Virtual Book Tour + #Giveaway: Lore of the Bambino by Jonathan Weeks @GoddessFish

Lore of the Bambino

by Jonathan Weeks

GENRE: Sports-History-Biography

BLURB:

More than seventy years after his death, Babe Ruth continues to fascinate generations of fans. His exciting adventures on and off the field have become essential reading for students of baseball and pop culture. While most Ruth biographies are filled with mundane facts, Lore of the Bambino is the equivalent of a greatest hits compilation. Ruth’s extraordinary (and at times incredulous) tales carry readers on an enthralling journey through the life of the most celebrated sports figure of the twentieth century. All of the most popular anecdotes (such as the Babe’s alleged “called shot” in the 1932 World Series) are thoroughly covered along with many lesser known narratives.

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Excerpt:

Ruth was a habitual smoker. At one point during his career, he had his own brand of nickel cigars, which featured a picture of him on every wrapper. A man of enormous appetites, he lived his life to extremes—especially in regard to women. Cigars became the measure of his sexual prowess.

During his time with the Red Sox, the Babe roomed with pitcher Ernie Shore. It was not a good fit. The mild-mannered Shore complained about a number of Ruth’s bad habits, which included bringing women back to the room after curfew. One night, as Shore was trying to sleep, the Babe engaged in multiple rounds of noisy coitis with a woman he had picked up. Shore finally drifted off as the sun was coming up. When he awoke, the woman was gone and his teammate was in a deep slumber. He noted that there were four or five cigars in an ashtray next to the bed. Ruth later explained that he was in the habit of smoking each time he had sex.

A similar story exists involving Yankee outfielder Bob Meusel. While sharing a suite with the Babe during a road trip, Meusel noticed a parade of women coming in and out of the room all night. True to his nickname, “Silent Bob” minded his own business and was eventually able to get to sleep. In the morning, he asked Ruth how many women he had been with. The Babe told him to count the number of cigars in the ash tray. Meusel was somewhat startled to see seven of them.

Interview with Jonathan Weeks

If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?

Enjoy the writing process...Don’t get down on yourself...And don’t ever give up!!

When I was a younger man, I tended to see writing as a chore. I got discouraged when my projects didn’t turn out the way I wanted them to. And I would bail on the projects that weren’t going well.

My earliest aspiration was to be a horror writer in the vein of Stephen King or Clive Barker. I found out quickly that I didn’t have the chops for it. I always had good ideas, but my execution was poor. I became afflicted with writer’s block after high school and couldn’t produce a single coherent page for many years. As I gained more life experience, I became more patient and confident. I was able to complete and publish a pair of novels. I also discovered while writing college term papers that I was pretty good at non-fiction. Now it’s what I do best.

What are the most important magazines for writers to subscribe to?

It depends on what kind of writer you are and what topics interest you the most. If you want to write about sports like me, I highly recommend Sports Illustrated. Some of the most talented writers have been published in that magazine. I have always been a big fan of The Sporting News too.

What do you owe the real people upon whom you base your

characters?

Well, since I write mostly non-fiction, my characters are real. I try to pick quirky people with interesting backgrounds. That’s one of the reasons I chose to do a biography about Babe Ruth. When I do write fiction, I often base my characters on real people--Sometimes people in my life and sometimes historical figures.

What is the first book that made you cry?

Lots of books have stirred my emotions because I am an emotional guy. I’m not sure which book was the first to make me cry, but I know there was a scene in the Wizard of Oz that always got to me when I was a kid. It’s the scene where the witch gives Dorothy an hour glass and tells her she will be dead by the time the sand runs out. I definitely cried the first time I saw it. Most recently, I was driven to tears when I read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. What a devastatingly sad period in history!!

Does writing energize or exhaust you?

Both. After I have completed a particularly difficult chapter, I have been known to jump out of my chair and pump my fists like I just hit a home run in the World Series. Writing can definitely be exhausting too. Words don’t always come fluidly. Sometimes I have to hammer my projects into shape like a sculptor. Also, for non-fiction writers, the process of fact-checking is ponderous. It upsets me a little even thinking about it. LOL

Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they

want?

Ummm...a little of both I guess. When I write about baseball, I try to find anecdotes that few people have heard about. And I like those anecdotes to be unusual. I have discovered that you can’t expect to sell books about obscure topics. For instance, a majority of baseball fans don’t really care about the lesser known players or teams—sad but true. They want to read about famous guys like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, or Willie Mays. Those are the books that actually sell.

Where did your love of books/storytelling/reading/writing/etc. come

from?

When I was little, my parents didn’t have a lot of money. They would take me and my sisters to the library and encourage us to pick out books to bring home. I remember one year around the holidays, my father read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens to us in several installments. He was working in radio so he was really good at doing voices. A Christmas Carol is a holiday story, but it’s also a creepy ghost story. From that point on, I was hooked on literature of all kinds—especially supernatural topics.  

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

A lifelong sports fan, Weeks has published several non-fiction books on the topic of baseball. Additionally, he has two novels to his credit--one of them a posthumous collaboration with his father. His latest project: Best of the Bruins: Boston's All Time Great Players and Coaches, is due out in 2021.

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Giveaway:

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