Tim Wendel

ESCAPE FROM CASTRO'S CUBA was named a finalist in the 2022 New Generation Indie Book Award competition in the Action/Adventure (Fiction) category.

This is a case where I didn't even know the novel was in the running as the good folks at Nebraska Press entered it on my behalf. Thanks, gang.

ESCAPE is the sequel to CASTRO'S CURVEBALL, which was completed during my time in the Johns Hopkins Writing Program. (It was my thesis project.)

Nebraska Press now has ESCAPE and CURVEBALL available in print and ebook. I narrated the audiobook for ESCAPE.

ESCAPE FROM CASTRO'S CUBA is a finalist for the CASEY Award, given annually to  the 'best' baseball book published this calendar year.

What surprised me the most about the news is that ESCAPE is the only novel among the finalists and, frankly, works of fiction rarely make the cut for the CASEY.

It is a stacked field of CASEY finalists, with Joe Posnanski's THE BASEBALL 100, Lonnie Wheeler's bio about 'Cool Papa' Bell and Dave Jordan's collaboration with slugger Dave Parker also in the running. Of the nine finalists, three are from University of Nebraska Press, which underscores the fine work editor Rob Taylor is doing there.

With ESCAPE being the only novel in play, I sort of feel like I've already won. And I'm not just saying that. As you know, getting traction for a piece of fiction is an uphill fight, so it makes your day when you hear that you're in the running for something like a CASEY.

Thanks to Mike Shannon and the folks at Spitball magazine for the honor.

Thanks to everyone who made the launch for ESCAPE FROM CASTRO'S CUBA such a success.

A tip of the cap to ONE MORE PAGE BOOKS in northern Virginia, BOOKS & BOOKS in the Miami area and those who bought the novel in book, ebook or audible form.

The sequel to CASTRO'S CURVEBALL has been out for almost eight weeks now and one of the high-water marks was this virtual conversation with Saul Wisnia, who did Luis Tiant's autobiography, SON OF HAVANA -- https://bit.ly/3uhMefj.

Perhaps the most intriguing questions I received at such gatherings was, Will there be a third novel featuring the intrepid Billy Bryan? To be honest, I hadn't planned on one, but it's got me to thinking. Let me know where you'd like the onetime catcher to head next? As my friend Jane Leavy said in endorsing ESCAPE, "In Billy Bryan, Tim Wendel has created the perfect baseball man."

Indeed, Billy is a fun guy to write about.