Penn State Blue!

My novel Penn State Blue, is a real, old, fashioned football story! It is set at Penn State University and is in the modern day time period! Bob Ricks, the protagonist, and freshman quarterback for the Penn State Nittany Lions football team! Coach Sal Almorretti, the head coach is part philosopher, part tough guy, part humorist an part intellectual! The book was written to stage the glory of college football and about 65% of it was finished when the Scandal hit! I was shaken and severely wounded in my heart like many fans of Penn State Football! With all good intentions, Joe Paterno and I had one link, we were of Italian heritage and he did what I wanted to do in my field and that was do it right! The whole premise of a feel good story was to find a school that graduated their athletes and have them play hard! That's why I picked Penn State, there was happiness in Happy Valley! After the scandal, I rearranged things! The book about glory became glorious because it was a book about healing. The story unfolded with characters in an ensemble cast that showed what I college athletics could be! Penn State still had the attitude where even an import writer from Boston University could see. They would still do it the right way. Mike Maloni Author, "Penn State Blue."

Shortstop: Where Grace and Power Collide!

This novel is about our National Past Time! Shortstop: Where Grace and Power Collide! is about the maturation of a young baseball player! Frank Lido, Jr. The story is convinced at the beginning of the work in that he wants to get better but doesn't really know what that means!

After arriving at the University of Texas at Austin, he wants to put his immature high school academic performance behind him! His lack of self esteem in many parts of his academic life are evident at the beginning of the story! Fortunately, he meets Champions for Life when he hits campus! His teammates and coaches help him understand that he is a viable person besides baseball.

Lido becomes a leader and eventually a major leaguer! You'll have to guess the team but it will be well worth it in the end. The story is available on Amazon, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes and Noble and You Tube, Search: Mike Maloni Writing this novel as well as his first novel Defenseman: A Hockey Player's Story, showed the author's healthy attitude toward fighting a terrible disease, mental illness! There is a cost to living no matter if we are healthy or not but the cost with mental illness shows people that in this day and age it can be at least fought with your heart in a war of attrition! There are no mentally ill people with this novel and sometimes I get asked why? Simply put because when you get to the level of college, you are functioning pretty well. Therefore you see life, at least in spurts as "regular people" with regular people's opportunities and college is full of them good and bad. The baseball story is not a sophomoric chase through the grass and the bedroom! There's a definite purpose to these young people's lives interspersed with a great deal of fun! Being young and playing a game can be a very illustrious assignment in life, few know it and more don't enjoy it! In the end, that is what this story is about, camaraderie and winning or learning to win as part of a team. Mike Maloni