Don Reddick


Editors' Queries


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Victory Faust, a novel

"...the true life Forrest Gump..."

Dear Editor,

He was the thirty-year-old son of immigrant German farmers, spoke broken English, and was mentally handicapped. In the spring of 1911 Charles Victor Faust visited a fortune teller in Wichita, Kansas, who told him that if he would go east and join the legendary John McGraw's New York Giants, he'd help pitch them to the National League Pennant - and he did!

He is the true life Forrest Gump.

America has a fascination with the mentally handicapped. It's no coincidence that Cliff Robertson (Charley), Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man), and Tom Hands (Forrest Gump) have all won Academy Awards for their portrayal of those so afflicted.

I have written a novel entitled Victory Faust. Related from the viewpoint of Faust's fictional hometown friend Alby Trunk, my novel is an odyssey of turn-of-the-century immigration, baseball, and mental retardation, culminating in the remarkabable achievement of this man taking the mencyclopedia Total Hockey. In 1999 Glen Stout, editor of the Great American Sports Writing series, selected one of my articles for his 'Notables' category. I have appeared in a CBC documentary on the 1997 reenactment trip commemorating the 1905 Dawson series, as well as an award winning documentary filmed by The Production House in Toronto on the historic Dawson trip.

ound in New York City's Polo Grounds before thousands of hysterical fans, and pitching for the New York Giants.

I am the author of Dawson City Seven, a novel about the group of Dawson City, Yukon hockey players who made the infamous 1905 trek across Canada to play the Ottawa Silver Seven for the Stanley Cup. Published in Canada in 1993, I completed the publisher's longest book tour in their history. I have published articles in the Society of International Hockey Research Journal as well as the Total Hockey encyclopedia. Glenn Stout, editor of the Great American Sports Writing series, selected me for the 'Notables' section in 1999.

I have confidence in the strength and integrity of my novel Victory Faust. If you would like to look at the manuscript, please let me know. I thank you very much for your time, and look forward to your reply.

Sincerely yours,

Don Reddick

508-668-5152
www.donreddick.com
don@donreddick.com