We know Joe as the voice of the Red Sox. Colgate University knows him as “class of ’68.”
In Out of Left Field, Brandon listened to him. Everyone did. Then, and now, he’s the voice of the Red Sox.
In fact, Joe Castiglione was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame in 2014.
Here’s a taste of what it’s like to share the broadcast booth with the man who asked Red Sox fans “Can you believe it?” after Boston’s 2004 World Series championship:
![Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. grabbed the PBS spotlight with his 2012 genealogy show, Finding Your Roots. By Jon Irons [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.lizaketchum.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/256px-Henry_Louis_Gates_Jr.jpg)
Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. grabbed the PBS spotlight with his 2012 genealogy show, Finding Your Roots. By Jon Irons [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Without reality TV shows or fancy websites, Molly found a way to learn about her family’s history.
Today, she might have a future working in the field.
![California Governor Earl Warren posed with a boy dressed as a gold prospector for the state's 1950 centennial celebration. By California Centennials Commission [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.lizaketchum.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Earl_Warren_with_young_miner.jpg)
California Governor Earl Warren posed with a boy dressed as a gold prospector for the state’s 1950 centennial celebration. By California Centennials Commission [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Molly’s ancestors were part of the California Gold Rush, considered by many to have lasted from 1846-49.
However, other accounts indicate that the desire to discover gold has never ended.
No April fooling about this.
To celebrate the coming of the 2015 baseball season, my Out of Left Field is on sale through April 15. The paperback has a special discount price only at the Untreed Reads publisher website.
Meanwhile, the e-book is discounted 30 percent at the publisher e-store or OmniLit.com, DriveThruFiction.com, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Apple, and Kobo.
Play ball!
![From newspaper serialized fiction to literary stardom: Charles Dickens See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.lizaketchum.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Charles_Dickens_3.jpg)
From newspaper serialized fiction to literary stardom: Charles Dickens See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
The predecessor to Fire in the Heart is West Against the Wind, which began as serialized fiction.
My great-grandfather, Reuben Ketchum, wrote serial stories for newspapers in the 19th century.
For others, like Charles Dickens, serialized fiction was the springboard to literary stardom.
![A once-buried treasure! By User SilkTork on en.wikipedia [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.lizaketchum.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Goldnugget-300x278.jpg)
A once-buried treasure! By User SilkTork on en.wikipedia [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Molly’s mother believed that one ancestor had buried a gold nugget somewhere in California.
Those treasures are still being found.
![Vintage Fenway! By BPL [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.lizaketchum.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Fenway_Park_postcard.jpg)
Vintage Fenway Park By BPL [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Did I mention that there’s no snow in Fort Myers? We hope Fenway Park is clear of the white stuff when the season begins.
Are you following the news from spring training? You can bet Brandon (Out of Left Field) would be.
![Rufus Wilmot Griswold By Uncredited [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.lizaketchum.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/256px-Griswold-Engraving.jpg)
Rufus Wilmot Griswold By Uncredited [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Griswold, the town in Fire in the Heart, was named for my early Vermont ancestors.
One Griswold who began life in Vermont became a controversial literary figure and rival to famed author Edgar Allan Poe.
![Could you imagine your favorite book locale on a globe? Christian Fischer [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.lizaketchum.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/256px-GEO_Globe.jpg)
Could you imagine your favorite book’s locale on a globe? Christian Fischer [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
The setting for Fire in the Heart, Griswold, is a fictional Vermont town. I invented it all, down to a map of the community. Here are more pseudo-places existing only in books.
![Before the world knew him as author Mark Twain, young Samuel Clemens posed for this 1850 daguerreotype. By Mark_Twain_by_GH_Jones,_1850.jpg: G.H.[?] Jones [or Jonco?] / Hannibal Mo derivative work: Smalljim (Mark_Twain_by_GH_Jones,_1850.jpg) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.lizaketchum.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Mark_Twain_by_GH_Jones_1850-c7.jpg)
Before the world knew him as author Mark Twain, young Samuel Clemens posed for this 1850 daguerreotype. By Mark_Twain_by_GH_Jones,_1850.jpg: G.H.[?] Jones [or Jonco?] / Hannibal Mo derivative work: Smalljim (Mark_Twain_by_GH_Jones,_1850.jpg) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Molly gets a clue about her family’s past through a daguerreotype.
Far from a simple snapshot, these photographic relics are being kept alive by a small group of devotees.