Tim Wendel

Winner of the W.Y. Boyd Literary Novel Award for Excellence in Military Fiction from the American Library Association

With REBEL FALLS, Tim Wendel takes us to late summer of 1864. The Civil War rages on. Sherman is marching on Atlanta, while the armies of Grant and Lee battle across Virginia. In the North, war-weariness has made Lincoln's bid for reelection seem doubtful. As the fate of the nation "conceived in Liberty" hangs in the balance, Confederate agents gather in Niagara Falls to plan one last audacious maneuver to turn the tide of the conflict.

Rory Chase, a capable yet haunted young woman eager to contribute to the Union cause, accepts a mission from the Secretary of State, William Seward, to travel to Niagara Falls and prevent two rebel spies, John Yates Beall and Bennet Burley, from seizing the U.S.S. Michigan on Lake Erie and bombarding Buffalo, Cleveland, and other northern cities to sow fear and disorder ahead of the upcoming election. To succeed, Rory must gain the rebel spies' trust and, with the help of the Underground Railroad network still operating out of the elegant Cataract House hotel overlooking the Falls, foil their desperate gambit. But can she maintain the pretense of being a Confederate sympathizer long enough to unravel Beall and Burley's ingenious plot?

With actual events underpinning the tumultuous story in REBEL FALLSs, a forgotten chapter in the history of the Civil War is revealed. Far from frontlines, Wendel's exciting, character-driven narrative about a consequential struggle in the shadow of Niagara Falls' dramatic beauty is gripping from start to finish.

CASTROS CURVEBALL and its sequel, ESCAPE FROM CASTRO'S CUBA, are now available from Nebraska Press. The story begins with Fidel Castro at a crossroads. Will he choose Revolution or Baseball?

"A superbly crafted meditation on heroism, duty, and the irony derived from recognizing everyone's imperfections but your own."

-- Kirkus Reviews (starred)

"In Billy Bryan, Tim Wendel has created the perfect baseball man. And in his novelistic return to the world of Cuban baseball and intrigue, Wendel has given Billy a perfect second act. It is an exquisite portrait of an aging baseball man of conscience and character who refuses to quit on the people and the game he loves."

-- Jane Leavy

On the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society suggested reading list

When Eric Wendel was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 1966, the survival rate was 10 percent. Today, it is 90 percent. Even as politicians call for a "Cancer Moonshot," this accomplishment remains a pinnacle in cancer research.

The author's daughter, then a medical student at Georgetown Medical School, told her father about this amazing success story. Tim Wendel soon discovered that many of the doctors at the forefront of this effort cared for his brother at Roswell Park in Buffalo, New York. Wendel went in search of this extraordinary group, interviewing Lucius Sinks, James Holland, Donald Pinkel, and others in the field. If there were a Mount Rushmore for cancer research, they would be on it.

Despite being ostracized by their medical peers, these doctors developed modern-day chemotherapy practices and invented the blood centrifuge machine, helping thousands of children live longer lives. Part family memoir and part medical narrative, CANCER CROSSINGS explores how the Wendel family found the courage to move ahead with their lives. They learned to sail on Lake Ontario, cruising across miles of open water together, even as the campaign against cancer changed their lives forever.

A wild ride through a season that saw such legends as Bob Gibson, Denny McLain, Don Drysdale, and Luis Tiant set new standards for excellence on the mound, each chasing perfection against the backdrop of one of the most divisive and turbulent years in American history. For some players, baseball would become an insular retreat from the turmoil encircling them that season, but for a select few, including Gibson and the defending champion St. Louis Cardinals, the conflicts of '68 would spur their performances to incredible heights and set the stage for their own run at history.

Meanwhile in Detroit -- which had burned just the summer before during one of the worst riots in American history -- '68 instead found the city rallying together behind a colorful Tigers team led by McLain, Mickey Lolich, Willie Horton, and Al Kaline. The Tigers would finish atop the American League, setting themselves on a highly anticipated collision course with Gibson's Cardinals. And with both teams' seasons culminating in a thrilling World Series for the ages -- one team playing to establish a dynasty, the other fighting to help pull a city from the ashes -- what ultimately lay at stake was something even larger: baseball's place in a rapidly changing America that would never be the same.

In vivid, novelistic detail, SUMMER OF '68 tells the story of this unforgettable season -- the last before rule changes and expansion would alter baseball forever -- when the country was captivated by the national pastime at the moment it needed the game most.

Award-winning writer Tim Wendel takes the reader on a cross-country quest as he explores the fascinating history of the fastball, from its early development to the present day. Along the way, his interviews include Nolan Ryan, Steve Dalkowski, Bob Feller and many others, and he investigates the careers of Walter Johnson, Amos Rusie and Satchel Paige. Stops include ballparks nationwide, an aerodynamic test lab outside of Birmingham, Alabama, and the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

The Buffalo Braves turned heads and made history with their up-tempo style of play, three rookies of the year, and consecutive scoring titles by superstar Bob McAdoo. BUFFALO, HOME OF THE BRAVES chronicles the meteoric rise and fall of the National Basketball Association franchise.

The book includes more than 200 vintage photographs, along with interviews with Randy Smith, Ernie DiGregorio, coach Dr. Jack Ramsay, team owner Paul Snyder and many more. Foreword by legendary play-by-play announcer Van Miller.