Baseball novella and memoir have inspirational messages
Home Run from Heaven by Hudson High School alumnus Kevin Travis is an agreeably sentimental novella about a teen boy who feels a spiritual connection to his late father.
Although the Hudson High School that narrator Dylan Bell attends is in North Carolina, the author has sprinkled plenty of northern Ohio references into the story, from Saywell’s Drugs to Stow High School, Dylan’s conference championship opponent in the state baseball tournament.
Dylan’s father, a former major leaguer who played for the Indians and Cardinals, has died of cancer, leaving Dylan and his family with reassurances that he “will always be around, one way or another,” and encourages them to always have faith. Dylan also has the support of his understanding girlfriend and Thor, a rascally golden retriever who’s a runner-up to John Grogan’s Marley for “world’s worst dog.”
Readers who appreciate traditional values will enjoy Home Run from Heaven (230 pages, softcover), which costs $9.99 from online retailers. Kevin Travis attended Bowling Green State University.
Stop wishing and start living
“This is the only life we get, so stop wishing for another one” is advice from Medina resident Barb Frye, who might have more reason than most to wish for another life, as she illustrates in her book Stop Wishing for the Life You Don’t Have; Start Living the Life You Do.
Frye was 18 and a freshman at Kent State University when she went to a friend’s party over Thanksgiving weekend. There was plenty of alcohol, and another friend with a new car who wanted to show it off. On a dark country road, the words “Watch this” are words you don’t want to hear. The driver lost control and flipped the car.
Frye’s neck was broken, and she spent almost three months in traction, followed by rehabilitation at Edwin Shaw. She uses a wheelchair and assistance for dressing and some other things, but works and drives her own van.
Though her story is, of course, a cautionary tale against drinking and driving, it is more a personal account of Frye’s life after her recovery, with marriage and motherhood, and making the best of her circumstances.
Stop Wishing (247 pages, softcover) costs $14.95 from online retailers. According to www.barbfrye.com, Frye earned a master’s degree in clinical counseling from the University of Akron.
Ohioana Festival
Kent graphic novelist P. Craig Russell (Sandman: The Dream Hunters; Coraline) has been selected as a featured author for the seventh annual Ohioana Book Festival, to be held May 11 in Columbus. Other local authors scheduled to appear are Mark Dawidziak, Lynda Durrant, Mary Ellis, Amanda Flower, KaraLynne Mackrory, James Renner and Lindsay Ward. See http://ohioana.org for the full list.
Events
Barnes and Noble (Great Lakes Mall, 7900 Mentor Ave., Mentor) — Mary Doria Russell discusses and signs her novel Doc, about Western icon Doc Holliday, 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Hudson Library & Historical Society (96 Library St.) — Historian and blogger Dan Ruminski, co-author (with Alan Dutka) of Cleveland in the Gilded Age: A Stroll Down Millionaires’ Row, talks about the city’s opulent past, 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library (3512 Darrow Road, Stow) — Robin Yocum, author of the exceptional novel The Essay, leads a writing workshop and seminar on character development, 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Shaker Heights Public Library (Bertram Woods branch, 20600 Fayette Road) — Sam Thomas reads from and signs his historical mystery The Midwife’s Tale, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Malone University (Cattell Library, 515 25th St. NW, Canton) — The 2012-13 Writers Series continues with novelist Erin McGraw, author of The Seamstress of Hollywood Boulevard, 4:30 p.m. Thursday.
Learned Owl Book Shop (204 N. Main St., Hudson) — Minnesota authors Doug and Sally Mayfield discuss and sign Angle of Declination, a novel set in the 1970s around the Great Lakes, 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday.
Cuyahoga County Public Library (Strongsville branch, 18700 Westwood Drive) — Sharon Krieghbaum, author of Is Your House Overweight? Recipes for Low-Fat Rooms, talks about and signs her book from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
— Barbara McIntyre
Special to the Beacon Journal
Send information about books of local interest to Lynne Sherwin, Features Department, Akron Beacon Journal, P.O. Box 640, Akron, OH 44309 or lsherwin@thebeaconjournal.com. Event notices should be sent at least two weeks in advance.