The Wandering Warriors

A 1940s baseball team finds itself in Ancient Rome in this action-filled romp by two award-winning writers

In this alternate-history adventure, a 1940s barnstorming baseball team, led by retired baseball player and spy Moe Berg, is transported from rural Illinois to Ancient Rome, just after the death of Emperor Septimius Severus.

The Romans—who actually played a game called "small ball"—put the captured team to work teaching baseball to the gladiators for a major Colosseum event . . . that turns into an over-the-top life or death finale.

Baseball hijinks, a wild ride through Rome in a careening team bus, a hint of romance, and some viciously good hitting and fielding—but amid all this adventure, will the Wandering Warriors make it home?

Includes two bonus stories: A Trade in Serpents by Alan Smale, and Stephen to Cora to Joe, or, The Truth As I Know It by Rick Wilber.

"The tales are unified in their whimsy and grit, making this a rousing series of adventures" – Publisher's Weekly

"Wilber and Smale are two literary tricksters who present for your reading pleasure a fantastical romp featuring two cultures nobody but Rick and Alan had ever thought to let clash: barnstorming baseball players and Imperial Romans. You will believe in doubleheaders in the Coliseum. You will marvel at gladiators flailing at curve balls. And you will be tickled by the historical celebrities to take place in America's ... um ... Rome's Pastime. Fun is hereby decreed. – James Patrick Kelly, winner of the Hugo, Nebula and Locus Awards