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Something Real
Author’s Note
A few years ago my friend Ben Bova, one of the most honored writers in science fiction and a very knowledgeable baseball fan, proposed that we work together on a fictional retelling of the famous baseball player and spy Moe Berg. Ben had a movie in mind and we worked up a screen treatment that prompted some interest in Hollywood. Ultimately, that came to nothing; but it did get me started thinking about Berg, one of the more interesting personalities to ever play baseball. A brilliant, if erratic, guy, Berg chose baseball for his livelihood after he graduated from Princeton and he even played while working on his law degree at Columbia. He could have spent his life in academe and, I think, he might have been happy. But it was baseball that he loved the most, and he had some real talent for the game, so Moe wound up playing in the majors for some fifteen years, ending his career just before the start of World War II.
Depending on which source you believe, Berg spoke somewhere between seven and fifteen languages, and he’d done some successful amateur spying on Tokyo harbor during a baseball exhibition trip to Japan in the mid 1930s, so it made sense for the new Office of Strategic Services to bring Moe into the war effort as a spy in Europe. He found some success there, too, most notably in the famous case that is fictionalized in this story.
My baseball background, my career as a science-fiction and fantasy writer, my interest in World War II and especially in the shadowy worlds of espionage during that war, all led me to begin writing a series of stories that feature my own fictional version of Moe Berg, a ballplayer and a spy who finds himself caught up in an alternate history where only he can make the right play to save his not only the universe he lives in but a lot of other alternate universes as well.
This story won the 2012 Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History – Short Form.
-- Rick Wilber
REVIEWS:
"A clever and well-crafted story that will delight alternate-history fans, this one also keeps the reader guessing as to which future will ‘come to pass’ (if the term even applies to an Everett-Wheeler cosmology). Strongly recommended." -- Tangent Online
A few years ago my friend Ben Bova, one of the most honored writers in science fiction and a very knowledgeable baseball fan, proposed that we work together on a fictional retelling of the famous baseball player and spy Moe Berg. Ben had a movie in mind and we worked up a screen treatment that prompted some interest in Hollywood. Ultimately, that came to nothing; but it did get me started thinking about Berg, one of the more interesting personalities to ever play baseball. A brilliant, if erratic, guy, Berg chose baseball for his livelihood after he graduated from Princeton and he even played while working on his law degree at Columbia. He could have spent his life in academe and, I think, he might have been happy. But it was baseball that he loved the most, and he had some real talent for the game, so Moe wound up playing in the majors for some fifteen years, ending his career just before the start of World War II.
Depending on which source you believe, Berg spoke somewhere between seven and fifteen languages, and he’d done some successful amateur spying on Tokyo harbor during a baseball exhibition trip to Japan in the mid 1930s, so it made sense for the new Office of Strategic Services to bring Moe into the war effort as a spy in Europe. He found some success there, too, most notably in the famous case that is fictionalized in this story.
My baseball background, my career as a science-fiction and fantasy writer, my interest in World War II and especially in the shadowy worlds of espionage during that war, all led me to begin writing a series of stories that feature my own fictional version of Moe Berg, a ballplayer and a spy who finds himself caught up in an alternate history where only he can make the right play to save his not only the universe he lives in but a lot of other alternate universes as well.
This story won the 2012 Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History – Short Form.
-- Rick Wilber
REVIEWS:
"A clever and well-crafted story that will delight alternate-history fans, this one also keeps the reader guessing as to which future will ‘come to pass’ (if the term even applies to an Everett-Wheeler cosmology). Strongly recommended." -- Tangent Online
38 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 6, 2014
3 people are currently reading
11 people want to read
About the author
Rick Wilber
78 books37 followers Rick Wilber's novel ALIEN DAY (Tor Books 2021) is the sequel to ALIEN MORNING (Tor 2016), which was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Novel of the Year. ALIEN DAY offers a wry near-future look at life on Earth and the alien home planet of S'hudon. On Earth, the ambitious TV celebrity and action hero Chloe Cary finds herself involved with Earth's jovial but deadly alien overlord Twoclicks and his son, The Perfection. On S'hudon, Chloe's boyfriend, Peter Holman, tries to rescue his sister Kait from the clutches of Twoclicks' evil brother Whistle; but finds out that it isn't Kait who needs to be rescued. The novel, says best-selling author Julie Czerneda, offers an "original, engaging, wonderfully complex alien world populated by unforgettable characters."
Wilber also recently co-authored (with Alan Smale), the alternate-history collection, THE WANDERING WARRIORS (WordFire Press, 2020). The book features "The Wandering Warriors" novella that first appeared as the cover story in the May/June 2018 edition of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, and also has two additional stories, one from each author. Both authors have won the Sidewise Award for their alternate-history stories.
Also out in 2020 was the short-story collection, RAMBUNCTIOUS: NINE TALES OF DETERMINATION (Word Fire Press, 2020), which holds nine of Rick's favorite stories from more than fifty published over the past thirty years.
Rick recently edited the ebook anthology, MAKING HISTORY: CLASSIC ALTERNATE HISTORY STORIES (New Word City, 2019). The book reprints classic stories by writers Karen Joy Fowler, Gregory Benford, Kathleen Goonan, Harry Turtledove, Lisa Goldstein, Walter Jon Williams, Maureen McHugh, Nisi Shawl, Michael Bishop, Alan Smale, Rich Larson, Sheila Finch, Ben Loory, Nicholas DiChario, Michael Swanwick and Eileen Gunn, and editor Rick Wilber.
His collection, THE MOE BERG EPISODES (New Word City, 2018) reprints four alternate-history stories that first appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine.
The author of some sixty published short stories, his most recent short fiction includes the novella, "Billie the Kid," forthcoming in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, "Tin Man," co-authored with Brad Aiken, in the May/June 2021 Asimov's, the novelette "The Hind," co-authored with best-selling author Kevin J. Anderson, in the November/December 2020 issue of Asimov's, the short story, "False Bay," in the forthcoming anthology, MOVIES, MONSTERS & MAYHEM (WordFire Press, 2020), the novelette, "Ithaca," co-authored with Brad Aiken, in the May/June 2020 Asimov's), the story, "Donny Boy," in the Alternate Peace anthology (ZNB, edited by Steven Silver and Joshua Palmatier) and the novella, "The Secret City," in the September/October 2018 Asimov's, among others.
Rick's short story, "Today is Today," from the July 2018 issue of Stonecoast Review, has been reprinted in The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2019 (ed, Rich Horton) and in Lightspeed Magazine. His novella, "The Secret City," was runner-up for the Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History -- Short Form of 2018 and his story, "Something Real," won the Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History--Short Form in 2013.
He is the editor of the baseball fantasy anthology, "Field of Fantasies" from Nightshade/Skyhorse (2014), which reprints about two dozen baseball/fantasy stories by outstanding mainstream and genre writers from Stephen King to Karen Joy Fowler and and many more. He also edited 2011's "Future Media" (Tachyon) 2011, brings together classic works of fiction and non-fiction about the future of the mass media.
Rick's 2009 novel, "Rum Point," is a baseball/murder mystery/thriller from McFarland Books and his 2007 memoir, “My Father’s Game: Life, Death, Baseball” from McFarland Books, was called by best-selling author Peter Straub “a stunning book,” and one that “abounds with faith, heartbreak, love,
Wilber also recently co-authored (with Alan Smale), the alternate-history collection, THE WANDERING WARRIORS (WordFire Press, 2020). The book features "The Wandering Warriors" novella that first appeared as the cover story in the May/June 2018 edition of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, and also has two additional stories, one from each author. Both authors have won the Sidewise Award for their alternate-history stories.
Also out in 2020 was the short-story collection, RAMBUNCTIOUS: NINE TALES OF DETERMINATION (Word Fire Press, 2020), which holds nine of Rick's favorite stories from more than fifty published over the past thirty years.
Rick recently edited the ebook anthology, MAKING HISTORY: CLASSIC ALTERNATE HISTORY STORIES (New Word City, 2019). The book reprints classic stories by writers Karen Joy Fowler, Gregory Benford, Kathleen Goonan, Harry Turtledove, Lisa Goldstein, Walter Jon Williams, Maureen McHugh, Nisi Shawl, Michael Bishop, Alan Smale, Rich Larson, Sheila Finch, Ben Loory, Nicholas DiChario, Michael Swanwick and Eileen Gunn, and editor Rick Wilber.
His collection, THE MOE BERG EPISODES (New Word City, 2018) reprints four alternate-history stories that first appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine.
The author of some sixty published short stories, his most recent short fiction includes the novella, "Billie the Kid," forthcoming in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, "Tin Man," co-authored with Brad Aiken, in the May/June 2021 Asimov's, the novelette "The Hind," co-authored with best-selling author Kevin J. Anderson, in the November/December 2020 issue of Asimov's, the short story, "False Bay," in the forthcoming anthology, MOVIES, MONSTERS & MAYHEM (WordFire Press, 2020), the novelette, "Ithaca," co-authored with Brad Aiken, in the May/June 2020 Asimov's), the story, "Donny Boy," in the Alternate Peace anthology (ZNB, edited by Steven Silver and Joshua Palmatier) and the novella, "The Secret City," in the September/October 2018 Asimov's, among others.
Rick's short story, "Today is Today," from the July 2018 issue of Stonecoast Review, has been reprinted in The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2019 (ed, Rich Horton) and in Lightspeed Magazine. His novella, "The Secret City," was runner-up for the Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History -- Short Form of 2018 and his story, "Something Real," won the Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History--Short Form in 2013.
He is the editor of the baseball fantasy anthology, "Field of Fantasies" from Nightshade/Skyhorse (2014), which reprints about two dozen baseball/fantasy stories by outstanding mainstream and genre writers from Stephen King to Karen Joy Fowler and and many more. He also edited 2011's "Future Media" (Tachyon) 2011, brings together classic works of fiction and non-fiction about the future of the mass media.
Rick's 2009 novel, "Rum Point," is a baseball/murder mystery/thriller from McFarland Books and his 2007 memoir, “My Father’s Game: Life, Death, Baseball” from McFarland Books, was called by best-selling author Peter Straub “a stunning book,” and one that “abounds with faith, heartbreak, love,
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