A New Haunt for Mr. Bierce:
A Novel by Drew Bridges
BY THEPRAIRIESBOOKREVIEW on NOVEMBER 27, 2021
A mystery that’s as clever as it is entertaining…
Bridges’s latest novel delves into ghostly existence’s struggle with the dark history of his new residence. When the ghost of Ambrose Bierce, American writer and civil war Union soldier, is displaced from the home he had been haunting, he enlists the help of a haunting agent and finds a new residence to haunt. But the house’s dark history makes Ambrose curious about the secrets that have stayed buried for a long time. With the help of an old friend Sid, a Buddhist priest who has inhabited the spirit world for 25 centuries, Ambrose sets on to solve the mystery of his new residence. Bridges populates his traditional mystery with convincingly complicated characters who gracefully carry the book and deftly explores the desires, doubts, and endless questions that accompany Ambrose and Sid’s quest to get to the heart of the matter. The narrative rotates among finite questions about afterlife, moving on, redemption, spirituality, a murder mystery, and Ambrose Bierce’s writing and character while offering insight into the living and otherworldly characters’ varied lives. The surprises and revelations come fast and are plentiful and the pacing expert. Readers will love Ambrose’s questions about his ghostly existence, his endearing bond of friendship with Sid, the hefty dose of supernatural, the historical setting, and the intricately tangled complications. Expertly plotted and executed, the novel will keep readers on the edge of their seats until they turn the last page. Bridges has delivered a winner.
A Novel by Drew Bridges
BY THEPRAIRIESBOOKREVIEW on NOVEMBER 27, 2021
A mystery that’s as clever as it is entertaining…
Bridges’s latest novel delves into ghostly existence’s struggle with the dark history of his new residence. When the ghost of Ambrose Bierce, American writer and civil war Union soldier, is displaced from the home he had been haunting, he enlists the help of a haunting agent and finds a new residence to haunt. But the house’s dark history makes Ambrose curious about the secrets that have stayed buried for a long time. With the help of an old friend Sid, a Buddhist priest who has inhabited the spirit world for 25 centuries, Ambrose sets on to solve the mystery of his new residence. Bridges populates his traditional mystery with convincingly complicated characters who gracefully carry the book and deftly explores the desires, doubts, and endless questions that accompany Ambrose and Sid’s quest to get to the heart of the matter. The narrative rotates among finite questions about afterlife, moving on, redemption, spirituality, a murder mystery, and Ambrose Bierce’s writing and character while offering insight into the living and otherworldly characters’ varied lives. The surprises and revelations come fast and are plentiful and the pacing expert. Readers will love Ambrose’s questions about his ghostly existence, his endearing bond of friendship with Sid, the hefty dose of supernatural, the historical setting, and the intricately tangled complications. Expertly plotted and executed, the novel will keep readers on the edge of their seats until they turn the last page. Bridges has delivered a winner.
A New Haunt for Mr. Bierce
by Drew Bridges
The US Review of Books - Professional Reviews for the People!
book review by Heather Brooks
"Ambrose was filled with pride that he seemed to be capturing an audience."His death more than a century ago apparently hasn't stopped Ambrose Bierce from wishing to produce new literature. Unfortunately, existence as a spirit means he can't do anything. He lacks a human form and all the capabilities thereof. Recent renovations to the house he's been haunting force him to seek a new home. But the late-nineteenth-century Virginia mansion has a fresh tragedy of its own, a widow in mortal danger, and two murderous conmen to contend with. Mercifully for Suzanne Hurd, Bierce isn't the only inhabitant of the afterlife nearby. His best friend, Sid (a Buddhist monk who lived 2,500 years ago) and Kiki, a recent victim of a drunk driver, pool their limited abilities to save her life and avenge her husband Dave's murder. And as he spends more time between worlds, learning from and philosophizing with those who've gone before, Bierce discovers he has one last story to tell.
Bridges, with a background in English and psychiatry, dispenses with the stereotyped portrayals of ghosts as either forlorn lost souls or malevolent pranksters. His spirits are thoughtful beings who subtly develop supernatural gifts to help the living as the story progresses. The plot brings together great people from different eras. Sid is Bridges' tongue-in-cheek nod to Siddhartha, Buddhism's founder, while Bierce comes from the Victorian age and American Civil War. Kiki hails from the present day. Soldier and author Bierce disappeared in Mexico in 1914. Nobody knows exactly how or when he died. Humorously, Sid says that not even Bierce himself knows how he died. Bridges borrows portions of text directly from several of Bierce's short stories. He italicizes the excerpts and provides attribution in footnotes. Anyone fond of Bierce's work and willing to entertain this as a possible postmortem scenario for him will likely enjoy this novel.
by Drew Bridges
The US Review of Books - Professional Reviews for the People!
book review by Heather Brooks
"Ambrose was filled with pride that he seemed to be capturing an audience."His death more than a century ago apparently hasn't stopped Ambrose Bierce from wishing to produce new literature. Unfortunately, existence as a spirit means he can't do anything. He lacks a human form and all the capabilities thereof. Recent renovations to the house he's been haunting force him to seek a new home. But the late-nineteenth-century Virginia mansion has a fresh tragedy of its own, a widow in mortal danger, and two murderous conmen to contend with. Mercifully for Suzanne Hurd, Bierce isn't the only inhabitant of the afterlife nearby. His best friend, Sid (a Buddhist monk who lived 2,500 years ago) and Kiki, a recent victim of a drunk driver, pool their limited abilities to save her life and avenge her husband Dave's murder. And as he spends more time between worlds, learning from and philosophizing with those who've gone before, Bierce discovers he has one last story to tell.
Bridges, with a background in English and psychiatry, dispenses with the stereotyped portrayals of ghosts as either forlorn lost souls or malevolent pranksters. His spirits are thoughtful beings who subtly develop supernatural gifts to help the living as the story progresses. The plot brings together great people from different eras. Sid is Bridges' tongue-in-cheek nod to Siddhartha, Buddhism's founder, while Bierce comes from the Victorian age and American Civil War. Kiki hails from the present day. Soldier and author Bierce disappeared in Mexico in 1914. Nobody knows exactly how or when he died. Humorously, Sid says that not even Bierce himself knows how he died. Bridges borrows portions of text directly from several of Bierce's short stories. He italicizes the excerpts and provides attribution in footnotes. Anyone fond of Bierce's work and willing to entertain this as a possible postmortem scenario for him will likely enjoy this novel.
The Second-Greatest Baseball Game Ever Played
by Drew Bridges
Kirkus Reviews
Bridges (Family Lost and Found, 2006) pens a quiet elegy to his father, recounting a childhood baseball game that “may seem small and inconsequential, but I think…changed me.” This memoir tells the story, pitch by pitch, of a Saturday afternoon baseball game in Hildebran, North Carolina, in 1957.
There isn’t anything in particular that makes the game so great: It’s low-scoring—the players only drive in three runs—and aside from catching a line drive, Bridges didn’t have much of a role in its outcome.
What makes it great, though, is the sensation that the author felt during it: “I sat on the bench feeling a kind of energy, a glow, watching it unfold, teammates sitting on my right and left side. Amazingly, I was a part of it all.”
This is the lesson—the moment that the young author learned the value of teamwork and cooperation. Bridges is a clear, entertaining writer, and his memoir is full of intriguing, if not always entirely distinguishable, characters—most of them neighborhood boys who went on to play in college sports.
Aside from the author’s father, the most memorable person is Melvin Ruggles, the no-nonsense umpire who keeps the game under control by force of will. Yet for readers, the most engaging moments will come not from the game, but from the author’s interpretations of his father’s wartime letters to his mother, which lead off each chapter.
How does Bridges reconcile the reticent, “imperfect” man who raised him with the sentimental, sometimes anxious, and sometimes very silly, person in these letters?
In one disclosure that Bridges cannot rectify, his father writes, “I’ve learned to hate people, especially groups of people….I just like to get as far away as possible.” This is the opposite of his father, the baseball coach, who showed a group of poor boys what it meant to be a team—and it allows Bridges to see his father as a fuller, deeper person in this book.
A thoughtful, if emotionally tempered, memoir.
by Drew Bridges
Kirkus Reviews
Bridges (Family Lost and Found, 2006) pens a quiet elegy to his father, recounting a childhood baseball game that “may seem small and inconsequential, but I think…changed me.” This memoir tells the story, pitch by pitch, of a Saturday afternoon baseball game in Hildebran, North Carolina, in 1957.
There isn’t anything in particular that makes the game so great: It’s low-scoring—the players only drive in three runs—and aside from catching a line drive, Bridges didn’t have much of a role in its outcome.
What makes it great, though, is the sensation that the author felt during it: “I sat on the bench feeling a kind of energy, a glow, watching it unfold, teammates sitting on my right and left side. Amazingly, I was a part of it all.”
This is the lesson—the moment that the young author learned the value of teamwork and cooperation. Bridges is a clear, entertaining writer, and his memoir is full of intriguing, if not always entirely distinguishable, characters—most of them neighborhood boys who went on to play in college sports.
Aside from the author’s father, the most memorable person is Melvin Ruggles, the no-nonsense umpire who keeps the game under control by force of will. Yet for readers, the most engaging moments will come not from the game, but from the author’s interpretations of his father’s wartime letters to his mother, which lead off each chapter.
How does Bridges reconcile the reticent, “imperfect” man who raised him with the sentimental, sometimes anxious, and sometimes very silly, person in these letters?
In one disclosure that Bridges cannot rectify, his father writes, “I’ve learned to hate people, especially groups of people….I just like to get as far away as possible.” This is the opposite of his father, the baseball coach, who showed a group of poor boys what it meant to be a team—and it allows Bridges to see his father as a fuller, deeper person in this book.
A thoughtful, if emotionally tempered, memoir.
The Second-Greatest Baseball Game Ever Played
by Drew Bridges
Reviewed by Michael Radon
“Clayton put a fastball right down the center of the plate, and like a good soldier Louie watched it go by.”
For the youth of the 20th century, baseball stories are as close to legends come true as anything else could be. In this particular tale, a retelling of a simple showdown between teams of neighborhood boys enters that same pantheon of legend, though few who were not there ever knew it was played.
Autobiographical in nature, there are three stories being told in tandem from the author and narrator: the play-by-play of a neighborhood baseball game, a story of emotional distance in small-town family life, and a transcription of letters written by the author’s father to his wife as he serves in World War II.
While these three things seemingly have little in common, they weave together to paint a picture of a father and son that struggle to connect at times, but find a bridge toward love and respect through a classic American game.
While an unsanctioned neighborhood little league baseball game seemingly has little to no historical significance to the outside world, the author makes it abundantly clear that any memory can be truly formative or life-changing.
The additional storylines outlining life at home and the cautious optimism of a soldier yearning to come home and start a family with his wife were unexpected surprises, but ones that really bring clarity and life to the author’s father in particular.
While there is some embellishment particularly as it relates to the game whose statistics were lost to time, the letters are transcribed word for word, offering a fascinating insight into the author’s father as a person and his changing attitudes as his life continued.
Baseball and Americana are forever intertwined, and with an interest in either, this story comes to life and feels like any other great American summer legend.
by Drew Bridges
Reviewed by Michael Radon
“Clayton put a fastball right down the center of the plate, and like a good soldier Louie watched it go by.”
For the youth of the 20th century, baseball stories are as close to legends come true as anything else could be. In this particular tale, a retelling of a simple showdown between teams of neighborhood boys enters that same pantheon of legend, though few who were not there ever knew it was played.
Autobiographical in nature, there are three stories being told in tandem from the author and narrator: the play-by-play of a neighborhood baseball game, a story of emotional distance in small-town family life, and a transcription of letters written by the author’s father to his wife as he serves in World War II.
While these three things seemingly have little in common, they weave together to paint a picture of a father and son that struggle to connect at times, but find a bridge toward love and respect through a classic American game.
While an unsanctioned neighborhood little league baseball game seemingly has little to no historical significance to the outside world, the author makes it abundantly clear that any memory can be truly formative or life-changing.
The additional storylines outlining life at home and the cautious optimism of a soldier yearning to come home and start a family with his wife were unexpected surprises, but ones that really bring clarity and life to the author’s father in particular.
While there is some embellishment particularly as it relates to the game whose statistics were lost to time, the letters are transcribed word for word, offering a fascinating insight into the author’s father as a person and his changing attitudes as his life continued.
Baseball and Americana are forever intertwined, and with an interest in either, this story comes to life and feels like any other great American summer legend.
www.pacificbookreview.com
Title: The Second-Greatest Baseball Game Ever Played
Reviewed by: C.C.Thomas
Rating: 5 Star Review
Pacific Book Review
I know the first question you have and here’s the answer: The greatest game ever played was Game 7 of the 1955 World Series. While many might argue or agree, every baseball fan has heard of that game. Readers will not have heard of the second greatest baseball game, as it never appeared in newspapers or any annals of baseball history. However, anyone who has ever played the game will be familiar with it. Because this “second-best” game? A simple community game of dads and sons, played in small towns and large cities everywhere, ever since baseball became a favorite pastime. What makes these games so memorable? The author, Drew Bridges stated it best, “Life is hard. Baseball is a game. But it is a game that has guided and comforted me.”
It is the true love of baseball, which is the basis for his title, The Second-Greatest Baseball Game Ever Played. Not the million-dollar endorsements or the warm beer and cool hot dogs. It’s the sense that baseball is a game that is an escapist in the purest sense. People become someone else on the field, heroes in their own eyes, and can leave the drudgery and failures of life behind.
Every baseball book is a book of heroes and this one is no different. No, the author didn’t shatter any records on the field. Instead, in recollections of the game, he rediscovered his first hero, his dad. Each chapter begins a letter from Charlie, the author’s father, who was serving in World War II. Recently married, Charlie had been shipped off and his letters are heartbreaking in their naiveté. He’s an innocent young man with a heart full of love for his family and scared of what the war will mean for their future. Charlie longs for his wife and seems confused about the arrival of a new baby, one he will not be there to welcome into the world. His excitement, his fear, and longing are so evident and the pages are a glimpse into long-forgotten love letters. Some are silly; some are so sweet, yet all show just a man who loves and misses his life back at home.
After the letter introduction, the author discusses memories of a father best learned over a baseball field—a hard-working man who didn’t get everything right, but who tried very hard to make the moves that mattered for a growing son. In these glimpses into the past, both on and off the field, Drew Bridges sees a side of his father that he had forgotten from his youth, as he was so focused on the concerns of growing up. In reflection, he sees a man who was softer in the letters, a man more carefree before the responsibility of a wife, a home, and kids. In this one momentous game, he gets to peel back the curtain of time and see how much his father loved him, in moments that didn’t seem important then, but one that stood the test of time of becoming etched in his memory.
Who would want to read such a story? Perhaps this next quote is enough to answer. “People who think baseball is boring have little sense of the value, of the excitement, of anticipation.” Baseball stories, the really good ones, are not defined by the game, which is discussed. Rather, those stories take any game and show universal human connections that focus on the jewels of a small-lived life: one night, one bat and ball, and one moment between a father and son. Beautifully written and full of heart, this story is a home run in every sense.
Title: The Second-Greatest Baseball Game Ever Played
Reviewed by: C.C.Thomas
Rating: 5 Star Review
Pacific Book Review
I know the first question you have and here’s the answer: The greatest game ever played was Game 7 of the 1955 World Series. While many might argue or agree, every baseball fan has heard of that game. Readers will not have heard of the second greatest baseball game, as it never appeared in newspapers or any annals of baseball history. However, anyone who has ever played the game will be familiar with it. Because this “second-best” game? A simple community game of dads and sons, played in small towns and large cities everywhere, ever since baseball became a favorite pastime. What makes these games so memorable? The author, Drew Bridges stated it best, “Life is hard. Baseball is a game. But it is a game that has guided and comforted me.”
It is the true love of baseball, which is the basis for his title, The Second-Greatest Baseball Game Ever Played. Not the million-dollar endorsements or the warm beer and cool hot dogs. It’s the sense that baseball is a game that is an escapist in the purest sense. People become someone else on the field, heroes in their own eyes, and can leave the drudgery and failures of life behind.
Every baseball book is a book of heroes and this one is no different. No, the author didn’t shatter any records on the field. Instead, in recollections of the game, he rediscovered his first hero, his dad. Each chapter begins a letter from Charlie, the author’s father, who was serving in World War II. Recently married, Charlie had been shipped off and his letters are heartbreaking in their naiveté. He’s an innocent young man with a heart full of love for his family and scared of what the war will mean for their future. Charlie longs for his wife and seems confused about the arrival of a new baby, one he will not be there to welcome into the world. His excitement, his fear, and longing are so evident and the pages are a glimpse into long-forgotten love letters. Some are silly; some are so sweet, yet all show just a man who loves and misses his life back at home.
After the letter introduction, the author discusses memories of a father best learned over a baseball field—a hard-working man who didn’t get everything right, but who tried very hard to make the moves that mattered for a growing son. In these glimpses into the past, both on and off the field, Drew Bridges sees a side of his father that he had forgotten from his youth, as he was so focused on the concerns of growing up. In reflection, he sees a man who was softer in the letters, a man more carefree before the responsibility of a wife, a home, and kids. In this one momentous game, he gets to peel back the curtain of time and see how much his father loved him, in moments that didn’t seem important then, but one that stood the test of time of becoming etched in his memory.
Who would want to read such a story? Perhaps this next quote is enough to answer. “People who think baseball is boring have little sense of the value, of the excitement, of anticipation.” Baseball stories, the really good ones, are not defined by the game, which is discussed. Rather, those stories take any game and show universal human connections that focus on the jewels of a small-lived life: one night, one bat and ball, and one moment between a father and son. Beautifully written and full of heart, this story is a home run in every sense.
