Publisher Uncorking Stephen King Baseball Novella
Allen Pierleoni - Sacramento Bee
Mar 31, 2010
Fans who savored the 1,100 pages of "Under the Dome," last year's best- selling epic by Stephen King, can anticipate a shorter but typically intense story from their favorite author come April 20.
That's the projected publication date of the horrormeister's new baseball-themed novella, "Blockade Billy."
The book ($25) is being published by the independent Cemetery Dance Publications of Maryland, which specializes in lavishly illustrated, author-signed limited editions of suspense and horror stories. It has produced several other King titles the past eight years.
Voice mail queries to CDP marketing director Brian Freeman on Monday brought this e-mail response: "Things have been nuts here. We've had to go back and do a second printing already based on today's sales." To order a copy, go to www.cemeterydance.com.
CDP timed the announcement of the book "so it could be a surprise publication for the beginning of the baseball season," Freeman added. Major League Baseball's Opening Day is Sunday.
In a press release, King -- a Boston Red Sox fan -- stated: "I love old-school baseball, and I also love the way people who've spent a lifetime in the game talk about the game. I tried to combine those things in a story of suspense. People have asked me for years when I was going to write a baseball story. Ask no more; this is it."
As for plot, the official line is: "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. --"
CDP sells its books directly to collectors from its Web site, but "almost all of our titles are carried by the major distributors," Freeman explained. "But because of the overwhelming response today, we won't have any first- edition copies with the 'bonus baseball card' for distributors. They'll be getting the second printing without the baseball card."
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