What makes it more interesting to me is that the main character in Crackback is a defensive back like the main character in my football book, Second Chance. You would think that football stories might feature quarterbacks, like Troy Aikman and Tom Brady, or running backs like Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders. But no. It's a defensive back. Like Tony Belmont in Second Chance.
The difference is the main character in Crackback is a high school player. Whereas the main character in Second Chance is an adult playing with high school players. Of course that turns out to be a big mistake, as he finds out. But that's the story in Second Chance. That's the plot. And what a story it is. What a plot. And throughout the story I cover several different football games. Not just high school football games. There's a pick up game in the beginning and then there's some city-run flag football games too, because the main character, Tony Belmont works in the city's parks and recreation department, and they run the flag football leagues. I played in those leagues for three or four years, so that's where I got the idea for that.
And I cover the games with a lot of detail. All of them. Anyone who ever played football will appreciate the way I relay those games to the reader. It's like you're actually in the game playing. I must say that my style of writing is not necessarily for high school kids. Not if John Coy's book is the template for high school readers. My book, Second Chance, reads like my other books.
That's not to say a high school reader can't understand it. It might be geared for a high IQ high school reader, but who said some high school kids don't have high IQs? Yes, even football players can and do have high IQs. And it's probably those high IQ types who read in the first place.
As for Crackback, it's a very easy book to read. Even if you can't read well. Clearly, the author, John Coy, deliberately made it readable for all kids. Which is good thinking on his part. What's the use of writing a book for kids if kids can't read it? But you don't have to be a kid to enjoy Crackback. It's a football story, like Second Chance, but it's also a story about a teen boy going through the trials and tribulations of high school life.
And that high school life includes the acne, the girlfriends, the parents, the uncles, the other boys in the school, the pranks they play, the teachers, and their classes, and homework. The whole picture of high school life is depicted in Crackback, and Mr. Coy didn't miss a thing. Makes you remember your own high school days. Almost to a tee.
As for Second Chance, Tony Belmont only interacts with high schoolers on the football field. He's not into teen-aged stuff, since he's no longer a teenager. But everything catches up to him. I'ts what makes the story interesting.
So now that the first publisher went out of business, I'm hoping Second Chance will get a new publisher. Whether that will be JustFiction Edition or some other publisher remains to be seen.
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