The series Fuzzy Baseball is known for occasionally breaking the fourth wall, but this time, in Fuzzy Baseball V05: Baseballoween everything is broken! Yes, it is funny, and still has the fantastically clever baseball name puns, but it feels like John Steven Gurney has gotten a few balls to the head and is close to a strikeout. I think it is time to hang up the catcher’s mitt and move onto a new gang of players. Though, the Halloween aspect is funny and even though there are goblins, ghosts, and a bat or two, the story is fresh.
The idea is we start with a fourth wall smashed with the author (Gurney) going to his editor with ideas for a new book. The first few are shot down, and the editor says he wants a holiday story. The Thanksgiving one flips the bird, Christmas has no spirit, Hanukkah has no spark, and Kwanza does not unite author and editor. It is not until a Halloween holiday book is decided, that things are given the go ahead. But baseball season is over by Halloween, so how is he going to do it? The editor does not care, just do it.
We then follow the Fuzzy Baseball team (and though it is a story, characters break character to let us know what is happening) as they are invited to play a special one night only engagement, then to be served at the feast afterwards. Wait, to be the ones getting served food, not becoming the feast. Though that is hard to convince everyone of as there is a real ghost, a werewolf with an interesting reaction to full moons and the manager is a Bat.
There is still the humor and fun that I liked with the other stories, but as said above, I think we’ve had too many innings and need a new series. That’s not to say when book six comes around, I’ll be first in line (maybe second) to read.