The one thing eleven-year-old Jake Lupo loves more than anything else is baseball. However, despite his father being a professional pitcher, Jake’s fear of failing has kept him from competing against children his own age. When his father, who has recovered from a serious arm injury, is invited to pitch for an independent team, Jake and his parents move to Pine Barrows, a far-flung forested mountain outpost. Jake is excited about his father’s chance at a comeback, but he soon learns that he is not the only one in Pine Barrows who loves baseball. Goblins love to play baseball, too, and Pine Barrows happens to be chock full of them. Then Jake discovers that the region is occupied by two factions of warring goblins.
Seeking to take control of the goblin kingdom, the leader of the evil goblins kidnaps Jake’s mother and bans baseball, a game which itself is a natural source of power for the goblins.
It turns out that Jake has a secret kinship with the legendary beings, and he is the only one who can save them, their kingdom and his mother. However, Jake must believe in himself and play a winner-take-all game against the best goblin players in Pine Barrows.
Targeted Age Group:: 7-12
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
As a father and a baseball coach, watching my pre-teen son learning to play the game inspired this story. I wanted to foster his interest in reading with a book about baseball and little creatures, two things I knew he was interested in, baseball and monsters.
How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
There is no telling where a character or story idea will come from, but it doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Such ideas sometimes come from something I read, see in a movie or on television, or something I hear someone say that sparks an idea for a character. Once that little seed gets in my brain, it starts to germinate. I keep a notebook of ideas for characters, but often if the initial idea is not cultivated fairly soon into a story, it will wither and die on the vine. Whether you call it a muse, an inner voice, or some other extraneous force whispering in a writer's ear, wherever inspiration comes from, it cannot be denied. Maybe all people hear these whisperings, but a writer cannot simply dismiss them.
Book Sample
Jake got the ball back and straddled the pitching rubber as Buach strode to the plate, grinning and twirling his massive bat on his shoulder. The Overlord dug into batter’s box and tapped his bat on the plate. Looking up at Jake, he told him with a cocky sneer, “I’ll be touching this same spot with my foot after I hit the game-winning home run.”
Slash pounded his mitt to keep Jake’s focus on the target. The catcher gave a sign and a location. Jake nodded and drew in a deep breath.
This was it.
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