THE MANUSCRIPT

Synopsis THE MANUSCRIPT

THE MANUSCRIPT, A Complex Tale of Baseball, Magic, and Intrigue - "FAITH" by Dr. Zielgard

Peter Atritis works at Oracle Publishing in downtown St-Petersburg, FL. It doesn’t help him to publish his own work, though, which is seen by his pairs as esoteric and not making much sense. Peter is very intelligent and original. On the other hand, he is passive and timid. He is not a fighter.

Coming by chance on a manuscript, Peter will like the piece so much that he will steal it from its dead author, a drunkard Dr Zielgard who has died in strange circumstances after being believed responsible for the death of a presumed witch lady’s daughter in Gulfport Mississippi. The very cunning and politically ambitious Mississippi’s assistant D.A., Ollie Devott, will accuse the woman of murder for having bewitched Zielgard to death as she has publicly predicted the time of his passing and claims full responsibility for the deed in front of the jury that hears her case. Devott will ride the case to its final disposition with the death penalty disposition as a way to become the District attorney of his state and eventually fight the existing governor for governorship.

The manuscript will become an immense success. Tinseltown will want to make a movie out of it. Artritis will appear at the David Letterman late night show just to be confronted by Irma Sanchez who will have recognised herself and members of her family in the Zielgard’s narrative. In reading the book, she has known instantly that Artritis could not have possibly authored the best seller. From then on, Peter’s destiny will be sealed and he will die in very sad circumstances in his wife embrace, before learning that, by a twist of fate, his own stories will have fond a publisher and an enthusiastic audience. Thus he will exit the world a failure, not knowing he has achieved the success he so much craved all his life.

The novel is about love without being a romance. It is about murder and the death penalty without being a crime story. It is about religion without being spiritual. It has a bit of magic in it without being supernatural.

As of the stolen manuscript, (the Faith story), it is a tale about Baseball, 22,500 words in 3 interludes in the book that can be read separately.

FAITH Synopsis ''The manuscript in THE MANUSCRIPT's novel''

 Manuel plays minor league baseball. One day, he finds a baseball bat that guarantees home runs at-will to anyone who uses it in a game on a Major League team's schedule. Franck Richantall is the main shareholder of the Tampa RAYS. He is also the owner of the TAMPA TRIBUNE. The businessman hears about Manuel and his magic bat. The story amuses him. He sees it as a good publicity stunt for the team and for the daily newspaper. Not only does the newspaper give Manuel a few dollars to attend games in the Tropicana stadium dressed in the uniform of the local team, but its sports section publishes an insert in which it is written: WILL MANUEL  PLAY TONIGHT?

Joe Black is the manager of the Rays. He does not appreciate all this circus made around this Manual. Why ? The public fills the stadium to capacity and you can still hear the cries of the crowd calling for Manuel, screaming his name like madmen in asylums. And Joe Black is not one to believe in that kind of nonsense. He refuses to go down in history as the idiot who will have placed an inexperienced kid in front of a skilled thrower only to see him then launch himself three times into the void armed with his mysterious instrument. We come to the seventh part of a four of seven. The stake, the championship of the World Series. It pits the Rays against the Philadelphia Phillies. The Rays are at bat. They're down 7-4. We're in the ninth inning. The goals are fulfilled. There are two withdrawals. Joe Black will have to end his dream of winning this World Series if THE VOODOO, the Phillies relief pitching ace retires his next batter. On the other hand, a home run would give him four runs and the win. The crowd is unleashed. She demands that Joe call on Manuel and his magic staff. And Joe, meanwhile, has no doubt that it is better to satisfy her if he wants to get out of the Tropicana stadium alive... Well, if you want to know how it ends, you will have to read the book.