Chance

By Steve Shilstone

Book Overview

Wondering whether Nabokov might have left any unpublished manuscripts behind and if so, did they have baseball themes? If anyone reading this knows the answer, please check the files to see if there's a manuscript for a novel named Chance. . . . It's a very good one, full of wit, good humor, and baseball. And if you don't care about the latter, take the advice the book offers in its first paragraph and 'Read it anyway. There's other stuff in it, too.' -Allen Barra, The Palm Beach Post

An excerpt

Okay, here's the deal. This is a book about a baseball player. Do you care? If you don't care, read it anyway. There's some other stuff in it, too. Chance Caine. Recognize the name? Well, he wants me, an old weird guy poet, to write his story. Why? I'll tell you why. He has made rhythmic marks on paper himself. Some of his efforts aren't even dreck. You can judge for yourself in a minute. He took a class. I gave him an A. So one day he comes to me with a load of scrapbooks, diaries, videos. He says, "Here's my life. How would you like to write my book?" I say, "The thing I make will be the thing I make." I talk like that on purpose sometimes. Art is a conscious attempt at nonverbal communication. Okay? Okay. I lie to convey truth. I lie to make the story better. I am a lying guy. What can I say? I want to write this story. There may be money in it. Why lie? Okay, there's another reason. I gave my students an assignment to write a short short short story no longer than ten sentences. Mr. Caine wrote:

The Angry Fish

The fish hurled himself into the boat slashing left and right with fins, teeth, and daggers. Blood spurted from the severed limbs of the screaming crew. The fish turned a final somersault, stood on its tail on the rail, and shreiked in trembling rage, "Vengeance is mine, haa ha haaa ha " Then he dove under the waves and was gone.

The End

What the I graded it A and from then on leaned back a little in my chair when he walked by. I leaned back further after I had read his science fiction slash fantasy effort a few weeks later. You'll see that one, too, in time. Who is this guy? Let's see if I can answer that question.

So what

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1891369164
• ISBN13: 9781891369162
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Breakaway Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 2.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

A great book even if you hate baseball.

Okay, okay, I am the author's son, so I may not be totally unbiased. But hear me out. I hate sports. I can't stand baseball. Bores the hell out of me. I grew up with my father watching every bloody game and even got suckered into playing t-ball in the first grade -- a mistake which I never, thankfully, repeated. Which is why I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Chance. "Okay, here's the deal. This is a book about a baseball player. Do you care? If you don't care, read it anyway. There's some other stuff in it, too." Those are the first lines of the book. I didn't care. But I read it anyway. Okay, there were parts of Chance I didn't get in the least. I have no clue what a box score is, much less how to actually read one. But it's the characters that make Chance come alive. They are funny, human, and...well, funny. This is a story everyone can relate to -- something everyone can laugh at, regardless of whether or not they even know what an outfielder is. More than a book about a baseball player, this is a book about a man. Hey, this book has everything from baseball poetry to bizarre stories within the story with passages such as: "In the beginning, after the end, when the fourth dimension was made known to us, the lords of the fourth dimension were more than kind. The lords of the fourth dimension were more than patient with us. They were more than protective of us. They were, in fact, drunk. Consequently, we were forced to turn aside from them and to struggle along on our own." There's even a short short story about a blood crazed fish. Do you like baseball? Read the book. Do you hate baseball? Read the book. Do you like Monty Python? Definitely read the book!

One of the finest baseball books I've read

Chance is a funny, poignant novel. It presents an engaging rogue and his outrageous teammates, family, & acquaintences. I've read it at least four times. I come back to Chance every spring as hope is born anew for a World Championship for all the great players who have never made it. Chance is, after Sharra's classic, the best baseball novel I've ever read.

A cockeyed baseball story

I really enjoyed this book thoroughly. It's funny, charming, devlish, and very clever. Shilstone has a wonderful way with words, and his characters (and especially their names) are all, well, "characters". If Brautigan had written a baseball novel, I think it would have been similar to this. Hats off, though, to Shilstone and his obvious love of America's Favorite Pastime

Chance is a fascinating story, about baseball, and his life.

"Chance" kept me in the game for 9 innings. I loved the character and the story. There's nothing like a shortstop star -- they are the athletes of the team -- and here was a rare case of a shortstop who had a heart and a life