W. P. Kinsella (1935–2016)

Goodreads reviewer Paul Secor nails it in one line—
“Laughing – Sometimes laughing to keep from crying.”
That’s as fine a compass as you’ll find for navigating this collection of Silas Ermineskin tales. Life on the Cree Indian Reserve of Alberta, Canada, can wear a person down to the bone—hard winters, harder luck, and the quiet ache of dreams deferred. Yet in W.P. Kinsella’s hands, those same plains and backroads bloom with a sly, almost conspiratorial humor, the kind that show more sidles up beside sorrow and takes its arm so it won’t walk alone.
These stories hold the bite of cold wind on your face and the warmth of a kitchen table where the coffee’s been on since morning. Some will sting you with their truth, some will catch you grinning before you know it, and more than a few do both at once. They’re stitched through with Kinsella’s sure touch for character and his gift for finding joy in the places you least expect it.
The most resonating and unforgettable of the lot is “The Bottle Queen”. Silas’ little sister collects bottles to raise money to buy a fancy dress costume for dancing at pow-wows. She has the skills to become a champion dancer if only she can get one of those dresses. This bitter-sweet tale is worth the purchase of the book.
The funniest of the collection are “Where the Wild Things Are” and “The Queen’s Hat”.
In “Wild Things”, Silas and Frank take two rich businessmen on a wild-game hunt. The businessmen don’t know a thing about hunting. Neither do Silas and Frank.
“The Queen’s Hat” revolves around the visit of Prince Phillip to the Reserve to witness a buffalo hunt along the main street, thought up and coordinated by Frank and Silas. Of course, they get caught in a hilarious snag when they can only find one buffalo, an aged one on its last legs.
The saddest story in the collection is “Pius Blindman is Coming Home”. An old Indian woman is kept alive by the lie told to her by her daughter—her wayward son is coming home.
In the end, all 15 stories are keepers—funny, poignant, and alive with the kind of humanity you don’t soon forget. show less

W.P. Kinsella returns us once again to the Ermineskin Reserve, Alberta, with Brother Frank’s Gospel Hour. Guided by the wry, watchful voice of Silas Ermineskin, these tales swing between sorrow and laughter, the way prairie skies can shift in a heartbeat from storm-dark to wide-open blue. Kinsella’s gift is in laying bare the absurdities of life without stripping it of dignity, and in Frank Fencepost he’s created a trickster-saint whose schemes are as harebrained as they are oddly show more redemptive. This collection is every bit the equal of The Moccasin Telegraph, maybe finer still.

Bull
Silas and Frank hire on to mind a herd of expensive cattle, and from the first page you know it won’t end well. Kinsella delights in showing how quickly the best-laid plans on the Reserve unravel into comic disaster.

Miracle on Manitoba Street
Frank takes up his hammer, screwdriver, and a rusted refrigerator to conjure a “miracle.” Soon he’s charging admission like a prairie carnival barker, until an old, near-sighted Indian granny shows up who just might outfox him.

The Elevator
A quieter, sadder tale: Silas dismantles an old silo in a ghost town and meets Simon, an Indian who has kept up the abandoned drive-in theater as if the white folks might return with movies any night. Loneliness and hope ride together in this one, like tumbleweed through a ghost town.

Ice Man
Jason Twelve Trees, age eleven, dreams of becoming a chef, against the grain of his father’s notions of manhood. Inspired by Delores Ermineskin’s defiance in chasing a place on the boys’ baseball team, he discovers a talent that not only wins the town’s heart but softens his father’s. A story as sweet and satisfying as bread just pulled from the oven.

Turbulence
Silas takes a teaching job in Grand Prairie, which means enduring a weekly flight. He’s not afraid of flying, he says, just the crashing. What unfolds is a meditation on fear, survival, and what makes life worth holding on to.

Saskatoon Search
A riotous adventure: Silas, Frank, and Mad Etta chase after mythical saskatoon berries in Chilcotin, only to cross paths with locals who think they’re tough guys. They haven’t reckoned with Frank Fencepost. This one will have you laughing till the tears sting.

The Rain Birds
Corporate farms drain the land of water and hope, leaving small farmers gasping. Silas and friends try to fight back, while Frank—ever the saboteur—turns up with a truckload of cucumbers. Chaos, as always, follows.

George the Cat
Rita Makes-room-for-them’s spirit animal appears not as an eagle or wolf, but as a ragged barn cat with the gift of speech. What sounds absurd becomes delightful in Kinsella’s hands, a surreal little gem of humor and heart.

Conflicting Statements
A man lies shot, and three witnesses each tell a different tale. Constable Greer struggles for truth in a fog of contradictions. For me, this one fell flat, more puzzle than story.

Dream Catcher
What begins in darkness—an attempted assault on Delores—becomes a haunting, thought-provoking piece about survival, the strength of kin, and the hidden freight of dreams.

Brother Frank’s Gospel Hour
The title story is pure Frank Fencepost: he and his crew break into the new radio station, launching a midnight broadcast stitched together from borrowed religion, good humor, and Frank’s peculiar charisma. What begins as a hustle becomes something larger, lifting the spirits of a whole community. If the ending feels abrupt, the ride getting there is worth it—Frank at his most inspired, Silas at his most observant, and Kinsella at his best.

This book, like Kinsella’s other collections, is laughter tinged with ache, magic pressed against the grit of reservation life. Kinsella shows us people who stumble, who scheme, who dream—and who, against all odds, keep their hearts intact. show less

“Baseball was my salvation, for it was the only real connection between my past and present.”

When you pick up a book of W.P. Kinsella stories, one thing is for sure, you’re about to enter a strange world, and you’re going to be surprised every few pages. I greatly enjoyed Kinsella’s most famous novel, SHOELESS JOE, the story from which the movie, FIELD OF DREAMS originated. Then came his "Fencepost" tales, where Frank Fencepost and his band of misfits turn the Ermineskin Indian show more Reserve into a carnival of laughter and life. Now, I've stumbled upon a collection of stories that brings me back to the diamond, where the crack of a bat echoes like distant thunder, and the smell of freshly cut grass intoxicates the soul. From the profound to the bizarre, to the ridiculous, Kinsella's narratives offer respite from the humdrum, each tale a knuckleball dancing on the edge of reality.

DISTANCES is a gem, thrusting us back to Iowa, circa late '60s, through the eyes of Gideon Clark, a boy on the cusp of manhood. A stranger's arrival in Onamata transforms the town's 2-19, high school ball team into a formidable opponent for the local champion semi-pro team, with a winner-take-all jackpot of $10,000 hanging in the balance. The story is fueled by youthful exuberance and the sweet, reckless scent of a summer when a boy realizes he’s become a man.

REPORTS CONCERNING THE DEATH OF THE SEATTLE ALBATROSS ARE SOMEWHAT EXAGGERATED
What if an alien descended upon Earth to become the Seattle Mariners’ mascot? This tale, though short on the crack of bat against ball, kept me hooked with its oddity, even amidst the cosmic absurdity of celestial beings embracing America’s pastime.

As SEATTLE ALBATROSS is beyond weird, THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SLUGGER McBATT is beyond dismal. It features a skinny, sickly boy of 12 who has no athletic ability, yet longs to be accepted by the boys at school. When he discovers that his artistic talent for drawing comic strips paves the way to friendship with the local bully, he gets more than he bargained for. The entertainment value of this sad tale is sorely lacking.

FRANK PIERCE, IOWA is an odd tale of the supernatural that takes place on an overgrown baseball field in 1901. Though the plot eluded my grasp like a spectral mist, its eerie charm lingers. I may have to reread this one.

K MART
“Baseball is healing. I wish I could put it better, but the feeling I had, though I didn’t know it then, is like I feel after being with a woman who loves me a lot, that dreamy lethargy, that feeling of well-being.”

This nostalgic, poignant story contains Kinsella’s best writing, a testament to a bygone era where love and loss collided on the green fields of America’s heartland. It’s a coming of age story during an era when it was still possible for baseball to be woven into the fabric of young lives to such an extent, those fortunate enough to be around the game, whether as player or spectator, would be forever connected to each other and to their pasts.

THE VALLEY OF THE SCHMOON
A 64 year-old coach for the Seattle Mariners carries on a one-sided conversation with a rookie on a drive from Phoenix to Seattle. This story is packed with baseball nostalgia. The old coach educates the rookie on how the game has changed. Well worth a read for anyone who relishes the days before steroids, super balls, and ridiculous salaries.

PUNCHLINES
A sour tale, bitter and harsh. A gifted player’s fall, studded with unneeded expletives I wasn’t expecting to find in a Kinsella tale. Should have been dumped in the wastebasket.

THE EDDIE SCISSONS SYNDROME
I enjoyed this story until the weird ending. An intriguing tale with plenty of old-time baseball references from the early 20th century, but that crazy, senseless ending ruined all that came before it.

DIEHARD
“The only way to kill an old catcher is to cut off his head and hide it.”

This is my favorite story in the collection. Being an old catcher myself, the story rang true and was highly relatable.
The narrator, 62 year-old Hector tells the story of his best friend and former teammate, Herky and their life-long love affair with the game of baseball. Herky, the catcher, has just died. Hector and Herky’s widow, Stella, must decide upon a suitable place for Herky’s final resting place.
Very touching story of friendship and baseball that will leave a lasting impression on anyone who loves the game.

“One thing I remember, Stell, was a night at the Met in Minneapolis. It was one of those perfect baseball nights, the air was soft and warm. There wasn’t a hint of a breeze. When we looked up past the blaze of floodlights, the stars winked silver and gold, like bits of tinsel floating in ink. The Twins were winning; all was right with the world. Herky leaned over and said to me, ‘You know, Hec, if there’s anything after this life, the first words I want to hear when I wake up are PLAY BALL!’”

SEARCHING FOR FREDDY
A sportswriter searches for a former ball player who in two seasons in the early ‘30s led the league in stolen bases before completely disappearing. Excellent story.

Overall, this was a pleasant reading experience, mainly because of its baseball underpinning. Of the ten stories presented, only two are really special. Most of the rest are flawed in one way or another, yet entertaining. The alien story doesn’t belong, and PUNCHLINES is a throwaway. show less

Most people already know this story through the film version, Field of Dreams. For anyone who isn’t familiar with it, it’s the story of Ray, an Iowa man who builds a baseball diamond in the middle of a cornfield on his farm. A voice tells him, “If you build it, he will come.” His wife Annie supports his wild scheme with no questions and he builds the field. Soon long-dead baseball players like Shoeless Joe Jackson appear on the diamond to play baseball.

On the surface the book is show more obviously about baseball, but as someone who isn’t a fan of the sport, I can promise it’s really about so much more. It’s about dreaming big, supporting the people you love and finding your true home.

The writing is lyrical and nostalgic. I love Kinsella’s reverence for the sport. He treats both the game and the Iowa cornfields like they are something holy and precious. I’m sure that reading it as I drove through Iowa played a big part in the fact that I felt so connected to the story. We are travelers right alongside Ray on his quest to follow the instructions being given to him.

Some people around him can see the magic and some can't. This aspect of the story made me think of reading. Some people pick up a book and are carried away by the beauty of the story, others get nothing from it and the experience is forgettable. I'm so grateful to be one of the ones that can see the magic.

BOTTOM LINE: Pack this book in your suitcase the next time you take a road trip through the beautiful Midwestern states. It’s a reminder to appreciate all the things you love in your life and to always notice the magic.

“My impulse is to turn back, but I know I won't, even though it is so easy not to do something.”

“Growing up is a ritual -- more deadly than religion, more complicated than baseball, for there seem to be no rules. Everything is experienced for the first time.”

“America has been erased like a blackboard, only to be rebuilt and then erased again.”

"Iowa City is a town of grandfathers fighting a losing battle against time. We have a drugstore with a soda fountain," I say. "It's dark and cool and you can smell malt the air like a musty perfume. And they have a cold lemon-Cokes and sweating glasses, a lime drink called Green River, and just the best chocolate malts in America."

**One major change from the book to the film is the character of the reclusive writer. The role is beautifully played by James Earl Jones in the movie, but in the book it’s J.D. Salinger! show less