Baseball Fiction

It is 1947 when Joseph Burke, ex-Marine, ex-husband, ex-somebody–is hired as a bodyguard to protect Lauren Roach, 25 and spoiled rotten. The unlikely duo becomes entangled with Burke’s boyhood hero, color-barrier breaking baseball player Jackie Robinson, in a story that is both thrilling and engaging. It is in the historical character Jackie Robinson that Mr. Parker finds inspiration and Joseph Burke may find his redemption. This is a work of fiction about a real man. Most of what I’ve written I’ve made up. I have, however, attempted to render Jackie Robinson accurately. As he was, or as I imagined him to be, in 1947, when I was turning 15, and he was changing the world. The rest is altogether fiction. It may be more Burke’s story then Jackie’s story. But, without Jackie, Burke would have had no story. And neither would I. Robert B Parker.

We've all had times we wanted to give up. To throw in the towel. To make a break and get away from everything. The exact breaking point and how we handled it is different for all of us. For Jordan Lewis, a rebellious teen struggling with his parents' impending divorce and a breakup of his own, that point comes when he gets suspended from school and dumped on his irascible grandfather, Charlie Kalb. For Charlie, a wily widower who hasn't had anything to look forward to in years except attending the final game at Yankee Stadium, it comes when his driving buddy suffers a stroke, his trip to ...

Ryan Bingham's job as a Career Transition Counselor - he fires people - has kept him airborne for years. Although he has come to despise his line of work, he has come to love the culture of what he calls "Airworld" - finding contentment within pressurized cabins, anonymous hotel rooms, and a wardrobe of wrinkle-free slacks.

I’m the oldest virgin in major league baseball. And I’m in love with a woman who’s about to marry someone else. Listen. It’s not like I planned to still be a virgin at twenty-eight. Or to fall in love with the team trainer, who apparently would rather date a guy who wears polo shirts instead of baseball pants. But life doesn’t always go according to plan. When I first laid eyes on Lark Miller, I knew she was something special. Unfortunately, so did her boyfriend.

This nostalgic page-turner is full of humor and heart! Aloha, Oregon, Summer 1994… Rick Reese, a sports obsessed family man and factory worker who was once a top baseball prospect, re-ignites a bitter grudge match with his estranged childhood friend Alex Winfield. Alex, however, is no longer just a hometown rival. He’s a beloved major leaguer and outspoken proponent of the ongoing MLB player strike. From the small-town soapbox of his weekly pickup game involving a ragtag squad of ball-hounded stooges known as the Sunday Hoppers, Rick challenges Alex's legacy to distract from not ...

On Salmon Beach, magic happens: Mermaids speak in dreams and lives are transformed. Maddy believes she's lost her past. On Salmon Beach she rediscovers her desires. Nick has buried his feelings, and everything he cares about, deep within himself. On Salmon Beach he unearths his heart. Maddy Phillips, alone for the first time, comes to the hidden community of Salmon Beach - only accessible by sea, or 200 steps down a sheer cliff - to seek refuge from a broken relationship. What she won’t acknowledge is the loss of something - and someone - much more significant. Nick McKay moves to Salmon ...

As a kid, Jackie Robinson loved sports. And why not? He was a natural at football, basketball, and, of course, baseball. But beyond athletic skill, it was his strength of character that secured his place in sports history. In 1947 Jackie joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking the long-time color barrier in major league baseball. It was tough being first - not only did "fans" send hate mail but some of his own teammates refused to accept him.

There was something about the woman that sat next to me in the hotel bar. She was beautiful in her t-shirt and jeans, and she didn't seem to notice that everyone around us was dressed to impress. When she touched my arm and I felt an unfamiliar zap, I felt the need to suddenly pull away. Minutes turned into hours while we talked, and I couldn't help but want to learn more about her. When we stepped into the elevator, we realized our rooms were on the same floor. We were right next to each other. I watched her hips move beneath the tight denim covering her curves as she walked ahead of me. ...

Jalen DeLuca loves baseball. He's playing for his summer travel team and trying to win a regular spot in the rotation. But Jalen's got more than talent on the field. He's a baseball genius who can analyze and predict almost exactly what any pitcher is going to do with his next pitch. He can't quite explain how he knows, he just does. His unique ability helped him to save the career of New York Yankee star baseman, James "JY" Yager, and now Jalen figures he'll be almost part of the team. Or will he?

BOOK 2 of the BASEBALL IMMORTAL TRILOGY has now been released! HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW IMMORTAL SUPERSTARS FROM BASEBALL’S PAST WOULD FARE IN TODAY’S GAME? ROLAND COLTON’S NOVEL ANSWERS THAT QUESTION . . . OR DOES IT? Is the man who wakes up in a present-day Georgia hospital, after suffering a near fatal hit-and-run accident, truly the legendary Ty Cobb (who has been inexplicably transported forward in time), or is he a man suffering from severe psychosis and delusions of grandeur, who has hi-jacked Cobb’s identity as his own? Book 2 of the Baseball Immortal trilogy begins where ...

IN THE NAME OF LOVE is a coming-out romance novel between a baseball player named Steve and a theater star named Aaron. An LGBTQ romance novel. The two meet up after years apart and rekindle their friendship. Now, with love in the air, their relationship grows more complex. Steve realizes that what he feels for Aaron is something very special. But does Aaron feel the same way about Steve? Graduation day is approaching and Steve avoids the jocks, but they’re not backing off. Now, Steve must decide if he will stand up for himself and for Aaron. But will he risk everything and come out? What...

Nico met the love of his life when he was 17. Immediately, he realizes that the gap in their ages is too significant to make a move on her until she's legal in the eyes of the law. So he joins the United States Navy, killing time until he can come home to her again. But a tragedy strikes while Georgia is alone and vulnerable, and with no other recourse, Georgia leaves, disappearing without a trace. He finds her, but quickly realizes that she needs the time to herself to work out her problems. He leaves her be, knowing that if she ever felt anything for him, she'd come back home to him.

Maggie doesn't know why she's in the small mountain town of Starrycard Creek. After a blow to the head leaves her with amnesia, all she has left is her name stitched onto an apron. And then there's him . . . the man who saved her life. Christian Starrycard was trying to drown his sorrows after an injury ended his baseball career. The last thing he expected to become was a woman's hero. But Maggie isn't just any woman. She's the woman he's been dreaming of—his dream girl he thought existed only in his mind.

Resisting the shortstop has never been my strong suit. I failed at it during my first spring training. It sure as hell looks like I'm about to fail at it again. The sport I love playing with my very soul hangs in the balance. But everything my heart craves lies with the guy I've got to resist. A guy who's asking me to make the toughest choice ever.

Liza B.—the only DJ who gives a jam—wants to take her neighborhood back from the soulless property developer dropping unaffordable condos on every street corner in DC. But her planned protest at a corporate event takes a turn after she mistakes the smoldering-hot CEO for the waitstaff. When they go toe-to-toe, the sparks fly—but her impossible-to-ignore family thwarts her every move. Liza wants Dorsey Fitzgerald out of her hood, but she’ll settle for getting him out of her head.

The emotional conclusion to the Reid, Smith, and Parker families. I was a mom, a grandma, and a great-grandma to the most amazing people in the world. Of course I was biased. They were mine, and I loved every single one of them. I'd started out with one daughter, and it broke my heart the day I watched her walk away from the one man I knew she was meant to be with. She went on to have a beautiful little boy with a complete loser, and just when I began to think she would never find the happiness she truly deserved, she found it, in the very same man she'd left all those years before. I knew ...

On the 50th anniversary of "The Shot Heard Round the World", Don DeLillo reassembles in fiction the larger-than-life characters who on October 3, 1951, witnessed Bobby Thomson's pennant-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.

It’s my final season to prove myself before the MLB Draft. The last thing I need is a distraction–and especially not one as tantalizing as Mia di Angelo. She’s the drop-dead gorgeous astrophysicist-in-training who ditched me the moment I wanted to take us from casual to committed. Yeah. Ouch. But when she needs somewhere to stay for the summer… well. I offer her my place. Being roommates shouldn’t be so hard. Not distracting at all. Not the least bit challenging.

It was my home run ball that shattered her face. Right along with her modeling career. Now it's my mission to help her rebuild her life. And get her to love the game that she hates. The game that dictates my life both on and off the field. But when the lines of our friendship become blurred, I worry she'll just be another casualty of my three-strikes rule. The rule I have to protect my money, my future, my heart. No girl has ever broken it. I've never wanted one to. Until now.

In these 11 stories, Gary Soto scores again. With a sensitivity and humor born from his own experiences while growing up in California's Central Valley, the author brings to the surface issues such as success and failure, honesty and deceit, love and friendship.