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Blockade Billy: Includes the Chilling Bonus Story 'Morality'
Écrit par Stephen King
Raconté par Craig Wasson et Mare Winningham
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From New York Times best-selling author Stephen King comes the haunting story of Blockade Billy, the greatest Major League baseball player to be erased from the game.
Even the most die-hard 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.
A Simon & Schuster audio production.
Actions du livre
Commencer à écouterInformations sur le livre
Blockade Billy: Includes the Chilling Bonus Story 'Morality'
Écrit par Stephen King
Raconté par Craig Wasson et Mare Winningham
Description
From New York Times best-selling author Stephen King comes the haunting story of Blockade Billy, the greatest Major League baseball player to be erased from the game.
Even the most die-hard 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.
A Simon & Schuster audio production.
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Avis
ehhh...I am a huge fan of Stephen King, but this was not one of my favorites. However, it was interesting and did keep me reading. Baseball is not an interest of mine, so it was just okay for me.
I don't like when King puts himself in the story because it kind of breaks the fourth wall. And while I'm not a sports fan, I've found I enjoy quite a few sports stories, but this one didn't seem to move well and it felt like a sideline in a better story. I feel like I've given god a bad review, and I'm about to be struck by lightening, so I'll leave it at that.
Not my favorite Stephen King short story collection, but still masterfully written. Unlike the title suggests there is more than one story included in this book. "Blockade Billy," the gruesome and surprising baseball story is up first, followed by "Morality" which is a chilling tale about how far people will go for money. Both were well written, but neither appealed to me. "Blockade Billy" is definitely geared for the sports fanatic, it contains a lot of heavy duty baseball writing and terminology while "Morality," focuses on money, relationships, and you guessed it... morality. A quick read with good suspenseful build up and witty dialogue.
very disappointing. Concept was interesting, but writing style was sloppy. Not the typical Stephen King polish
Minor league King.
This is a fairly short story with an interesting twist. I found the format of an interview to be creative. The story is well written but has little meaning. The book would best appeal to baseball or sports fans. I mildly recommend this book.
Opening Day is right around the corner and I would love to see Blockade Billy playing for the Twins ...
Quick little novella, listened to it in the car on the way to work over a couple of days. Denise had read this, and wanted me to listen to it and let her know if the baseball stuff was all right in it. You can tell that King is a real baseball fan.
Good, if somewhat plodding story.
Blockade Billy is a very solid and entertaining novella that fans of baseball and non-fans alike should enjoy. There is simply not much good baseball fiction available and this offering from King manages to fill a void that I simply didn't realize was there until I read it. Overall, the story gave me feelings of some of my favorite baseball movies such as Bull Durham and The Natural. For those who aren't baseball fans though, this book still contains enough of King's wonderful characters and dialog and a dark subplot that you don't have to have a passion for the game in order to enjoy it. I hadn't really thought about it much before, but since I've watched The Natural recently to celebrate the start of this year's baseball season, this story does closely resemble that film in tone and the feel of it. So, if you liked that film I think that you'll really like this novella and conversely if you enjoy Blockade Billy, you might want to give The Natural a shot if you haven't seen it.The version that I have also includes a bonus short story titled "Morality" about a young couple who is struggling to get by financially. When her boss, a reverend, offers her a deal to commit a "sin by proxy" for him for which he will pay her $200,000. This wasn't a bad story, but overall not a really memorable one either. I thought that it was nice that it was included with Blockade Billy though and some of the moral issues presented within it do relate well to some of the feel and tone of the previous story, so it was a decent addition.
This audiobook includes the novella "Blockade Billy" and the short story "Morality."In "Blockade Billy," the narrator is an elderly gentleman, living in a nursing home, being interviewed by a "Mr. King" about his time as third base coach with the New Jersey Titans, a major league baseball team in the 1950s. Specifically, Mr. King wants to know about gifted young catcher "Blockade Billy," who played with the team for half of one season and whose horrifying secret turned out to be lethal.King's love of baseball, as also evidenced in "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, shines through this novella. It's a succinct work, but with enough description to let the reader visualize everything that happens. It's a wonderful story with a very creepy, but worthwhile, payoff."Morality" is the story of a married couple, stressed over money problems. The husband has gotten positive, if cautious feedback about a book he's writing during his downtime from substitute teaching. The wife is a personal care nurse to a wealthy retired minister. When the minister makes an offer the couple can't refuse, they're well aware that the fallout could destroy their lives, but they do it anyway.While not as rewarding as "Blockade Billy," "Morality" is still a worthwhile story. King does an especially good job of fleshing out the character of Rev. Winston. My skin crawls just thinking about him. And Mare Winningham's gentle, tempered voice makes the story all the creepier.
This short story in novella length -- and for Stephen King, a very short story, indeed -- tells the tale of Blockade Billy, a phenom called up from the farm when the New Jersey Titans were desperate for a catcher at the start of the 1957 season. Told from the perspective of the team's third base coach now marking time in an old folks' home, the story moves quickly and paints a picture of the game in a very different era. This will appeal to fans of baseball, but hardcore King fans might feel shortchanged with such a short offering. Blockade Billy easily could've been part of any of King's larger short story collections.
Sometimes books have a little something extra included, such as experts from an upcoming novel or pages of advertisements for other books in an author's catalog. "Blockade Billy", however, offers a complete second complete story for King fans. Of which I am one."Blockade Billy"In doing some research on baseball, Mr. King interviews George Grantham, former third base coach for the Titans. Hunkered down in Grantham's room at a retirement home, King asks him about one of the greatest baseball player's that no one's heard of -- William "Blockade Billy" Blakely. Brought up from the Davenport Cornhuskers when the Titan's regular catcher was relegated to the disabled list, Blakely proves to be an almost impenetrable wall at the plate, blocking runner after running -- sometimes with bloody results. The fans love it, as does pitcher Danny Dusen who is on his way to the record books if he wins a few more games. But something in Blakely's past forces a drastic change that ultimately wipes any record of Blakely from the annals of baseball."Morality"Chad, a soon-to-be out of work substitute teacher, comes home to find his wife Nora home early from work, sitting on the fire escape with a cigarette in one hand and a folder with their financial history in the other. He knows something important must have happened, but he's not prepared when Nora tells him about her employer's offer. She works as a home nurse for the Reverend George Winston. He's never sinned -- never been allowed to -- and now with his days slowly winding down, he wants to experience sin. Though his body won't allow him to try anything sinful, he proposes an idea to Nora that if she were to go through with it, would net her and Chad $100,000. All she needs to do is to commit this one sin, to video tape it, and to give him the tape, and the money was hers. No strings attached. But she wants to discuss the deed with Chad. It's good money for such a small thing, but the consequences could bring about the disintegration of their relationship.Reading "Blockade Billy" felt like reliving the grand history of baseball, getting caught up with the ebbs and flows of the team as they work their way through the season. And the unexpected twist with Blakely made it all the more enjoyable. "Morality" felt a bit heavier and its conclusion somewhat unsatisfying. I kept expecting something more to happen, but it never did.Both stories, in their own way, deal with a life-changing decision and its consequences. One deals with discovering the truth about another person while the other questions making the call between right and wrong. And no matter the decision, the aftermath may not be the most pleasant."Blockade Billy" provides the perfect King fix if you're not ready to tackle one of his larger works. Then again, I've always been a fan of his short fiction, and both stories fit well with the tales in "Graveyard Shift", "Different Seasons" and his many other collections.
I was excited when saw that Stephen King had written a novella about baseball. I think his best books have been novellas, and I knew he (like many New Englanders) had a deep an abiding affection for the BoSox.Unfortunately, the story is only so-so. Worth reading, but only because it's barely a hundred pages long.
OK, I admit it... I bought this book almost exclusively for the cover! The cover art is delightfully nostalgic, and in this case reminds me a lot of my late father-in-law's illustrations. No surprise there, since this cover was done by one of his students, Glen Orbik. Couple the wonderful artwork with the fact that it is written by one of my favorite authors, I figured I couldn't go wrong!This book is actually two short stories. (The publisher calls them novellas, but that is a clear exaggeration.) The first story is Blockade Billy, a story about a catcher playing pro baseball. The story opens with the team manager, now in an old folks home, telling the story of what happened to "Mr. King." The descriptions of the baseball plays were done so skillfully that even though I am completely ambivalent about the game, I really enjoyed them. The plot fell a bit flat for me... not the huge surprise twist I was expecting, but satisfying enough all the same.The second story is titled "Morality". It started out with real promise, but fell flat quickly. Things got so far out of hand that it became unbelievable. Bottom line, if you want a really cool cover, buy this book. Otherwise, unless you are a die-hard Stephen King fan and feel the need to own everything he has ever written, I would pass.
It was a very fast read, as the book only has 120 pages (hardcover edition), so I managed to finished the whole thing in just about 2-3 hours, while sitting in Chapters (which saved me the money if I were to buy it or time I would have to wait for it, if I decided to put a hold on it in the library). It was definitely very interesting and refreshing. It's hard to write an objective review of this book, since I am a HUGE Stephen King fan(atic) and I just love love love everything this man writes. I am not a baseball fan, I've never even watched a single baseball game in my life, so I didn't read it for the sport. I read it for Stephen King's writing style and wittiness - and I wasn't disappointed. Stephen King wrote this book in only 2 weeks, so don't expect anything like "Under the Dome" or "It", it's a short story, but it has a kick to it and every SK fan should enjoy it. I did!"Blockade Billy" comes with a bonus - a short story called "Morality". It is in a way similar to "The Box" (movie with Cameron Diaz), as it tells a story of "what would you do if someone offered to pay you for hurting someone", but it is not as drastic (doesn't involve killing anyone) and focuses more on the afterward effects of your decision. I enjoyed it a lot!
A very quick, one sitting read that left me liking the psycho? Stephen King is amazing.
An uncharacteristically slim volume from Mr. King, comprising two novella-length works. The title story is narrated by an elderly baseball coach as he relates the tale of a (deliberately) forgotten player from the 1950s, a rookie catcher who was brilliant at the game but harbored a terrible secret. King pulls off the improbable trick of keeping a reader who has no interest in sports (me) turning the pages through descriptions of plays that would have been tedious, if not incomprehensible, in another writer's hands. However, the mystery at the heart of the story doesn't build beyond a mild curiosity and the big revelation at the end is a let-down, lacking the author's usual punch and suggesting this story was really just an exercise in capturing an old man's voice and the rhythms of a game that King clearly loves. In those goals, at least, it succeeds. As a story, not so much.The second half of the volume, "Morality," has an interesting premise: Would you be willing to do an immoral thing for a large sum of badly needed money, and, if so, what would be the consequences on your psyche (or your soul, I suppose) and your marriage? Would it make any difference if you weren't religious? Or is morality something that transcends belief in God? Unfortunately, it's a premise that seemed all too familiar to me, recalling the film Indecent Proposal, among other things, and the actual immoral act the protagonists are called to perform is so random and ultimately so minor in nature that I couldn't help but wonder what the big deal was. Yes, what they do is crappy and unquestionably wrong, but it didn't seem all that horrible -- they didn't kill anyone, it didn't involve sex, and no permanent damage was done. Perhaps this was King's point, that even the smallest actions can have hugely corrosive effects, but I simply didn't buy it as it was developed. The reactions of the characters seemed overblown for what they'd actually done. Overall, Blockade Billy is a disappointment, a minor effort from an author who can do better.
An interesting read with a great concept. It could have fit in a collection of short stories, but it was good as a standalone book as well.
This wasn't one of my favorite Stephen King stories. While it was entertaining, it didn't sound like Stephen King wrote it. It sounded like someone else told King a story and he wrote it down. The imagination just didn't seem to be there like his other books.
King just cannot stay away from his real love Baseball
Very entertaing baseball story with a Stephen King twist. Loved the baseball card that comes with the Cemetery Dance edition of the book. Funny with great characters. Easy to sit down and read it in an hour or two.
I'm not a baseball fan, and this story was 90% play-by-plays of several different baseball games. Nothing horrific or supernatural about it at all, really; pretty boring for me. But again, I don't dig baseball.'Morailty' was...ok; but predictable and too reminiscent of 'indecent proposal' only without the sex. As short as it was, this book was too long, and not what we've all come to expect from the master of HORROR.Boo.
Not King's best work. Neither story is as shocking as King seems to think, and it often seems the characters in both are simply over-reacting. As far as the readers go, I thought Mare Winningham did a noticeably better job than Craig Wasson. Still, the whole running time is about 2 or 2.5 hours, so it's good company for a long commute, and King is never boring. Plus, Blockade Billy is a great story for baseball fans, if only for the old-school lingo and story-telling.
Minor King is right. Yikes! I was hoping for something along the order of "The Green Mile," but this was hack. Both stories were. There's no doubt that King knows how to set up a story, but with these two he seemed to get bored with the characters or needed to meet a publishing deadline. Blech. I actually yelled at my iPod when they were over.
I am not a baseball fan. I admit I was drawn to this book because it is Stephen King, and I love his short fiction. I have to say I am very pleased with this book. It was very well written, and brought across the images and plays of baseball very well. You can tell that Mr. King is a baseball fan through and through. A recommendation for anyone who like either baseball or well written short fiction.
Not one of his better stories. It feels like it should be in one of his anthologies as a filler, not a stand alone story. It wasn't bad, just not up to his usual standards. Or rather my expectations for one of his stories. He does seem to be passionate about early baseball though.
No one can read Stephen King's new novella, "Blockade Billy," and doubt the man's passion for the game of baseball. The story is set in the spring of 1957, when most professional ballplayers still made so little money they had to work elsewhere during the off season just to make ends meet. This was the day before big television contracts, free agency, and stadiums that can cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars. It was a simpler, though in many ways, rougher time. Ballplayers were of a cruder cut, too, than the average college-educated sophisticate so common to the game today. When the Titans lose both their catchers to injuries just prior to opening day of the 1957 season, the team desperately turns to its Iowa farm team for a temporary fix, a catcher that can get them by for the two or three weeks it will take to trade for an experienced backstop. Billy Blakely, as it would turn out, is destined to be much more than a temporary fix. The kid can hit and, just as importantly, he blocks the plate so well that he is soon being called "Blockade Billy" by fans and sportswriters alike. But this is a Stephen King story - and there is more to "Blockade Billy" than meets the eye. The team's third base coach, George "Granny" Grantham remembers when he first became suspicious about Billy and the way he played the game, and now, more than 50 years later, he welcomes interviewer Stephen King to the old folks' home in which he is living out his final years. Granny loves to talk, but seldom does anyone want to listen. Now is his chance to talk about all the games and statistics that disappeared from the record books forever, and talk he does. Granny Grantham's narration is what makes "Blockade Billy" work as well as it does. Granny's attitude, irreverent way of speaking, and memories are just what one would expect of an old baseball coach chomping at the bit to get his story told before it is too late. He probably enjoys telling his story even more than interviewer King enjoys hearing it. A longish short story entitled, "Morality," concludes the book. Readers and movie fans will already be familiar with the theme of this one: a young wife is offered a large amount of money by an older man to do something that is terribly wrong. The money will buy enough time for her husband to quit his job and finish the book he has been struggling with for years. Will she do it? Will she be caught? Will her marriage survive the transaction? And, no, it is not about sex (as it was in the Robert Redford movie of similar theme). King studies the psychological implications of the situation and how the relationship between husband and wife changes from the moment the offer is first presented to them. This is an interesting concept, but it produces a rather run-of-the-mill short story. Bottom Line: There is nothing particularly earthshaking in "Blockade Billy." Hardcore baseball fans will probably enjoy the baseball story because of its atmosphere and old time baseball stories but "Morality" falls a bit flat. Rated at: 2.5
Blockade Billy isn't just a baseball book. There is a really interesting story that even non-baseball fans will enjoy. A story just begging to be listened too, just like old-time radio broadcasts of the games themselves.
Short and to the point. Quick and easy read especially if you're into baseball. If you don't care for the sport not something I would recommend picking up. At first I was a little concerned that King went straight Sports Writer, but I should have known he wouldn't have failed!The ending gets you really thinking...might even make you think of someone you know! The bonus story Morality was a little disturbing in a real life sense, glad for the little extra though!