In conjunction with the fine folks at Goodreads, we are giving away an Advanced Reading Copy of The Essential W. P. Kinsella.

Visit Goodreads for all the details.

“Kinsella defines a world in which magic and reality combine to make us laugh and think about the perceptions we take for granted.”

—New York Times

This career retrospective celebrates the 80th birthday of baseball’s greatest scribe, W. P. Kinsella (Shoeless Joe), as well as the 25th anniversary of Field of Dreams, the film that he inspired.

In addition to his classic baseball tales, W. P. Kinsella is also a critically-acclaimed short fiction writer. His satiric wit has been celebrated with numerous honors, including the Order of British Columbia.

Here are his notorious First Nation narratives of indigenous Canadians, and a literary homage to J. D. Salinger. Alongside the “real” story of the 1951 Giants and the afterlife of Roberto Clemente, are the legends of a pirated radio station and a hockey game rigged by tribal magic.

Eclectic, dark, and comedic by turns, The Essential W. P. Kinsella is a living tribute to an extraordinary raconteur.

“Mystery and homegrown magic realism at its best and most satisfying. Kinsella is a storyteller of the first order.”

—Joe R. Lansdale, author of Cold in July

Table of Contents

• Introduction by Rick Wilber
• Truth
• How I Got My Nickname
• The Night Manny Mota Tied the Record
• First Names and Empty Pockets
• Searching for January
• Lieberman in Love
• The Grecian Urn
• The Fog
• Beef
• Distances
• How Manny Embarquadero Overcame and Began His Climb to the Major Leagues
• The Indian Nation Cultural Exchange Program
• K Mart
• The Firefighter
• Dr. Don
• Brother Frank’s Gospel Hour
• The Alligator Report—with Questions for Discussion
• King of the Street
• Wavelengths
• Do Not Abandon Me
• Marco in Paradise
• Out of the Picture
• The Lightning Birds
• Punchlines
• The Last Surviving Member of the Japanese Victory Society
• The Job
• Risk Takers
• The Lime Tree
• Doves and Proverbs
• Waiting on Lombard Street
• Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa
• Afterward – Where It Began: Shoeless Joe

For more info about The Essential W. P. Kinsella, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover art by Thomas Canty.

Cover design by Elizabeth Story.