Short Relief

<p><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>For many American men baseball is the game of boyhood. Memories of days spent at the park fast friendships with teammates and the culture of competition are the essential fabric that give so many of these childhood memories their texture. But there comes a day for everyone when the game catches up with them and they need to call it quits.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>In </span><em style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Short Relief</em><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)> Ben Shahon (A COLLECTION FOR NO ONE TO READ) asks the question of what happens when men are not yet ready to give up that boys' game the national pastime. In nine stories (including ones collected from </span><em style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Free Library of the Internet Void</em><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)> and </span><em style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Flash Boulevard</em><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>) he traces the stories of a Minor League pitcher holding onto his last shred of hope for promotion to The Show little leaguers' formative experiences and a host of men and boys in between.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Ben Shahon is the author of one previous chapbook </span><em style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>A Collection for No One to Read</em><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>. His work has appeared in journals such as </span><em style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Ghost Parachute</em><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)> </span><em style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>BULL</em><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)> and</span><em style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)> Flash Boulevard</em><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)> and he serves as the founding EIC of</span><em style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)> JAKE</em><span style=color: rgba(34 34 34 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>. Ben lives and writes on the border of Los Angeles and Orange Counties in California where he bemoans the Angels' decade-plus-long playoff drought.</span></p>