Image Credit: Lee Roth/RothStock/PR PhotosStephen King is a big fan of baseball, particularly the Boston Red Sox, as anyone who’s read The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon can tell you, and now he’s ready to take us out to the ballpark again. In the lead-up to Opening Day, indie publisher Cemetery Dance has just announced the release of Blockade Billy, a new baseball-themed novella from King. The work is the tale of William Blakely, a player long erased from the history books, who harbored a deep, dark secret. Knowing the author, I suspect it’ll be something a lot creepier than steroids or pine tar.
“People have asked me for years when I was going to write a baseball story,” King said in the press release. “Ask no more; this is it.” According to Cemetery Dance, Blockade Billy will be available to ship in a few weeks, but you can order a copy now via the publisher’s online store. The first copies will also come with a baseball card of the protagonist. (And those who don’t order online may be out of luck. As the Cemetery Dance website notes, “We’ll be filling direct orders first and then distributors, online stores, and the chains if there are copies left available after we’ve taken care of our regular customers.”)
It’s interesting to see one of the biggest-name authors in popular literature publishing through a relatively small specialty house like Cemetery Dance. The company kept news of the book quiet so it would be a surprise just in time for the upcoming baseball season. What do you think? Surprised? Any fans of both King and baseball particularly excited for this?
Yay Uncle Stevie!
Can’t wait!
Man I love Stephen King but I just can’t get into baseball. I know it’s a betrayal of my gender but I just find baseball to be tedious. It’s a long and pointless journey to the World Series.
It’s not a betrayal of your gender, JPX. As a red-blooded, all-American male, I can honestly say I find baseball to be exceedingly dull. It is, as they say, the only sport you can play while taking a nap.
Ha! Right on, Platypus Man!
Short, sweet, to the point, FREE-exactly as inrfomaiton should be!
Love Stephen King, love baseball!
Already placed my order!
This sounds like a great novella!! But, don’t have the $25.00+ to spend!! “RATS”
Most of the really great Stephen King stuff comes from small publishers. He usually picks small publishers for his limited edition runs. Hell, the publisher for the Dark Tower books is literally based out of a barn (I’ve been there).
I’m excited! I’m a huge Red Sox fan, “Faithful” is one of my favorite books ever… I know the 2004 season backwards and forwards. I’ll be reading this book in the near future!
OMG, this is awesome news! I have been a collector of Stephen King for a long time and a baseball fan all of my life so this is the best way to start the week I can imagine!
What a wonderful surprise! A brand new Stephen King collectible at a reasonable price! I have my order in already and I can’t wait to read it!
“Blockade Billy” sounds like a lot of fun. I can’t wait to find out what secret darkness he has. And CEMETERY DANCE is releasing it!? Heck yeah! I am looking forward to adding this high quality Stephen King book for my bookshelf. Thanks for the heads up EW!
Go YANKEES
. Love Stephen King.
I don’t like baseball, but I will give anything Stephen King writes a try.
How seriously cool is this? How could someone keep a new Stephen King book a surprise until the month before it is published? That had to be wicked hard!
To all who claim baseball to be tedious, I hope none of you are fans of hockey, basketball, or soccer, because those are the trinity of boring, tedious, and uninteresting. Nothing matters in any of those sports until the last quarter/period/whatever. Baseball and Football can be won in the first play of the game, making them inherently more interesting than any of those by FAR. And you can’t tie in baseball, which I absolutely HATE about soccer and hockey, if you can end a game in a tie, it is a game and not a sport, you might as well just pay Monopoly. On the literary side, I’m always a fan of King’s non-horror work, I’m not a big horror fan, horror movies/films never scare me so I don’t get the thrill others get, I guess, but his non-horror work really shows his talent and depth as a writer and a storyteller. I’m looking forward to it.
I’ve never heard of Cemetery Dance but a new King novel, yeah!