On his excellent MORE RED INK, Marty Halpern discusses THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA.

So that brings me to one of my recently received books: THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA, from Tachyon Publications. Though when I initially worked on this book, and then wrote a blog post about it back on August 26, 2014, the working title was “The Very Best of W. P. Kinsella.”

Whether it be "The Very Best” or “The Essential” – “to-may-to, to-mah-to” – it doesn’t matter…this is really the one and only book you need to read, especially if you are new to the writing of W. P. Kinsella.

<snip>

There are quite a few baseball stories included in this collection. But the way in which Kinsella tells such a story, the reader doesn’t need an understanding of baseball; the game of baseball merely serves as a metaphor on life – and what a life it can be: W. P. Kinsella-style, and that “style” typically includes a touch of the supernatural as well.

<snip>

In an interview with Charity Nebbe on Talk of Iowa, for Iowa’s Public Radio, Kinsella said of this new collection: “I just want people to enjoy the work. I’d like them to say, ‘wow that story really moved me, or that really made me laugh, or it left me with a little tear in my eye.’ That’s all that I’ve ever wanted from my writing. I want people to enjoy it.”

Read the rest of the essay at MORE RED INK.

For more info about THE ESSENTIAL W. P. KINSELLA, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Thomas Canty.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story.