Even the most diehard baseball fans don't know the true story of William 'Blockade Billy' Blakely. He may have been the greatest player the game has ever seen, but today no one remembers his name. He was the first - and only - player to have his existence completely removed from the record books. Even his team is long forgotten, barely a footnote in the game's history.
Every effort was made to erase any evidence that William Blakely played professional baseball, and with good reason. Blockade Billy had a secret darker than any pill or injection that might cause a scandal in sports today. His secret was much, much worse . . . and only Stephen King, the most gifted storyteller of our age, can reveal the truth about the world, once and for all.
The bonus story in MORALITY is a riveting short about Chad, an aspiring writer who is teaching in a school until he lands a publishing contract. His wife Nora is working as a home nurse for a retired minister. Like most people these days, they are struggling financially. And then Nora is approached by her employer with a proposition that could make their dream of a home in Vermont a reality. But will it be worth the moral consequences?
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' . . . suspenseful . . . deftly executed . . . with sharp spikes hoisted high and aimed at the jugular on the slide home'
(Publisher's Weekly on BLOCKADE BILLY )'America's greatest living novelist delivers his masterpiece.'
(Lee Child on UNDER THE DOME )'King's most purely entertaining novel in years . . . utterly compelling.'
(John Connolly on UNDER THE DOME )About the Author
Stephen King, world bestselling writer, has been a lifelong supporter of the Boston Red Sox baseball team. King has written more than forty novels and two hundred short stories. He is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and he also received the O. Henry Award for his story 'The Man in the Black Suit.' Among his most recent worldwide bestsellers are UNDER THE DOME, CELL, and LISEY'S STORY. King lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 42 people found the following review helpful
By Eleanor
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
From the opening sentences of 'Blockade Billy' you know you are in for a treat. The story is narrated by an elderly baseball player telling a curious Mr. King the story of William Blakely, a brilliant but mysterious player, who has been erased from baseball's history. The tone of reflection and regret is similar to King's "The Colorado Kid", one of his quiet masterpieces.
I don't know anything about baseball, so I had to let much description of the games wash over me. However, I still was gripped by the story and characters and King's love of the sport really shines through (as it does in his enjoyable piece on the Baseball World Series in McSweeney's 33).
The other story in the volume, 'Morality', is also an enjoyably grim read.
As is probably obvious from this review I am a King devotee, and thus will uncomplainingly buy anything he publishes. However I'm not sure whether non-fans would be as keen on a book that contains just two short stories. However fans, for their money, will receive two great stories, a much-needed King fix, and a beautifully presented, if slim, hardback.
I don't know anything about baseball, so I had to let much description of the games wash over me. However, I still was gripped by the story and characters and King's love of the sport really shines through (as it does in his enjoyable piece on the Baseball World Series in McSweeney's 33).
The other story in the volume, 'Morality', is also an enjoyably grim read.
As is probably obvious from this review I am a King devotee, and thus will uncomplainingly buy anything he publishes. However I'm not sure whether non-fans would be as keen on a book that contains just two short stories. However fans, for their money, will receive two great stories, a much-needed King fix, and a beautifully presented, if slim, hardback.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Noel
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
Baseball fans or no, the best of the two short stories in this slim volume (a rarity with Stephen King) is without question "Morality". A young married couple is given the moral choice of going through with a nefarious deed for $200k by an elderly Priest. It smacks of Richard Matheson's story "Button, Button" (recently filmed as "The Box"), and is one of King's best stories in a while. It shows how a deed can change a person and how a secret can tear apart a marriage - moreover his characterisation of the Priest Winston is pitch-perfect as a tempter of sin.
"Blockade Billy" isn't bad but it isn't good either. It tells the story of a maverick unknown baseball player from the 50s who had a good season but had a dark secret that changed everything and ensured his name was kept out of the record books. The ending felt a bit incongruous and silly and Billy himself a bit of a cipher rather than someone you could see in your mind's eye.
At any rate it's a quick, one sitting read and an enjoyable read if only for "Morality" than the title piece. King fans will love it, short story lovers will find it so-so.
"Blockade Billy" isn't bad but it isn't good either. It tells the story of a maverick unknown baseball player from the 50s who had a good season but had a dark secret that changed everything and ensured his name was kept out of the record books. The ending felt a bit incongruous and silly and Billy himself a bit of a cipher rather than someone you could see in your mind's eye.
At any rate it's a quick, one sitting read and an enjoyable read if only for "Morality" than the title piece. King fans will love it, short story lovers will find it so-so.
20 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
There's been at least a book a year bearing Stephen King's name for as long as I can remember, and I don't complain. I don't always manage to read them, but I buy them all, and I'm glad they're there - filed away in my library (alphabetically and by order of publication). Waiting. They're like security blankets, I suppose. For all the unevenness of King's work, for all the inevitable repetition, there's always something in each of his books that reminds me why I hold reading so dear. When the book doldrums come upon me, after the bitter pill of one too many epic high fantasies or some such, there's Stephen King to come back to. For good or ill, he writes like no other in this day and age. His conversational prose, lived-in characters and even - loathe though I am to admit it - his typically deflating climaxes are such distinctive traits you'd have no trouble identifying this author's work in the literary equivalent of a blind taste test. For some, its uniqueness has proven tiresome over the years. For others - for me - it's become positively reassuring.
Blockade Billy has all you'd expect from a new Stephen King, distilled from the intimidating quantities barely contained in last year's Under the Dome to more approachable proportions. It's pint-sized at only a hundred undersized pages, large in font and margins. What we have here is two short stories you might rather generously refer to as novelettes collected together in a nicely finished storybook-style edition. The titular narrative leads the pack.... Read more ›
Blockade Billy has all you'd expect from a new Stephen King, distilled from the intimidating quantities barely contained in last year's Under the Dome to more approachable proportions. It's pint-sized at only a hundred undersized pages, large in font and margins. What we have here is two short stories you might rather generously refer to as novelettes collected together in a nicely finished storybook-style edition. The titular narrative leads the pack.... Read more ›
Format:Hardcover
This was a quick read. 130ish pages for 2 stories and I devoured it in less than an hour and a half.
The first story, 'Blockade Billy' was pretty good, told in the voice of an old-time Baseball coach who is recounting the story of a Baseball player whose existance in a Major League Baseball team was wiped from the sport's history books. Despite knowing absolutely nothing about Baseball, I still enjoyed the story and it had a nice little twist that I wasn't expecting. I also liked the inclusion of the inside King joke of Billy's shirt being number 19.
The second story, 'Morality' is interesting. It questions the nature of Sin and how our deeds impact on our lives and relationships. I really liked it. It had a distinctly King feel to it.
The first story, 'Blockade Billy' was pretty good, told in the voice of an old-time Baseball coach who is recounting the story of a Baseball player whose existance in a Major League Baseball team was wiped from the sport's history books. Despite knowing absolutely nothing about Baseball, I still enjoyed the story and it had a nice little twist that I wasn't expecting. I also liked the inclusion of the inside King joke of Billy's shirt being number 19.
The second story, 'Morality' is interesting. It questions the nature of Sin and how our deeds impact on our lives and relationships. I really liked it. It had a distinctly King feel to it.
By firebean
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Typical Stephen King short stories. Worth getting if you want the full King collection. Blockade Billy is full on baseball terminology & was a bit hard going. Morality was spot on.
By Kathryn
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Not a lot of people have heard of this one, and it doesn't pop up on the "also by the author" lists in the front pages of his books. That alone makes it worth reading. Just to say to people who claim to be King fans that you've read Blockade Billy and watch them pretend to have heard of it.
Its a short story, a bit science fiction and a bit of a rip-off of an episode of the X-Files but who's to say that they didn't read this book first.
Its a short story, a bit science fiction and a bit of a rip-off of an episode of the X-Files but who's to say that they didn't read this book first.
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3.3 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Blockade Billy ??
A mildly entertaining book written solely for the American market i imagine, with the baseball theme. The second story 'Morality' is better. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Anthony Cadman
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not a typical King story
That said - I enjoyed the 2 stories very much.
Normally King are the King of Horror so I have to say that it was a fresh breath with a thriller story. Read more
Normally King are the King of Horror so I have to say that it was a fresh breath with a thriller story. Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2011 by Ditte Cecilie Simonsen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fan-TAZ-tic!!!!!!
I couldn't believe it when I saw this on Amazon!!!! Stephen King short stories that I've not come across anywhere before published in 2010 and as far as I can tell by the... Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2011 by Tazzman
5.0 out of 5 stars
Retaliation is rewarding pleasure
Stephen King is known for his books ranging beyond five to nine hundred pages. So it feels strange to read a small book with only two short stories by Stephen King, not even... Read more
Published on 10 Dec 2010 by Jacques COULARDEAU
4.0 out of 5 stars
Blockade Billy: a twisted tale
Blockade Billy: WITH Morality
A fun tale that like, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon even drags an English girl into the crazy world of baseball. Read more
A fun tale that like, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon even drags an English girl into the crazy world of baseball. Read more
Published on 14 Nov 2010 by Kaz
1.0 out of 5 stars
Blockade Billy book by Stephen King
Bitterly disappointed with this book. As a Stephen King fan, I have most of his books, this very short book is absolutely all about baseball. Read more
Published on 3 Nov 2010 by Mrs. S. Harrison
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not the best KIng book ever
If you are not a great baseball fan - or simply doesn't know the first thing about the sport it is quite hard to keep track here. Read more
Published on 21 Oct 2010 by Allan Numelin Bjørnholdt
4.0 out of 5 stars
blockade billy
blockade billy is not stephen kings finest work, but it was ok a nice read for an afternoon.Prefer a bit of horror myself to these factual stories hes now writing
Published on 4 Oct 2010 by D. A. Jefferson
2.0 out of 5 stars
poor value/ poor content
as an avid king reader i was very disappointed with these two stories. originality truely lacking
Published on 2 Sep 2010 by lawnmowerman
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