Blockade Billy
Books | Fiction / General
3.4
(148)
Stephen King
"I love old-school baseball, and I also love the way people who've spent a lifetime in the game talk about the game. I tried to combine those things in a story of suspense. People have asked me for years when I was going to write a baseball story. Ask no more; this is it." - Stephen KingEven the most diehard baseball fans don't know the true story of William "Blockade Billy" Blakely.He may have been the greatest player the game has ever seen, but today no one remembers his name. He was the first - and only - player to have his existence completely removed from the record books. Even his team is long forgotten, barely a footnote in the game's history.Every effort was made to erase any evidence that William Blakely played professional baseball, and with good reason. Blockade Billy had a secret darker than any pill or injection that might cause a scandal in sports today. His secret was much, much worse...and only Stephen King, the most gifted storyteller of our age, can reveal the truth to the world once and for all.This eBook edition features both the cover illustration by Glen Orbik and the interior artwork of Alex McVey from the limited hardcover edition published by Cemetery Dance Publications.From Publishers Weekly (boxed review): A quirky baseball player with a past shrouded in secrecy is the tragic hero of this macabre tale from the dark side of the all-American sport...a narrative steeped so perfectly in the argot of the game and the behavior of its players and fans that readers will willingly suspend their disbelief. As King's fiction goes...a deftly executed suicide squeeze, with sharp spikes hoisted high and aimed at the jugular on the slide home.
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More Details:
Author
Stephen King
Pages
112
Publisher
Storyville
Published Date
2010-04-13
ISBN
0615365981 9780615365985
Ratings
Google: 3.5
Community ReviewsSee all
"I mean it's King being King, I think he did it again. This is the second time I've read one of his novella stories and although not quite as good as "Elevation" I had a really good time with this one as well.
I grew up playing baseball, and although I was always a football kid, through and through, I still have an appreciation for the sport. I think that's what you need to enjoy this book because I've seen people complaining in the reviews about how the suspense didn't lead up to a big enough conclusion or that the first part of the book is boring. I think these people aren't fans of baseball and only picked up the book because it was another Stephen King book and expected something like his other novels. But this novella is different. For me all the baseball talk was King showing us into the baseball world a little, how people talked, what he enjoyed about the game. But if you don't want to be part of that, you won't like the story. It's him branching out and writing about something he's always had a passion for.
That for me was the strongest part of the story, but the horror that was added in was really good too. I think it was enough and mashed together two genes that seldom go together.
I wish this story was true though, it's written like it is and produced like it is. I was sorta sad when I googled it that it wasn't. I guess I would have heard about it already if it was true. Good story though."
Cole Johnson
"I LOVED THIS BOOK OML I LOVE HORROR AND BASEBALL AND THIS WAS AMAZING IT ALSO TOOK A TURN "
Emilee Jobe
"Ok, so anyone that looks at my book list can probably tell, I'm a huge Stephen King fan. So, my opinion might be a little biased. This book was so much fun. I love the way he tells this story, from the perspective of him interviewing his subject, and just sharing that interview with us. He also manages to bring an element of nostalgia while at the same time creeping in that famous King darkness. Such a fun short story."
Shane Dakan
