SAMPLE: You Can't Walk Off the Island + Don't Say I Never Gave You Nothin

You Can't Walk Off the Island: Backstop is a member of the Moe Berg Society, a secret government agency that uses baseball as a cover for covert intelligence work. With his athletic and spying careers stalled, he works as a private instructor and saves up for a life of luxurious isolation on an idyllic Caribbean island. His plans for early retirement are dashed when he learns of a strange plot to “train” captured refugees as baseball players at a secret prison camp, then sell their identities to the highest bidders. Even stranger, the man behind the bizarre scheme appears to be his ex-partner and roommate, who was “disappeared” by The Society years earlier. To untangle this mess, Backstop will need the help of the journalist who turned his life upside down a decade ago, a Cuban shortstop who was robbed of his name and minor league roster spot, and a teenage border patrol agent whose brain has been poisoned by internet conspiracy theories. Together they embark on a mission to find the truth behind the prison camps and the stolen identity racket, all while being pursued by fanatic cosplaying militias and racist ex-cops who believe Backstop is the key to the mysterious goal of their paranoid fantasies. As Backstop reenters a game that has no room for him, he must consider the true cost of a life of alone on the island. (Full version available here: https://gum.co/bmEnt)

Don't Say I Never Gave You Nothin: A mother cheerfully protects her baby from a series of future assassins. An insurance adjuster interrogates a murderer in an abandoned luxury tower. An editor struggles to understand the text of his company's next big hit. The gig economy drives a woman to rent her apartment out to wild partiers. A man who tries to earn extra money posting marketing copy to message boards gets more than he bargained for. All this and less can be found in the virtual pages of this short story collection, gathering together previously published fiction and other pieces that some of the most prestigious literary journals roundly rejected. (Full version available here: https://gum.co/zEzHD)