Here comes the judge

The judge for SN&R’s 2005 Flash Fiction Contest is an accomplished writer of both fiction and nonfiction. Davis resident Jay Feldman’s recent book When the Mississippi Ran Backwards: Empire, Intrigue, Murder and the New Madrid Earthquakes (Free Press, 2005) has gone into its sixth printing. A compelling and readable history of the intersection of war, race and natural disaster in what was, at the time, the American frontier, When the Mississippi Ran Backwards was an alternate selection for the History Book Club.

Feldman is a widely published baseball writer; the stories he’s written on the subject have appeared in a variety of publications, including Sports Illustrated and SN&R. His next book, Suitcase Sefton and the American Dream (Triumph Books, 2006), is a novel that combines his passion for the national pastime with his interest in American history. It tells the story of a New York Yankees scout who discovers an amazing left-handed Japanese-American pitcher from California’s Central Valley during World War II. But the player in question happens to be in an internment camp in Arizona. Suitcase Sefton and the American Dream will be published in March.