Ten years after Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier, William Blakely enjoyed a brief but notable career in the majors as a rookie catcher for the Titans. Never heard of him? Then you should read Stephen King’s BLOCKADE BILLY, a novella published exclusively by Cemetery Dance.

King is “told” the story by the Titans’ former third basemen/equipment manager George Grantham (a relative of CREEPSHOW‘s cake-starved Nathan Grantham?), now living in a “zombie hospital,” aka a nursing home. Grantham remembers Blakely as a skinny, soft-spoken Iowa farm boy — “no Quiz Kid.”

But baseball players aren’t recruited for their wits, and Blakely quickly proves his mettle on the field. In the season’s first game, he gets a player out, and that poor sap has his Achilles tendon nicked in the process. The other team cries foul; the fearless Blakely denies it.

As Blakely’s fanbase grows and he earns the “Blockade Billy” nickname, his fellow teammates start to wonder if he’s “right in the head.” Turns out, of course, they have every good reason to ask.

Since BLOCKADE BILLY is a hair above the 100-page count, it’s difficult to go further without spoiling things. Suffice to say, you know things can’t be rosy, because: a) this is King, after all, and b) Cemetery Dance doesn’t print such things.

As Grantham relays, “I won’t drag out the suspense; this ain’t no kids’ sports novel,” and it may as well be our author saying the same thing. The novella — or short story, whatever you want to call it — is lean and mean, if not exactly long-lasting. It’s good King, but not great King, kind of on par with his THE COLORADO KID novel for Hard Case Crime.

Which brings me to my final point: It’s admirable that a superstar author like King is willing to undertake efforts like this for the small, independent press. He certainly didn’t have to, so this is not done out of commerce, but for a love of the written word and those who toil to produce something special for hardcore fans. Speaking of special, the first 10,000 copies come with a Blakely baseball card. —Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon or Cemetery Dance.

OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF STEPHEN KING:
• CELL by Stephen King
• THE COLORADO KID by Stephen King
• CUJO by Stephen King
• DUMA KEY by Stephen King
• JUST AFTER SUNSET by Stephen King
• THE SECRETARY OF DREAMS: VOLUME ONE by Stephen King
• STEPHEN KING GOES TO THE MOVIES by Stephen King