<p><span style="color: rgba(34, 34, 34, 1); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)">For many American men, baseball is the game of boyhood. Memories of days spent at the park, fast friendships with teammates, and the culture of competition are the essential fabric that give so many of these childhood memories their texture. But there comes a day for everyone when the game catches up with them, and they need to call it quits.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgba(34, 34, 34, 1); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)">In </span><em style="color: rgba(34, 34, 34, 1); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)">Short Relief</em><span style="color: rgba(34, 34, 34, 1); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)">, Ben Shahon (A COLLECTION FOR NO ONE TO READ) asks the question of what happens when men are not yet ready to give up that boys' game, the national pastime. In nine stories (including ones collected from </span><em style="color: rgba(34, 34, 34, 1); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)">Free Library of the Internet Void</em><span style="color: rgba(34, 34, 34, 1); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)"> and </span><em style="color: rgba(34, 34, 34, 1); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)">Flash Boulevard</em><span style="color: rgba(34, 34, 34, 1); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)">), he traces the stories of a Minor League pitcher holding onto his last shred of hope for promotion to The Show, little leaguers' formative experiences, and a host of men and boys in between.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: rgba(34, 34, 34, 1); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)">Ben Shahon is the author of one previous chapbook, </span><em style="color: rgba(34, 34, 34, 1); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)">A Collection for No One to Read</em><span style="color: rgba(34, 34, 34, 1); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)">. His work has appeared in journals such as </span><em style="color: rgba(34, 34, 34, 1); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)">Ghost Parachute,</em><span style="color: rgba(34, 34, 34, 1); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)"> </span><em style="color: rgba(34, 34, 34, 1); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)">BULL</em><span style="color: rgba(34, 34, 34, 1); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)">, and</span><em style="color: rgba(34, 34, 34, 1); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)"> Flash Boulevard</em><span style="color: rgba(34, 34, 34, 1); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)">, and he serves as the founding EIC of</span><em style="color: rgba(34, 34, 34, 1); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)"> JAKE</em><span style="color: rgba(34, 34, 34, 1); background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 1)">. Ben lives and writes on the border of Los Angeles and Orange Counties in California, where he bemoans the Angels' decade-plus-long playoff drought.</span></p>
