Tim Wendel

ESCAPE FROM CASTRO'S CUBA was named a finalist in the 2022 New Generation Indie Book Award competition in the Action/Adventure (Fiction) category.

This is a case where I didn't even know the novel was in the running as the good folks at Nebraska Press entered it on my behalf. Thanks, gang.

ESCAPE is the sequel to CASTRO'S CURVEBALL, which was completed during my time in the Johns Hopkins Writing Program. (It was my thesis project.)

Nebraska Press now has ESCAPE and CURVEBALL available in print and ebook. I narrated the audiobook for ESCAPE.

 

Thanks to Greg Rienzi for the terrific review of ESCAPE FROM CASTRO'S CUBA in the Winter issue of the Johns Hopkins magazine. He detailed my inspiration for the new novel. How I couldn't get Cuba out of my mind after my fourth trip to the island in early 2017. One of the amazing characters I met on this visit was our 80-year-old landlady, who first came to Havana as a member of Castro's revolutionary army. 

Greg's piece closes with a quote from Billy Bryan, protagnoist of the new novel and its prequel, CASTRO'S CURVEBALL: "Cuba is beautiful, but has a dark heart."

True, so true.

In addition, here's an online chat Greg and I had about ESCAPE for the JHU Hub -- https://hub.jhu.edu/magazine/2021/winter/escape-castros-cuba-wendel/ 

Doing the audiobook for CANCER CROSSINGS has opened up new doors. Other voices have already done SUMMER OF '68 and CASTRO'S CURVEBALL and others, but it looking through my contracts I found that I still hold the rights to HABANA LIBRE, RED RAIN and BUFFALO, HOME OF THE BRAVES. With the latter, we have also located many of the interviews I did with Bob McAdoo, Jack Ramsay, Randy Smith and others. 

I'll be returning to the recording studio later this year, so let me know if you have a favorite, one you'd love to hear the story in audio

A week-long swing through Buffalo, Syracuse and the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown is over and I'm back in northern Virginia. Time to work on some new projects and prep for the fall semester at Johns Hopkins.
Thanks to everyone who came out to my appearances this summer, from the East Coast  Read More 

Perhaps the strangest thing about being a writer these days is the mind-boggling, whiplash shift that's sometimes required. Since early April I've been on and off the road, promoting DOWN TO THE LAST PITCH. It's been a ton of fun as I visited great venues in 10-plus states and met some awesome people. Folks  Read More 

The week began in Baltimore for a special class at Johns Hopkins. The next morning it was onto Bowling Green, Ky., and the great book festival they have there.
By the next afternoon, I was flying home in time to talk about DOWN TO THE LAST PITCH before a standing-room crowd at Politics & Prose.  Read More 

Here's the fearsome foursome from last Thursday's fun panel at the Minneapolis Library. Left to right, John Rosengren, myself, Twins announcer Dick Bremer and Rob Weintraub. Great time talking baseball over the last half-century.

Excited about being in the Twin Cities talking about DOWN TO THE LAST PITCH at the end this week. But as I head out the door I'm also thankful for the good folks for putting up a short story of mine -- http://www.stymiemag.com/2014/04/tim-wendel-downward-facing-dog-fiction.html
This started as an essay and  Read More 

The final edits are finished and the cover is done, with great endorsements from Jane Leavy, John Thorn and Claire Smith. That means DOWN TO THE LAST PITCH is off to the printers, with a pub date of April 1.
A half-dozen appearances have already been lined up, with more on the way. Keep watching  Read More 

A fun stretch run heading into the holiday season. I returned to the Miami Book Fair, which is always at the top of my list. How can you beat 80-degree temperatures in November and hanging with the great cast of characters Mitchell Kaplan from Books & Books brings together?
I rolled the dice at the  Read More