Sunday, June 14, 2009

Somewhere in America

I am in the middle of a national tour promoting my latest book, Parables from the Diamond: Meditations for Men on Baseball & Life (Bright Sky Press, $9.95). I am the co-author with my friend, Phil Christopher. We both live in Abilene, Texas.

I was in Denver earlier this evening. In the morning I'll be in Albany, NY. Yesterday I was in Atlanta and Las Vegas. Also this week, stops in Tampa, Florida; Green Bay, Wisconsin; Bakersfield, California; Philadelphia; Bluefield, West Virginia; Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The best part is: I didn't have to leave the house.No strip searches in airports. No extra charges for checked bags. No red-eye flights. No delays on the tarmac.

Our publisher, Bright Sky Press, hooked up with a promoter who arranges author interviews on sports radio talk shows. So far, he has booked me onto 18 programs. They call, we talk for 10-15 minutes, they make a nice plug for the book, and I don't have to leave the house. Don't even have to get dressed. All I have to do is talk about our book -- mine and Phil's. What could be better than that?

Parables from the Diamond is a collection of 50 very short (one page or so) meditations on baseball topics that men should be able to relate to their lives. A few examples:

Nobody's Perfect
We All Go Through Slumps
There Is No Such Thing As a Routine Play
A Broken Bat Still Has Value
Everyone Drops the Ball Now and Then
Bad Hops Happen to Good People
Who Is In Your Hall of Fame?

I recommend the book to you. (Well, isn't that a surprise?) And you don't even have to get dressed to order an autographed copy. Click on to http://www.texasstartrading.com/ and scroll down to Parables from the Diamond and add it to your cart. For just $8.95 instead of $9.95. Or, if you prefer, call Texas Star at 325-672-9696 and order it over the phone.

One of the questions nearly every radio interviewer has asked is: how did this book come about. Well, I've been a baseball fan since I was a kid way back in the '50s and have always wanted to write a baseball book. Phil and I got together and worked on the project for a couple of years, and I think we came up with a different kind of book on baseball and life. And what has pleased me is that all these sports radio talk show guys seem to really like the book.

Well, I'm looking forward to being in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Omaha, Rochester, and other places in the next week. And all I have to do is pick up the phone, pour a cold glass of iced tea, and talk about my book.