Batting Against Castro: StoriesRanging from winter-league baseball in prerevolutionary Cuba to a postapocalyptic frontier in the American South, from the set of Murnau's classic horror film Nosferatu to more familiar (if no less inventive) scenes of family life, these fourteen stories - some comic, others compassionate, every one enthralling - span an immense fictional landscape with great verve and humanity, humor and wisdom. And Shepard's richly diverse characters - the boy who locks himself inside his Catholic school in a vague protest against injustices he can neither comprehend nor cope with, the father whose reckless fixation ultimately threatens the children he so loves, the postdoctoral fellow whose obsessive study of volcanoes mirrors his futile attempts to understand his brother's explosive psyche, the fighter pilot who considers pulling eight g's as "the real thing, the difference between thinking about kissing and kissing" - combine the ordinary, the bizarre, and the heroic to stunning effect. |
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Albin Grau Amanda Anne arms Art Tatum asked Audrey ball Biddy Billy brother Busby Berkeley called cards Castro Charley Charlie Hall crowd Crystal Cuba dark Donnie door Dummy Hoy Elephant passes Ericksson everything eyes face father feet film front Froot Loops Galeen girl going grandmother Grau hair hands head hear heard helmet Huber Hutter knew Krakatau light looked Macon Marianao Mars Attacks Martian Mel Blount Minnesota Viking mother never night noise Nosferatu okay parents pitch Pops Prana Proekopp pulled Rafa remember Rick Bozack runway saucer Schreck seemed shot side sidelines Sister Emelia someone sound stairs stands staring Steelers stood Susan talk teammates tell things thought Tinderlee told took trying turned uncle vampire Wagner waiting walked Wangenheim watching wave weeks window