Longshot is cleaving through the water, the bow about halfway up on the two shells surrounding it. Roger decides the time is now. He brings the bullhorn up to his lips and screams, "We're coming up on seven hundred meters. Gimme a power drive, NOW!!"
Ramy lets out a scream of determination, AAAHHHH, followed by screams of agonizing pain.
So goes the quest for glory by nine men beginning to enter middle age. Second Wind is their story, the story of men who refuse to give in to mid-life crises, men who believe that they have the strength to compete.
They want to pursue the impossible dream of competing on the eight-man Olympic rowing team, representing the United States in Barcelona in the summer of 1990.
The central characters that form the nucleus of this adventure consist of a former Olympian, a San Francisco doctor who has lost his faith in humanity and finds his answer in a Mexican legend, a real estate tycoon, a pub owner, a Samoan, and a motley group of middle-aged ex-atheletes.

"Sex, Drugs, Booze, Rock and Roll, Suicide, Murder and .......... Hockey"

Brian, stuck in his hometown of Mourning, Ontario, slipping down the wrong side of thirty, can never win. Not as a hockey player or a coach. Not at his career. Not at anything.
Then, he meets Kyle Clark, a hockey prodigy, who joins his team. And life in Mourning begins to change. Kyle is good at everything. He can't lose.
As they grow closer and their lives entwine, Brian hopes that some of Kyle's magic will rub off on him.
But tragedy follows Kyle around, threatening to ruin the best laid plans. This time, however, Brian is not going to stand to the side and watch his dreams melt away.

"Michael Markus' East of Mourning is a superbly crafted dark comedy about the Great Canadian Dream gone bad for a frustrated hockey coach and the young, talented hockey payer upon whom he pins the last of his bitter deams. Sex, Drugs, rock & roll, suicide, murder, and of course, hockey all lurk within the eerily inviting pages of this dynamic and sharply framed literary tableau. Aptly written in a literary style as fast-moving as the sport of hockey itself, East of Mourning captures the imagination and holds the reader's interest in its shadowy and wryly malefic way. Highly recommended."

from the Wisconsin Bookwatch, The Midwest Book Review, December, 2001

Click here to read another review of the book REVIEW

Scott MacGregor is back for his final season of junior hockey. After years of losing, he is finally ready to win, but is he ready for real life, too?

Set in the fictional town of Kildare, Ontario, in the Ottawa Valley, 50 Mission Cap follows Scott and the Kougars through an action-filled season that is humorous, heart-breaking and true to the frenzied pace of the game.

It begins with Scott coping with his grandfather's illnes while also dealing with his other concerns; namely, trying to earn a scholarship to a U.S. school and bringing new life to the hapless Kougars. Things get complicated when Scott begins to worry about a teammate's mysterious troubles. Add a pair of Russian misfits, a new romance, a car crash and an interfering billionaire, and Scott's life hurtles closer to chaos.

In the end, he learns about the consequences of action and the rewards of sacrifice.

Reviews

from Writer's Digest, April 2002

50 Mission Cap presents an impressively complex look at young athletes and the potentially disastrous effects of the pressure placed upon them. Never shying away from difficult issues, the novel deals with love, crime, molestation, illness and the intricate bonds between players and their coaches.

by Dave Noppe, The Pembroke Daily Observer

Adrian Brijbassi takes us into the heart of small-town culture and gives us a rare, unflinching glimpse into the world of junior hockey. A world where young men, barely into their teens are under pressure to win, prove themselves worthy of that ever-elusive U.S. hockey scholarship. A world where young hockey players enjoy a celebrity-like status in a small town and where sometimes that status comes at a very high personal price.

Based in the fictional Ottawa Valley town of Kildare, 50 Mission Cap is told through the eyes of Scott MacGregor as he plays his last season with the Kildare Kougars. The Kougars have been perennial losers but this year things are going to be different. As he navigates the campaign with the Kougars, MacGregor has to maneuver around such serious obstacles as sexual abuse, alcoholism and the alienation from his family.

The team's newest coach Tyler Raycliffe is determined to turn the team around and he's counting on MacGregor and his close friend and team captain Brendan Kowalczek to lead the way. MacGregor must balance friendship, sacrifice and personal loss as he strives to reach his lofty dreams.

    "'This is the beginning of the new Kildare Kougars, lads,' Tyler Raycliffe said before wrapping up practice. 'This town wants a winner. It deserves a winner. And you can give it to them Each and every one of you.'
    But what would Kildare give us? Indeed, what would it take?
    Raycliffe blew his whistle and we filed off the ice. One by one, our group of teenaged boys disappeared into the dark of Leroux Arena, some of us innocent. Each of us full of hope.
    Thus began my final season of junior hockey and the most tumultuous year of my life."

Based on his experiences and observations while covering junior 'A' hockey as a sports editor in the Ottawa Valley, Brijbassi creates a compelling story that bridges the narrow gap between fiction and reality. His narrative brings into focus the pressure that is put on young athletes who are asked to carry the burden of the expectations of an entire community.

The novel's title comes from a song by The Tragically Hip which has become an arena anthem. 50 Mission Cap is Brijbassi's first novel and his writing mirrors the game on the ice. The story's as fluid as a long leading break-out pass and as intense and fast-paced as a down-low, power-play cycle.

Story is about a group of elderly expert fishermen who compete for a daily jackpot on large party boat.

Ever wonder what men really do on their fishing trips? I mean really wonder? Well, here it is - laid out for all the world to see in these twenty-three stories - lived and collected over our forty years' of heading north of the border on our annual fishing trips to beautiful Crotch Lake, Ontario.

Crotch Lake? Yep! That's the name and there really is such a place! Romantic isn't it? And it is on the map, but you'll have to read on to learn more about the lake and it's intriguing name.

The stories in the book are all true...well, they're true for the most part...except where I decided to make stuff up or my memories have been dimmed by the dual fogs of alcohol and....(I can't for the life of me remember what the other fog is. Sorry.)

Except in several instances, the names have been scrupulously maintained to identify the culprits and to preserve for all posterity the perversity of their genius, the magnitude of their gullibility, or their otherwise inane or inadvertent contributions to the merriment that has always characterized our annual fishing, philosophy, and survey-of-the-state-of-Canadian-brewing-and-distilling- arts expeditions.

Jack Galloway, an award-winning sports writer and sports editor, has for 45 years maintained the secrets of athlete-scientist, Walker, who has discovered methods of prolonging life and maximising the body's physical capabilities so as to perform gigantic feats of athletic performance.

To save the sport of athletics, Jack's swansong before retirement as Sports Editor of The Telegraph is to use the paper's resources to mount a campaign against drug abuse by persuading his lifelong friend to enter the Athens games in six events. An intense training schedule supervised by master coach, Cassius, brings Walker to the peak of human condition in time for mid-August in Athens. On the greatest stage in the world, in the finest arena on the planet, Walker demonstrates to the world in a dramatic climax that records are within the grasp of mankind, without cheating. His winning total of six gold medals he hopes will be enough to end the endemic drug culture that threatens the existence of the sport.

In the early thirties, a group of unemployed circus hucksters stage scam wrestling events for a living. Drawn into the high-profit world of national wrestling by a crafty promoter, one of their number - wearing a robe, and carrying a rook and a lamb - assumes the ring guise of Apostle Paul and triggers an intriguing mystery. Illustrated 90 pages.

Allegheny and Skyline is a novel about a children's author, Liberty Orleans, who comes home after six years on the road. Except for flying into Erie, he chooses to walk to his home. His partiality to walking is peculiar to the story. The reason will become clear in the end. While the bulk of the novel is derived from the remembered past, as Liberty comes upon Skyline Drive he does not immediately go home, but instead visits Mr Eben and Vincent Trieste. They set up the present time in the book. From those first chapters onward to chapter eleven, the book delves into the remembered past. The last chapter has Liberty Orleans finally arriving home. His home is situated at the corner, on the opposite side of Chatterton Park. Chatterton Park is elemental to the story. The park is created in remembrance to a raccoon. It prevents further development of the Close, a wooded area to the south of Skyline Drive. Chatterton Raccoon, Montgomery LaNodd, Sarahjane Penney are equally important to Liberty. In spite of its appearance, Allegheny and Skyline is not a children's novel. Its adult content is free of vulgarity and the expletive. Yet the participants are not angelic. In this vehicle they advance toward a convergence, where before they had long since broken away.

Perhaps the best way to describe Barnyard To Wrigley would be to say, "Finally, the real story about baseball!"

Barnyard to Wrigley is a fantastic manuscript of baseball fiction, which follows a young player named Mike from his barnyard baseball beginnings, through his grade school years, to his excellent high school performances, onto the ultimate stage at Wrigley Field, only to return to his humble beginnings, while passing on the knowledge of the game.

Along this story's base path, Mike's advancement is assisted by many residents of the small farming community of Danvers, Illinois, his family, and a canine named Babe.

The storyline is driven by "The Ring", which serves as a symbol of baseball, as it is handed down from generation to generation. Barnyard to Wrigley will provide older readers the inspiration to pass on the knowledge of the game, while younger readers will be inspired to dream of baseball success.

Barnyard to Wrigley is a must read for all past players of the game and all of those, that dream of finding baseball or softball success.

After winning three consecutive World Series championships, myriad problems befall the Buffalo Pioneers, starting with a dying owner, a crumbling stadium and a superstar the club can no longer afford. Tensions in the front-office and egos in the clubhouse spill over onto the field, depriving the Pioneers of the chemistry that brought them glory.

As the team is ripped apart by free-agency, drug controversies and personal rivalry, old-school manager Jack Vaughn does his best to keep the ship together only to be overcome by the economics of baseball and the immense problems of his own personal life. As Jack's relationship with general manager Trent Blair disintegrates beyond repair and he finds himself in the twilight of his own storied career, he is forced to come to the realization that "nothing lasts forever".

Is baseball doomed in Buffalo? Can the Pioneers ever hope to replicate the glory of their halcyon years?

End of a Dynasty shows the alienation that can occur in professional baseball between the players and its devoted fans, as greed and egoism threaten to ruin the majestic innocence the game provides for those who love it.

The story starts in 1945 in Palo Alto, California. Dave is a baseball pitcher who pitches a no-hitter in his last high school game. He leads his American Legion team to the regional championship.

Dave enrolls at small California Polytechnic College because he needs only a high school diploma. Dave was a poor high school student. The odds of his earning a degree in aeronautical engineering are poor.

In November, 1945 Dave meets Jill who is still his girl friend five years later.

In 1946 Dave becomes a Christian and joins the Presbyterian Church. In 1947 he learns about Eric Liddell, the gold medal winner of the 400 meters at the 1924 Olympics who became a missionary in China. Dave adopts the life style of Eric Liddell.

In 1949 Dave receives his degree beating the odds. He wins 31 baseball games in college and signs to play for the San Francisco Sea Lions of the Pacific Coast League.

Dave starts a career of appearances at Chevrolet dealers, autographing baseballs for kids. He joins Kiwanis.

Dave wins 23 games for the San Francisco Sea Lions and is purchased by the New York Dukes of the American League. During the 1950 season Dave wins 26 games for the Dukes and hits .326.

Before departing for Air Force Reserve Officer training because of the Korean War, Dave pitches a 5-0 shut out win for the Dukes in the third game of the World Series.

It is the summer of 1939 in hilly Western Pennsylvania. Scotty Roberts, a fromer assisitant pro at merion and present owner of a nine-hole course he'd built himself, is excited for two reasons. First, the touring pros are coming to the private Clear Valley Country Club to help inaugurate a brand new tournament and second, his nineteen year old son, Jed, is the only local pro to qualify for the tournament.

To everyone's surprise, the famous pros on the tour are surpassed by three unknwon pros; Denny Carano, youngest of the golfing Carano clan; Victor Hurley, a young Englishman with great promise; and Jed Roberts, who by beating everyone with a fantastic 2-wood onto the green for a one-putt eagle on the final hole, catches the eyes of Chalmers Winslow, millionaire backer on the tournament and owner of the country club, who later meets with Roberts and tells him that he wants to back him on the tour. "We're going to put you and the Clear Valley Country Club on the map".

Sadly, the three young pros never play together again. Carano and Hurley are both killed in WWII. Fate intervenes with Winslow's plans and Roberts eventually is drafted. He survives the War, but no one in golf knows what happened to him afterwards: it's like he fell off the face of the Earth.

Forty-four years after that Sunday, Richard Prescott, who as a young lad had caddied for his cousin Victor Hurley in that golden summer before the War, is now the golf writer for the London Times and has come to Clear Valley to cover the Open. In the club bar, he runs into J.E.David, the great trick shot artist, and soon they and other golfers begin discussing who is the greatest golfer of all time. Many greats are named, but, as usual, it comes down to either Bobby Jones or Jack Nicklaus; however, Prescott casts a lone vote for Jed Roberts because he still believes he saw greatness in Roberts that long ago June and he has always wondered what ever happened to him.

That night over dinner with J.E. David and after several Scotches, J.E. says that he and Roberts had been friends as kids. With the Scotch flowing, J.E. tells prescott things that reveal as much about J.E. as they do about the long forgotten Roberts which helps Prescott to know, and perhaps J.E., to understand why Roberts never became a golfer on the professional tour, let alone becoming a world- famous tournament player. Both finally realize, that in the end, it was Roberts' own God-given courage and character that had stopped him from reaching his golden destiny.

George grew up in Newbiggin by the sea, a small fishing village on the Northumberland coast. He had no idea the power a golf ball he would find as a young boy would influence his life so much.

With his brother Tom at his side, George becomes involved in a critical tug of war between good and evil on a day when his caddying responsibilities take a back seat to the biblical challenges of two Angelic teams...the end of the world is in his golfing hands and he must confront his own fears to survive.

The ball's master is no other than God himself and a heavenly mistake allows the ball to fall to earth and find its way into the possessi'n of a young, innocent caddy by the name of George. Unbeknown to George, there's a power struggle that needs to be resolved between the angelic teams of Good and Evil that threatens the very existence of mankind itself.

The threat stems from an ancient pact that must not be broken and requires two ancient friends to recover the ball with unconditional faith. Unfortunately the two friends are now arch enemies and the ball's recovery is harder than originally conceived, thanks to the faithful intervention of George.

The Water's End is the story of Rob Miner, a blue-collar kid from coastal New Jersey trying to find his place in the world. He has spent his entire life dreaming of a tropical paradise where he can forget his past and surf the blue waves that haunt him. When the story opens, his grandmother has just died, and Rob knows he has nothing left to keep him home. He heads for Pacific Mexico, and winds up in a remote corner of Oaxaca, full of white beaches and empty waves, Zapatista rebels and Mayan ruins. There he finds everything he'd always longed for, including another American traveler with whom he falls in love. Rob revels in his nirvana, but it does not last long. He soon discovers that the American girl is not who she claimed. She too is hiding from her past, and has brought trouble to Mexico. With one stroke, Rob's dreamscape is threatened, and he is on the run again, towards some painful lessons about life, love and dreaming.

The author combines his care and concern for street children and his fondness for the game of golf, to bring out yet another in his series of "We Care" stories. Based loosely on real life characters and situations, his books have given us an insight into the plight of kids with nowhere to live, but on the streets; and no one to turn to, except each other.

His published work, The Saga of Alex and His Friends showed us what could happen to these street kids when there is no one around that cares. However, it also opened our eyes to the possibilities, when there are people who do care, and are willing to do something about it. "We Care" came about when these caring people got together and pooled their resources to provide shelter and care for homeless kids.

In this novel, which is a sequel to The Saga of Alex and His Friends, Mr. Warner brings in a number of real life characters who become involved in the "We Care" program.

This is where the game of golf gets worked into the story when a talented young pianist, who is also a championship golfer, becomes involved with the "We Care" home, and school for former homeless boys.

Readers will find a wealth of interesting information about golf, as well as an engrossing story in We Care About Golf.

Cliffhangers, tears, and heart-warming moments abound in Tom Warner's second published novel; We Care About Golf.