Tuesday, June 11, 2019

"Until the End of the Ninth" Reviews

I have received reviews on both my novel "Until the End of the Ninth" and its screenplay adaptation. This is a baseball tale, inspired by the true story of a minor league team from Spokane, Washington that died in a bus crash midway through the 1946 season.  Nine of the 16 men on the bus died. Eight of the nine who died had served in World War II. They came home to baseball, expecting one destiny and meeting an altogether different, devastating one. It remains the worst professional sports accident in U.S. history.

When I learned of the story while living in Spokane, I wanted to imagine their spirits living on. So that is what I did, in both novel and script form.

In recent months, and over the years, I've received reviews of what I've written. I've compiled some of those reviews here:

This is a “gorgeously-rendered historical drama … sporting impeccable research and detail…”

“Montages, flashbacks [and] narration that dips in and out throughout the script… give UNTIL THE END OF THE NINTH a unique and genuine touch…”

It's “as if you’re sitting around a campfire, listening to an impassioned storyteller give you details about the ‘worst accident in modern American sports history.’”

"The screenplay features a keen understanding of cinematic language: it is packed with stylistic flourishes and employs unconventional storytelling throughout."

“This is not only a story of a baseball team, but a story of men who have survived the hell of war only to be thrust into it one more time…”

“The writer adds a spiritual dimension that makes the story so much more meaningful.”

“I was moved by this story. I was absolutely moved to tears.”