Guest: Craig S. Boyack

 

Today, we’re visiting with Craig S. Boyack. He writes fantasy, paranormal, and science fiction, his short stories are a treasure. He’s best known for his robot assistant, Lisa Burton. I’ve enjoyed his blog and his book, Will O’Wisp previously. Please welcome him.

 

Thanks for having me over today, Traci. I’m here to talk about my newest book, The Enhanced League. This is a collection of short stories and anthems situated in a fictional baseball league. This is the league where anything goes as far as performance enhancing drugs, and it has a lot more flash in the overall presentation.

 

There are recurring characters in the stories, and they tell an overarching story when read together. I also included something new. I call them anthems, for lack of a better term. These do step outside the main story, but they provide a lot of human element to the book. They’re presented in a second person point of view, which you almost never see. They’re also short interludes, because a little second person goes a long way.

 

Maybe one of the best ways to explain it is to share one. I tested this one out on my blog about a year ago when I first started writing them. I’m sharing it again today, because it isn’t exactly a spoiler if it’s already been on my blog.

 

Anthem # 2

 

The Hardest Day

You took the wife and kids to the ballpark more religiously than most folks go to church. For you, it was church. Didn’t matter if it was blazing sun, or frosty nights, you were there.

Your wife was the life of the party. Everyone knew her, and she always seemed to draw the television camera the way she stood and led cheers. You wound up on the kiss camera more times than you were comfortable with.

You named your son after a Golden Glove winning shortstop. When the team travelled, the two of you played catch in the backyard and practiced that shovel toss to second base.

The kids grew up, and your wife passed away. Some of your old buddies from the trucking company bought your seats for a game or two when you didn’t have someone to take you. It wasn’t much, but the money helped pay for your meds.

Your son took you to a few games, until his own kids started playing sports. Now they spend most of their time kicking soccer balls around. Your daughter and her new husband took you once, but it felt like meeting your new step-parent.

Finally, the day arrived. You offered up your seats and sold them for five figures. The guys from the trucking company were pissed, but they couldn’t pay the going rate.

You thought you were going to have a stroke. You sold out, buddy. You sold a piece of your soul that day. You worried that you might have cursed the team somehow.

You wanted to give them to your kids, but they couldn’t have cared less. Your son-in-law would have flipped them, and used the money to bet on horses.

So here you are, in assisted living with no family around. You bought the league pass and get every game on your new big-screen television. The old farts come around to watch, and they seem to be enjoying the team as much as you do. You finally admit air conditioning doesn’t ruin the experience.

You’ve seen more games this year than the last three combined. Your doctor even approved a beer, provided you only have one. You never told him about the hotdogs Mrs. Corrigan brings. A hotdog never killed anyone anyway.

It was the worst day of your life, the day you sold the seats. But none of this would be possible if you hadn’t.

***

 

Blurb: The Enhanced league is a collection of short stories and anthems centered around a year in a fictional baseball league. It has a slight science fiction background. This league has a lot more pomp than you might be used to, and nobody seems to care if the players use performance enhancing drugs.

 

Stories involve existing heroes, up and comers, and falling stars. While there are the obvious stories that take place on the field of play, there are also human interest stories that take place around the baseball gyrations. These stories involve scouting, trades, ruthless business decisions, and even relationships.

 

I enjoyed researching and bringing you The Enhanced League, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. — CB

 

Purchase Link

 

 

I was born in a town called Elko, Nevada. I like to tell everyone I was born in a small town in the 1940s. I’m not quite that old, but Elko has always been a little behind the times. This gives me a unique perspective of earlier times, and other ways of getting by. Some of this bleeds through into my fiction.

 

I moved to Idaho right after the turn of the century, and never looked back. My writing career was born here, with access to other writers and critique groups I jumped in with both feet.

 

I like to write about things that have something unusual. My works are in the realm of science fiction, paranormal, and fantasy. The goal is to entertain you for a few hours. I hope you enjoy the ride.

 

Craig

 

 

Craig Boyack

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