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The Jason Van Otterloo Trilogy #2
Dispatches from a Tourist Trap
Thanks to his parents' separation, Jason Van Otterloo is starting his sophomore year of high school three hours away from all his friends--including his new girlfriend, Sian. Tiny Icicle Flats is a quaint Bavarian-themed mountain village that has been trapped in time since long before his mother grew up there. That she was willing to return is all down to her new boyfriend--who also happens to be her new boss. And judging by all the makeup found in his bathroom cabinet, Jason's dad isn't wasting time waiting for her to return.Jason begins a blog to share details of his new life with his old friends, but some news isn't meant for wide distribution. Fortunately, his sage-but-sarcastic best friend, Drew, is always just an email away. Would it be so wrong, Jason wonders, to ask a local girl named Leah to the Homecoming dance? "Just as a one-time date, nothing more, obviously." "Why are you asking me and not Sian?" Drew replies. "Wait, I think I know the answer." If only Jason would ever take his friend's advice, he might spend less time climbing out of the holes he digs for himself.Pressed into afternoon and weekend duty at his grandpa's hardware store, Jason still finds time to join an after-school book club that specializes in controversial classics. When Leah's brother reports the book club to the school board, Jason and his fellow readers are forced underground--until they emerge again to enter a protest float in the Icicle Flats Christmas parade. The ensuing brouhaha makes for the most exciting holiday season Jason can remember. And for once, it's not his parents' arguing that takes center stage. With the new year comes a new scheme: If the local busybody brigade was upset by a few old books, pirate radio will surely blow their minds. Who ever said life in a small novelty town would be dull?Told entirely through Jason's email exchanges and blog posts, Dispatches from a Tourist Trap picks up where The First World Problems of Jason Van Otterloo left off. Come and spend a little time in Icicle Flats--just don't forget to pack your lederhosen.
284 pages, Paperback
Published April 10, 2019
1 person is currently reading
2 people want to read
About the author
James Bailey
9 books36 followersHow much do you want to know? Here’s the About the Author that ran in my first novel, The Greatest Show on Dirt:
That doesn’t really tell the whole story, though, does it? If you took the trouble to come to this page, maybe you want to know more. (Maybe you don’t, in which case, feel free to keep on moving.) Here goes …
I grew up in Seattle, spent nearly 10 years in North Carolina, and have lived in Rochester, N.Y., since 2001. Graduated from North Carolina State University in 1993. While in school I worked for the Bulls for three years and started at Baseball America as an intern. That blossomed into a full-time position when I graduated, and I worked for BA for six years total in two separate stints (three if you count the summer I spent filing photos and cutting clippings out of newspapers, back before the age of the internet).
In between BA tours of duty, I returned to Seattle for three years, where I temped (full-time for 2 1/2 years solid) at Microsoft and coached 13-year-olds in Little League for three seasons. Our second team finished second in the state, one win away from winning the tournament and qualifying for regionals in Montana. It was during these years that I began to write fiction, pumping out the first draft of a truly horrible novel, which I am embarrassed to read now.
I began working on The Greatest Show on Dirt in 2006. It morphed quite a bit through several major revisions since then, finally setting in its current state four years later. (My son was born in 2009, which did interrupt progress for a bit.)
My second novel, Nine Bucks a Pound, was released in February 2014. This is also a baseball novel, about an overlooked minor leaguer who breaks through after succumbing to the lure of steroids and must later deal with the consequences when his secret is exposed.
I released my third novel, Sorry I Wasn't What You Needed, in May 2015. It has nothing whatsoever to do with baseball.
James Bailey worked for the Durham Bulls for three seasons, from 1990-92. He later spent six years covering minor league baseball for Baseball America magazine. He reviews books for Baseball America, and is an annual contributor to Lindy’s Fantasy Baseball magazine. He lives in Rochester, N.Y., with his wife Jill and son Grant.
That doesn’t really tell the whole story, though, does it? If you took the trouble to come to this page, maybe you want to know more. (Maybe you don’t, in which case, feel free to keep on moving.) Here goes …
I grew up in Seattle, spent nearly 10 years in North Carolina, and have lived in Rochester, N.Y., since 2001. Graduated from North Carolina State University in 1993. While in school I worked for the Bulls for three years and started at Baseball America as an intern. That blossomed into a full-time position when I graduated, and I worked for BA for six years total in two separate stints (three if you count the summer I spent filing photos and cutting clippings out of newspapers, back before the age of the internet).
In between BA tours of duty, I returned to Seattle for three years, where I temped (full-time for 2 1/2 years solid) at Microsoft and coached 13-year-olds in Little League for three seasons. Our second team finished second in the state, one win away from winning the tournament and qualifying for regionals in Montana. It was during these years that I began to write fiction, pumping out the first draft of a truly horrible novel, which I am embarrassed to read now.
I began working on The Greatest Show on Dirt in 2006. It morphed quite a bit through several major revisions since then, finally setting in its current state four years later. (My son was born in 2009, which did interrupt progress for a bit.)
My second novel, Nine Bucks a Pound, was released in February 2014. This is also a baseball novel, about an overlooked minor leaguer who breaks through after succumbing to the lure of steroids and must later deal with the consequences when his secret is exposed.
I released my third novel, Sorry I Wasn't What You Needed, in May 2015. It has nothing whatsoever to do with baseball.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 19, 2019
Book #2 doesn’t disappoint. Overall it may have even been stronger than the first. Funny yet realistic, Bailey has the characters nailed pretty tight and he has the teenage ethos pegged as well. I’m looking forward to book three and to see what happens next. A continued pleasurable departure from his earlier (excellent) baseball tinged works. Solid 4 stars.
April 9, 2019
★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
So Jason mother's Janice continues her bad decisions when it comes to men -- she leaves her husband for a new guy, who happens to be the dentist she's started working for. We met him in The First World Problems of Jason Van Otterloo, and they clearly didn't waste time resuming whatever it was they had back in high school. Janice has moved herself and Jason to her parents' house, enrolled Jason in a school filled with very friendly people, and tried to move on with her life.
Jason realizes full-well that his choices are a life with his grandparents and a much smaller school, hours away from his friends and girlfriend; or life with Rob, near them. As much as he doesn't want to be in Icicle Flats, he knows it's the better choice available. But he complains the whole time about it -- this is good for readers, Jason complaining makes for an entertaining read. This time, he's not just complaining in emails, he's set up a blog, too. I was wondering how the blog was going to work instead of the emails -- it's actually a really good move, allowing Jason to tell longer stories without the emails being too long.
Which is good -- because he has long stories to tell this time. There's a literature club he's involved with at school that's discussing books that ruffle the feathers of many, which leads to all sorts of trouble. There's a flirtation with pirate radio. A camping trip that is fantastic to read about (and probably not a lot of fun to live through). A disastrous experiment with eBay. And basically, a bucket-load of culture shock. Also, after a few short weeks of dating, Jason's first real relationship becomes a long-distance one. High school relationships are bad enough, throwing in a few hour bus-ride into things is just asking for trouble. So yeah, between emails and his blog -- he's got a lot to write about, and his friends have a lot to respond to. Somehow, they make it through the school year more or less intact.
Jason feels incredibly authentic -- immature, self-centered, irresponsible, but he's got his moments. He can put others before himself, do the right thing because it's right -- not to stay out of trouble; But man, he can be frustrating the rest of the time. There were a lot of opportunities along the way here for him to be a better friend, a much better boyfriend, son and grandson; and he missed almost all of them. He comes through when necessary, don't get me wrong and he's not a bad guy -- I just wish he'd grow up a bit faster. Which again, means that Bailey has nailed his characterization, this his how people his age should be.
I'm less than thrilled with Bailey's approach to religious characters in these two books. I'm not questioning that there are people like the characters he depicts running around everywhere and that the situations would've played out a lot like they did here (but some of it pushed believability). I just would like a small indication that there were some sincere people trying to do the right thing in the middle of all this.
Having talked about The First World Problems of Jason Van Otterloo just two weeks ago, it feels hard to talk about this book beyond some of the plot changes -- this feels like the same book, just with new problems. Which is pretty much the point, right? I still like Jason (as frustrating as he can be), his girlfriend is fantastic, I want good things to happen to Drew. Jason's already complicated life is about to get a lot worse, which should prove very entertaining for the rest of us. A strong follow-up in this series.
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
Sometimes lately I feel like life is a chess match, and no matter how hard I look at the board I can’t see the next move. Or maybe I think I see it, but really I don’t. Like my pawn is sitting there, all ready to put the other king in check, and somehow my queen gets swiped and two moves later I’ve lost the game and my pawn is still waiting there, impotent and useless.
So Jason mother's Janice continues her bad decisions when it comes to men -- she leaves her husband for a new guy, who happens to be the dentist she's started working for. We met him in The First World Problems of Jason Van Otterloo, and they clearly didn't waste time resuming whatever it was they had back in high school. Janice has moved herself and Jason to her parents' house, enrolled Jason in a school filled with very friendly people, and tried to move on with her life.
Jason realizes full-well that his choices are a life with his grandparents and a much smaller school, hours away from his friends and girlfriend; or life with Rob, near them. As much as he doesn't want to be in Icicle Flats, he knows it's the better choice available. But he complains the whole time about it -- this is good for readers, Jason complaining makes for an entertaining read. This time, he's not just complaining in emails, he's set up a blog, too. I was wondering how the blog was going to work instead of the emails -- it's actually a really good move, allowing Jason to tell longer stories without the emails being too long.
Which is good -- because he has long stories to tell this time. There's a literature club he's involved with at school that's discussing books that ruffle the feathers of many, which leads to all sorts of trouble. There's a flirtation with pirate radio. A camping trip that is fantastic to read about (and probably not a lot of fun to live through). A disastrous experiment with eBay. And basically, a bucket-load of culture shock. Also, after a few short weeks of dating, Jason's first real relationship becomes a long-distance one. High school relationships are bad enough, throwing in a few hour bus-ride into things is just asking for trouble. So yeah, between emails and his blog -- he's got a lot to write about, and his friends have a lot to respond to. Somehow, they make it through the school year more or less intact.
Jason feels incredibly authentic -- immature, self-centered, irresponsible, but he's got his moments. He can put others before himself, do the right thing because it's right -- not to stay out of trouble; But man, he can be frustrating the rest of the time. There were a lot of opportunities along the way here for him to be a better friend, a much better boyfriend, son and grandson; and he missed almost all of them. He comes through when necessary, don't get me wrong and he's not a bad guy -- I just wish he'd grow up a bit faster. Which again, means that Bailey has nailed his characterization, this his how people his age should be.
I'm less than thrilled with Bailey's approach to religious characters in these two books. I'm not questioning that there are people like the characters he depicts running around everywhere and that the situations would've played out a lot like they did here (but some of it pushed believability). I just would like a small indication that there were some sincere people trying to do the right thing in the middle of all this.
Having talked about The First World Problems of Jason Van Otterloo just two weeks ago, it feels hard to talk about this book beyond some of the plot changes -- this feels like the same book, just with new problems. Which is pretty much the point, right? I still like Jason (as frustrating as he can be), his girlfriend is fantastic, I want good things to happen to Drew. Jason's already complicated life is about to get a lot worse, which should prove very entertaining for the rest of us. A strong follow-up in this series.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews