Driving Mr. Yogi

The title Driving Mr. Yogi comes from the the fact that Ron Guidry, former Yankees ace of the 70s and 80s, fell into the routine of picking up Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra from the airport at the start of Spring Training in 1999 when Berra returned to the Yankees family after ending a bitter feud with owner George Steinbrenner. That routine has lasted to this day. Not only does Guidry drive Mr. Berra around, but he takes care of the elderly Yankees legend, dining with him, making sure he gets to the ballpark on time, etc. This closeness over the years has developed into a sort of father/son relationship of love and trust. And neither one of them would want it any other way.

Driving Mr. Yogi is reminiscent of Teammates by David Halberstam which chronicled the road trip Johnny Pesky and Dom DiMaggio took to see their old friend Ted Williams for possibly the last time at his home in Florida. Like that book, Driving Mr. Yogi is about friendship. Not only the friendship that has developed between the different-generation Yankees, Guidry and Berra, but the friendships that they forged with their teammates over the years, the special bonds that world champion athletes share. With Driving Mr. Yogi, we get a taste of that, and get to share some of their old stories and inside jokes.

Author Harvey Araton originally wrote an article about this subject for the New York Times, and has now expanded it into a book. We get to know more about the private life of Ron Guidry, his Louisiana roots, and his flair for cooking frog legs. We get to know a little more about the legendary Yogi Berra too, but mostly we are reminded of how important he is to the world of baseball (and not just the Yankees). He is a living bridge to old-time baseball. This is a man who played alongside DiMaggio, Mantle, Ford, and Elston Howard. He played against Ted Williams, Roy Campanella, and Jackie Robinson. He had his photo taken with Babe Ruth! We are reminded that he is, indeed, a treasure.

You don’t have to be a Yankees fan to enjoy and appreciate Driving Mr. Yogi. If you love baseball, the nostalgia of it, and the respect players have for each other, then you’ll enjoy this book.

4 stars

New Ted Heller novel on the way!

The long wait is nearly over! I just pre-ordered Ted Heller's new novel, Pocket Kings from Amazon (pub date March 27). This is Heller's third novel, following the funny and cutting satire of New York publishing Slab Rat, and the ambitious, funny Funnymen (2002), a fictionalized version of a Martin-Lewis comedy team.

Here is the description of the new novel:

In this dead-on satire of online obsessions, a novelist with writer’s block finds a new—and very lucrative—stream of income in a virtual world that appears to give him everything he lacks in the real world.

When frank Dixon, a frustrated writer who has seen his career crash and burn, decides to dabble in online poker, he discovers he has a knack for winning. In this newfound realm, populated by alluring characters—each of them elusive, mysterious, and glamorous—he becomes a smash success: popular, rich, and loved. Going by the name Chip Zero, he sees his fortunes and romantic liaisons thrive in cyberspace while he remains blind to the fact that his real life is sinking. His online success, however, does not come without complications, as he comes to realize that his “virtual” friends and lovers are, in fact, very real, and one rival player is not at all happy that Mr. Zero has taken all his money.

Sounds good! Look for my review here and/or on Amazon beginning of April.

Sacre Bleu, by Christopher Moore

The heart of Sacre Bleu is mystery. It starts with Vincent van Gogh's mysterious death--always believed to be suicide--and Moore uses this as a jumping off point for what might be the real mystery of the novel: what inspires painters to paint? Why do they sacrifice so much for their art? What is their inspiration, their muse? The lead character is a young baker and aspiring painter named Lucien, who along with his friend, the painter Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, set out to find out what really happened to van Gogh. What they encounter along the way is a strange figure known only as The Colorman, who somehow controls artists with his special blue paint, known as Sacre Bleu, and a woman, Juliette--the love of Lucien's life--who may be the biggest mystery of all.

I've been a fan of Christopher Moore since the beginning. There's is an everyday man quality about his books, they don't take themselves too seriously, and you can tell Moore had fun writing them (well, he makes himself laugh, I bet. The actual writing is hard work). Moore's humor--his silliness--comes across to the reader. No matter what the subject, his fans can always count on his silly humor to break through, especially in the character's banter. Lucien and Toulouse-Lautrec are fabulous characters together, especially the bawdy, womanizing (harlotizing?), party animal Toulouse-Lautrec. Moore also does a great job of bringing the secondary historical characters/painters to life. (A neat addition to the novel is the inclusion of the actual works of art being discussed by the characters [of course the captions are funny lines of dialogue from the novel], which brings the reader further into the world of 1890s Paris art.)

The thing I admire about Moore is, though he's found a niche for himself with his comic/horror/supernatural novels, he hasn't locked himself into one particular realm. He could have stuck to writing funny vampire novels and been successful at that. Instead, he challenges himself to tackle other subjects--sacred subjects at that—like Shakespeare, religion, and now art, specifically the Impressionists of late 19th Century France. This might be Moore's most mature work yet. Yes, there is still his trademark fantastical element present, and his wacky humor. But the writing, the depth of the characters, and Moore's obvious appreciation of the art (and the heart and soul that went into creating the paintings) shines through.

4 stars

Humpty Dumpty story free today 2/18/12

My short story After the Fall is now available for the Kindle for FREE. Today, Saturday, Feb. 18th. Grab it while you can! It was originally published by Kinglake Publishing in their 2010 anthology, Ten Modern Stories of 2010 (ISBN13: 9781907690051).

What is Humpty Dumpty up to these days? I'll tell you, that egg is living a hard life, his former existence shattered beyond repair. Where did it all go wrong? he wonders as he drinks in his favorite pub. Well, it all went wrong when he climbed atop that damned wall, of course!

This edition contains an author's note on what inspired me to write the story.

Warning To Authors Who Have Used iUniverse

I published a paperback novel with iUniverse in 2007, then made a Kindle version myself in 2009. Last year, someone from iUniverse contacted me and asked if I wanted them to create a Kindle version of my book. I told them "No," as I had already done it. So I was surprised today when I came across an iUniverse-created Kindle version on Amazon for sale for $3.99. (I have my version listed for 99¢.)

I logged onto my iUniverse account to unpublish their version. I couldn't. Now I was pissed. The point of self-publishing is to give the author control over his or her work. iUniverse took that control away from me. They made a Kindle version after I told them not to, and set a price that I would not have agreed upon. So, you're probably thinking, what's the big deal. You're still getting royalties, right? Well, yes.

But what if I had set a higher price on my version, and iUniverse basically undercut me? (Or even the same price for that matter. Amazon offers a higher royalty rate.) Not to mention, they took the manuscript from the paperback version of the book published 4 1/2 years ago. What if I had revised it since then? Even if it was just to fix some typos?

So I called the customer service number and after complaining to the woman who answered, she said I should email customer service. This is what I sent. No response yet.


customerservice@iuniverse.com
To whom it may concern,

Please IMMEDIATELY unpublish the Kindle ebook version of my novel, Into the Sunset (9780595894406). Kindle #B006WPZK9S $3.99. I was contacted by iUniverse a year or so ago, and specifically said DO NOT make a Kindle version since I already did. So I was shocked to discover today that iUniverse went ahead anyway and made a Kindle version. Why? I said no. PLEASE DELETE IMMEDIATELY.

And another thing that I am furious about: There is no way for me to delete this book myself when I log into my iUniverse account. This is outrageous. Why are you taking control out of the hands of the authors? If this book is not deleted in the next 24 hours, I will also pull the paper version from your company and publish it with Amazon's Createspace.

I will also blog about this and alert other authors on as many writers sites as I can. This is outrageous and you will continue to lose business with practices like this.

Donald Capone

UPDATE: I called back when I didn't receive a response to my email. I was transferred to a woman in production who immediately put in a request to Amazon that the book be removed. She said it would take a couple of days for Amazon to update their site. I checked this morning (Feb. 3) and the iUniverse Kindle version of my book has been deleted.

Humpty Dumpty short story

My short story After the Fall is now available for the Kindle for only 99¢. It was originally published by Kinglake Publishing in their 2010 anthology, Ten Modern Stories of 2010 (ISBN13: 9781907690051).

What is Humpty Dumpty up to these days? I'll tell you, that egg is living a hard life, his former existence shattered beyond repair. Where did it all go wrong? he wonders as he pounds down the drinks in his favorite pub. Well, it all went wrong when he climbed atop that damned wall, of course!

This edition contains an author's note on what inspired me to write the story.

Taft 2012!

Taft 2012, by Jason Heller

What would happen if President William Howard Taft—the 27th president of the United States—suddenly reappeared in modern day America? How would America react, and how would it affect the presidential race of 2012? Author Jason Heller tries to answer these questions in the comic novel Taft 2012.

This novel was fun while it lasted—unfortunately, it didn't last long. Clocking in at only 249 pages, it didn't explore enough of the possibilities that were possible, and in fact, the ending was so abrupt, I wondered if this was actually the final draft of the book. It's almost as if another round of revisions was needed; maybe the author was trying to meet a deadline and ran out of time. For example, Heller put several elements into the story that were never explored or even mentioned again. "Chekhov's gun" is a literary technique that basically means if you put something in a story, it should be there for a reason, and should be used later on. For instance, if a gun appears in the beginning of a story, a character should use it later on. Well, Heller has Taft sleep with a woman, a one-night stand, during his tour of America. I expected this to come up again as an issue during his campaign. It didn't. Then there was a scene where Taft was in a room with someone smoking pot. I thought, maybe he'd fail a drug test later on. Never mentioned again. Also, a possible romantic relationship with his biographer, Susan, was continually hinted at, but never developed. Why was it even in the book? Basically, I guess what I'm saying is, there wasn't enough conflict in the book: Taft somehow returned from the dead, people wanted him to run for president, stuff happened, then the abrupt ending.

What I did enjoy was the writing, the humor, the likableness of the Taft character. Heller did a good job writing in Taft's voice, and describing Taft's early befuddlement with the advances in society, and also with his willingness to learn everything that had transpired in the last 100 years, not to mention the new social media. Taft's first attempts at Tweeting were hilarious. I also really enjoyed Heller's short in-between-chapters bursts of internet chatter, TV discussions, Taft's Secret Service agent's field reports, and Taft's great-granddaughter's (Congresswoman Rachel Taft) "to-do" notes to herself. Good stuff. Since the rest of the book was told from Taft's POV, this was a good technique that showed what everyone else was thinking.

To sum up, I liked this novel, but I wanted to love it. But it just left me wanting more.

3 Stars