Harry Fisher was a good-looking farm kid from southwestern Ontario, that fertile breeding ground of Canadian baseball stars. After a rapid rise through the minor leagues, Harry made it to the Show, called up to pitch for the big-league Pittsburgh Pirates in the summer of 1952.Nicknamed "the handsome Hollywood hurler" from his time with the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League, Harry had a long and romantic baseball career that took him from coast to coast to coast in the U.S. and down to winter ball in Puerto Rico.During Harry's time there, Groucho Marx kibitzed with the players on the Hollywood bench after batting practice. He played against the legendary pitcher Stan Musial, and with World Series winning pitcher Vernon (Deacon) Law, who spoke to me about him. In one of his last interviews, the late catcher, broadcaster and raconteur Joe Garagiola told me that Harry was "one of the hot-shot prospects" on the Pirates-and a blond who attracted the girls.Yet tragedy shadowed Harry's career. In sports, trying your best has a dark side, as you set yourself up for failure. Is the glory worth the price? Lesley Krueger is an award-winning novelist and filmmaker. Her latest novel, Far Creek Road, will be published by ECW Press this coming October. Set in the early 1960s, the book follows Tink Parker, an adventurous, nosy and very funny nine-year-old living a happy suburban life. But the Cold War is slowly building toward the Cuban Missile Crisis. The world is in danger of ending -- and Tink's innocence comes under threat.According to Sheila Murray, author of Finding Edward, "With the charming and very funny nine-year-old Tink, Krueger has created an unforgettable character whose innocent curiosity busts through the societal conventions of early 1960s Canada. This is a masterful depiction of an atmosphere tense with fear and fuelled by grown-up transgressions, where adult morality is contaminated by politics that tear communities apart."Lesley's previous novel, Time Squared, was published in 2021. Says critic Kerry Clare, "I'll dive right in and tell you that the novel, Time Squared by Lesley Krueger, which I've loved more than I've loved than any book I've read in ages, could be billed as Kate Atkinson's Life After Life meets Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, if we wanted to underline just how badly you really ought to read it. And oh, you really do."Lesley has written four other novels, two short story collections, a travel memoir and a children's book.She was born in Vancouver, Canada and after living in Boston, Mass., London, England, Rio de Janeiro and Mexico City, she makes her home in Toronto. There she writes fiction, works on films, and plays hockey in a couple of women's beer leagues, at least when her ankle isn't broken.
