Sandlot is a novel about a guy returning to Burgaw, North Carolina, after 12 years in China and, eventually, starting his own football team. I wrote it after I returned to Burgaw, North Carolina after 12 years in Asia, most of which I spent in China. Original, ain't it? Actually, it's a bit more complex than that. It's about being 48 years old and still not knowing what you want to be when you grow up. It's about estrangement between fathers and sons. It's about what we call reverse culture shock, about looking at your home from the perspective of an outsider, and learning to belong again. It's about sharp dialogue and bad one-liners. And yes, of course, it's about football.