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I was conversing with Steve Stein from the Transcontinental Baseball League a while back and Steve said something to the effect of “you should get Walt to write for the blog. He writes for a living”.
Walt is Walter H. Hunt and is a manager in the TBL with Steve. He is no stranger to The APBA Blog… we’ve seen his comments here and there. But this issue of him being a writer, that was new to me. So I looked more into that. A quick Google search got me the info I needed. No, he’s not the 19th century inventor. But apparently he is a science fiction and fantasy writer and pretty well known in the genre. Once I found out the 411 on Mr. Hunt, I realized that while I hadn’t READ any of his books, I had HEARD of them. I just hadn’t put two and two together. My wife who reads fiction a lot more than I, was more familiar with his name.
As described on his author webpage, Hunt has written the critically-acclaimed Dark Wing series. He’s also just come out with a book called A Song in the Stone which “explores the mystery of Rosslyn Chapel and the fall of the Templars”. Walter is currently working on a sequel for that. He has also spent his time and talents writing for role playing board games such as the Arnor series.
So I emailed Walter and found out a little more about him. He was happy to answer a few questions:
How long have you played APBA? How did you get hooked up with the TBL?
“I started playing APBA in 1970, with the 1969 season. I read about it in
the Sporting News, and I spent all that summer playing the game with
friends.
I came to TBL because of friends who were already in the league. I served
as a backup manager in the 1987 season (1986 cards) and inherited the
league champion in 1988 (1987 cards) and won the World Series that year.
It took me many years to win it again, but my club has been very
successful over that period. We’ve never lost more than 92 games and have
won more than 100 eight times (in a 24-team league). (See
http://www.tblhome.com/history/index.html)”
You just came out with a new novel called A Song in Stone. How has it been received?
“It was originally published in hardcover and received some good reviews,
and the current edition is a trade paperback that continues to sell. I’m
currently working on a novel set in the universe of Eric Flint’s 1632, an
alternate history series.”
Any baseball or board game references in your written work?
“In the new 1632 book, yes. (The premise of the series is that a
present-day town in West Virginia is transported back to Germany during
the 30 Years’ War; my two principal characters are baseball fans, so they
make references to baseball.)”
Finally, you say you have been writing full time since 2001. With the flexible schedule, how do keep from shucking the keyboard and just playing APBA. :)
“Well, my wife supports and encourages me in my professional endeavors. I
suspect that if I were to become a full-time APBA player I wouldn’t stay
married very long.
The serious answer, though, is that I’ve been a writer of some sort longer
than I’ve been an APBA player, and though I’m immensely fond of the game
I’ve played since I was 11, writing is my career and my passion, something
I love to do and with which I have some amount of skill. There are many
more books I want to write than seasons I want to replay.
I did do a full replay of the 1962 season using the Master Game,
completing it a few years ago; I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do that
again, which is a shame.”
Walter says that he’s having mild success this year with his team, the Maracaibo Rumrunners. With a month to go in the TBL, he’s 81-61 and with any luck, he’ll garner a wild card spot.
Thanks to Walter for taking some time to answer these questions. Good luck to him in the TBL playoff hunt! Oh, and in the writing thing, too. Try to sneak some APBA in once in a while.
Walter neglected to mention that he combines business with pleasure by publishing this masterpiece every year:
http://www.tblhome.com/annuals/2011TBLAnnualForWeb.pdf
This is the Transcontinental Baseball League Annual that expounds profoundly on the League and its players. One of the best publications of its type – and largely a product of Mr. Hunt’s efforts and passion. Take a look.
That book is awesome. I tried to put something together like this for a play-by-mail league I was in about 6 years ago, but it fell apart half-way through. It was just too much work. Well done, Mr. Hunt!
@robert let me echo that, I spent 20 min browsing the TBL Annual this morning and probably could have spent more if I didn’t have a million things to do.
Definitely, the template for how it should be done.
In the 60’s I purchased just about everything APBA made. I was a real APBA fanatic. Then came college and real life and I fell away from the hobby for over 15 years.
Then one day I was interviewing for a job with Walter and I noticed the APBA computer game on his shelf. He got me involved in a couple of leagues, and kindled anew my passion for the hobby.
Thank you, Walter!
but did you get the job?? ;-)
Of course I got the job. (An old roommate was the hiring manager so I wasn’t worried. :-)
I’m sure you were qualified, no?
PS testing threaded comments with this.
Sure I was. (Didn’t follow the manager west and become a Microsoft Millionaire though, so there’s that.)
But you don’t get the real significance – no Walter Hunt, no Card Computer.
Oh yeah, fauuolbs stuff there you!