro Baseball Leagues; it is the #1 New Release on Amazon in Baseball Essays & Writings :-]
To my dear readers:
I sure appreciate your support of my writing!
Top New Release in Baseball Essays & Writings on Amazon Click link to sample/purchase: https://a.co/d/7ecNcjl
Ranked #6 on Amazon List!
White Fences Black Stars
My new book, White Fences Black Stars, is now available, click here to read a sample or purchase on Amazon.
Here are its current rankings:
#6 in Teen & Young Adult Baseball & Softball Nonfiction eBooks#25 in Baseball Essays & Writings#78 in Two-Hour Sports & Outdoors Short Reads
July 19, 2024
An excerpt from my new book…
White Fences Black Stars
A historical fiction of the Negro Leagues
Playing in Cuba
Heath was working out his considerable biceps with dumbbells made with coffee cans and sand. Gooch and Wilkinson were each jumping rope. It was late July in Chicago, and our trio was visiting a park that “colored people” were “allowed” to frequent.
Heath started talking about the dearth of playing gigs, “Where are all the jobs, brothers?”
Wilkinson didn’t have any ideas, but Gooch chimed in, “I’ve been looking into this, men, and I think we should go down to Cuba, to play in the mixed games there.”
“With the Latino men?” Heath queried.
“Yes, I’ve heard of integrated winter leagues.” Gooch replied.
“You mean it’s cold in the Caribbean when it’s cold up here? I thought the climate was warmer in the south” Wilkinson was perplexed.
“Sorry, no, when I said winter, I was referring to our winter months here in the USA. The weather in Cuba is in the seventies and eighties during our winter.”
Heath understood, “So you mean we get summer here and then summer there when it’s cold here?” He said hopefully.
Gooch replied, “Yes, brother Heath, not only are the Cubans less racist, but we’ll enjoy warm weather while it’s windy and freezing up here…”
“Sign me up, Gooch!” Heath didn’t hesitate.
Wilkinson was more circumspect. “You want to uproot the families to have some nicer weather?” Heath, of course, did not have a wife and children.
“Not at all, Wilke; we’ll go down for a few months, the elders will watch over our families, and after we’ve made some good money and enjoyed the better racial climate, we’ll come back to Chicago, and reunite with our loved ones.
“Hmm, that might work… “ Wilkinson admitted.
White Fences Black Stars (on Amazon)
Ode to Hemingway
A simple shared video
July 17, 2024
July 13, 2024
A Calamity of Souls
by David Baldacci
A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
So there are a lot of books I’ve given 4-5 Stars to, but this book deserves ten stars. Baldacci has created a story that already existed, likely in many lives, but he unearthed it with great care, as Stephen King might say. The writer gently probed, picked and dusted the tale until our eyes weren’t dry, our minds were engaged and our hearts were floored. Do you think that some people are created better than others? Never believe it. Yes, some people to terrible things, but it is not the color of their skin that decides it, but as Dr. King might have said, it is the content of their character. I hope that whoever becomes the next president of these United States, he or she will rule with honor. Did I say rule? That shows a plentiful lack of sense. We are a democracy and a republic, so I hope they will serve and lead with honor. And the Good Lord mend my heart as well as yours.
View all my reviews
Stephen King Book Review
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
I really enjoyed Stephen King’s book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, because it’s a good primer on becoming a better writer. But I also liked it because the author manages to be straightforward about the odds against a person not among the elite few literary geniuses developing exceptional writing skills. He also simultaneously shows how to elevate one’s game.
And I got a lot out of this book because the author makes the entire experience a joy, and concludes with a chilling tale of how he’s survived a terrible, real-life accident to persevere and triumph as an author and a human being.
It was also neat to hear about his family and how he has a successful, lifelong marriage, with kids, and with imperfections and all.
Finally, his sense of spiritual matters might diverge from mine somewhat, but he seems a fine person and has an admirable grasp of the principals of faith.
Kudos to Stephen King. You were effective, entertaining, and moving in this clever and homey volume. I could have consumed this read in a day or two, but my busy, demanding life expanded my enjoyment over about two weeks’ time.
So I had a life again
At the movies seeing A Quiet Place: Day One
Mild spoiler alert:
Today I ventured back to the cinema for the first time since seeing The Fall Guy… well actually I did see the Kevin Costner Western (part of it), but I went alone, felt both out of place and terribly bored and walked out.
The Fall Guy was bizarre but pretty good. It’s not difficult to appreciate Emily Blunt in any movie, nor to not be jealous of Ryan Gosling’s good looks and build.
The Quiet Place: Day One, is the best movie I’ve seen in a long time.
For Christian movies, Amazing Grace was inspiring, and that was quite a while back. For intellectual fare, Magic in the Moonlight was a lot of fun.
For detective stories, the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes’ series was inventive. For superhero films, Christopher Nolan’s’ Batman trilogy rocked (too bad there was so much tragedy accompanying them), and for mysteries, Knives Out was fantastic.
The Quiet Place: Day One tells of a beautiful, gaunt, smart and cynical African American woman dying of cancer who is in New York City at the genesis of the alien invasion further told of in the first two movies.
The acting is superb, the writing genius and the sets outstanding. Most of all, the story was intriguing and touching. I was impressed, entertained and moved.
I went to the movies and had a life again…
Highest rating.
With Lupita Nyong-o & Joseph Quinn
Story by John Krasinski and Michael Sarnoski
Directed by Michael Sarnoski
Paramount Pictures
Getting Lucky
at the library today
So I was reading the new David Baldacci, but I kept thinking it was a John Grisham; either way, it’s one of the better books I’ve read in a long while.
The book is called A Calamity of Souls.
I got halfway through the book when it became due. Since it was a “Lucky Day” book, I could not renew it and had to return it to the library. Now, if it had been mediocre, I might have left it at that, but it was excellent, so I wanted to finish it right away.
We were going camping, and I had snapped up a copy of Stephen King’s book, “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft”***, and I also had a Michael Connelly Bosch, called “The Overlook”, so I resigned myself to take those books on my trek.
Fortunately, On Writing’ turned out to be fantastic, and Connelly rarely disappoints, so I had my fact and fiction squared away for the duration.
On returning home, I went to the library to return the Stephen King (I owned the Bosch), and to my delight, there was a copy of A Calamity of Souls, just waiting on the shelf for me.
You see, there were so many holds on the book when I tried to check it out again that the library would not allow another hold, so it could be weeks before I was able to finish it, and on my trip to Barnes & Noble, I realized it was not yet out in paperback, and the hardcover was $30.
And not only was I able to check it out again, but Goodreads had my placemark at page 219, and the audio section at the local library also had the recording, “Jasmine”, by Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden, one of my faves.
So I was reluctant to put the Bosch down at 50% read, but opted to hold it for later, since I own the Connelly, but I only have the Baldacci for another three weeks, and I want to finish it while I can.
So I was feeling kind of lucky.
