Blockade Billy, by Stephen King

I "read" this on my way to and from work this week. (Book on CD)

It's a good story, and I love how King wrote it from the point of view of an old man in a nursing home, because that makes it damn near perfect for an audiobook. The dude even refers to Mr. King himself as if he's being interviewed right there.

William "Blockade Billy" Blakeley is the new catcher for the New Jersey Titans, way back when. He played for one season (not even the whole season, actually) and then was "erased from the records" for reasons unknown. I spent the entire story trying to guess, and because this is a King novel all my guesses concerned demons or magic.  The secret to Billy is that he is a whackjob. Totally nuts. Dude's not stupid, but he's crazy--not a good combo. So if you decide to read it, or buy the book on CD, you can relax and enjoy the story and quit expecting demons to fly out of his mitt.

That's my only concern with King--I love his books and short stories, both the scary shit and the not-scary shit, but sometimes I can't tell what kind of story I'm reading and that gets in the way of my enjoyment. Not King's fault, just a problem I have.

Both the book and the CD come with a bonus short story called "Morality". I personally recommend buying the CD because "Morality" is read by Mare Winningham and she makes this thing cinema. She is fantastic! I simply cannot put into words how much her voice added to my enjoyment of this story.

"Morality" concerns a couple, Nora and Chad, their money problems, and a sick old dude named Winnie.

See, Winnie is a retired pastor who had a stroke a few years ago and hired Nora to be his nurse. Over the years he has listened to Nora, listened to her talk about her money problems and her and Chad's dream of moving to someplace up north, like Vermont, and Winnie sees an opportunity to help Nora while fullfilling one of his needs. Winnie needs to sin. He has lived a good life, never purposefully commiting any kind of sin, and he decides that he doesn't want to die without experiencing it.

I'm not going to tell you what the sin is, because King stretched it and stretched it until the last minute, and when the sin occurs it's simple and horrible and I'm not going to take that moment of realization from you.

But Nora and Chad accept the money, commit the act, and then have to face the consequences of their own consciences.

It's a great story, and Mare Winningham is freaking awesome. I cannot say that enough.