Smartarm

by James Musgrave

Pitching for the Padres' Fort Wayne TinCaps, Jake Golden can't find the strike zone. Until, one day, he gets a call from an Israeli computer engineer who offers to teach him what it takes to get to the majors. What happens to Jake is what happens to any ball player who confuses his cultural heritage with success. Is Jake Golden the next step in making baseball a high tech sport? Or, is there something even more sinister in the works?

54 pages, Paperback

Published October 21, 2015

About the author

James Musgrave was born in Fall River, Massachusetts. He taught as a Professor of English and worked as a Supervisor, Management Development at Caltech, Pasadena and at various San Diego colleges. He is now the author and publisher at EMRE Publishing, LLC in San Diego. He has won many writing awards, and his mysteries are "featured selections" by the American Library Association. He was also a Finalist in the Bram Stoker Awards, First Place Award for Best Historical Mystery in the Chanticleer International Book Awards, and a Finalist in the Heekin Fellowship.

Please contact the author at: jamesmusgrave2122@att.net
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Reviews

[Edwin Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

SMARTARM by Jim Musgrave is a short novella about a struggling minor league pitcher who is offered the chance to become the successful pitcher he has always wanted to be.
I like the idea of the book before I read it, it felt like it could be a Twilight Zone type story. The story was clunky to me, though, with the political agenda of the engineering improvement given to Jake Golden, the pitcher, tripping over the personal challenges and ramifications of Jake, the new star of the Padres. I did like the character of Jake Golden, and I felt like in the short time of the story, Musgrave does do a good job of developing the main characters. The progression of Jake through the minor leagues up to the majors seemed implausible and therefore weakened the believability of the entire novella. I wanted to enjoy this short tale a lot more than I did, but I just didn't connect with it very much.
I received this book as part of a Goodreads Giveaway.

[Len · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the book to be fun, but a combination of too many themes forced together: ethnic Judaism, baseball, bluetooth communication, conspiracy theories, an odd set of relationships, the Jewish religion and its rituals, some rude language, cyborgs, ...but, as I mentioned, the author's sense of humor and 'charm' made it worthwhile for this reader.
I received my copy via Goodreads Giveaways.