Mr. Ballpoint

From the acclaimed author of 2020 Independent Press Awards Distinguished Favorites Clifford's Spiral and Preacher Finds a Corpse. In 1945, Milton Reynolds introduced the ballpoint pen to the United States and triggered the biggest single-day shopping riot in history. Reynolds, an exuberant huckster who had already made and lost several fortunes, again became an overnight millionaire and then bragged that he “stole it fair and square.” Milton was a man ideally suited to his time – the post-war boom when the salesman was king and all of the rules had yet to be written. He was an old-fashioned silver-tongued American peddler who would do almost anything – ethical or otherwise – to close a deal. His son Jim was a quiet Boy Scout who couldn't tell a lie – even when he needed to. Mr. Ballpoint is a humorous father-son relationship story, told from Jim's point of view, about coping with Milton’s outrageous schemes, then their sudden success. The conflicts between these two fundamentally different characters drive the comedy of the story.