Buffalo novelist Mick Cochrane marks the publication of his third book with a reading at Canisius College

Mick Cochrane

Of the many published authors in Buffalo, Mick Cochrane is one of only a handful that publishes in the traditional manner. That is, he has an agent and editor and publishes his books at a large publishing concern in New York (Knopf). Having published two novels previously, Flesh Wounds and Sport, Cochrane will next week release his third, The Girl Who Threw Butterflies.

The novel concerns an eighth grader, Molly, whose father has recently died, which has brought her a certain amount of notoriety among her peers, if for no other reason than she has been marked by tragedy. Bucking against this odd form of fame, she sets out to become “famous” for something else: She decides to join the boys baseball team.

Before his death, her father had shown Molly how to throw a knuckleball. For those not in the baseball “know,” a knuckleball is a slow pitch thrown by gripping the ball primarily with three fingers, the thumb, index, and middle, with the latter two touching the ball only at the tips. When released, the ball hardly rotates at all, the way it would in a normal pitch, and this, combined with the slow speed, causes the ball to move in unpredictable ways—like a butterfly.

The knuckleball wasn’t just a pitch. It was an attitude toward life; it was a way of being in the world. It was a philosophy. ‘You don’t aim a butterfly,’ her father used to say. ‘You release it.” Each pitch had a life of its own. It wasn’t about control, it wasn’t about muscle. Each floating and fluttering pitch was a little miracle. It was all about surprise.

I asked Cochrane where the idea for the novel came from. As most writers do when asked that question, he said he couldn’t be sure. He added that when he was a teen, he and his baseball-loving male friends used to stimulate their conversations by discussing important philosophical questions like: “Could a girl ever play professional baseball?” and so forth. He said his answer at the time, which may have been the germ for this story, was that yes, if she could throw a “butterfly,” which doesn’t require power so much has finesse, then she could pitch in the major leagues. According to Cochrane there actually is a knuckleball pitcher, who also happens to be a woman, trying to fight her way through the minor leagues as we speak.

I was curious to know if writing a “young adult” novel was any different than writing an adult adult novel. He said it’s just as difficult, and suggested that David Lynch writing a “PG” movie would be an apt comparison. It’s the same form, with a few different rules given the intended audience. He is currently contracted to write a second, unrelated novel for young adults.

The Girl Who Threw Butterflies will be released next week and Mick Cochrane will give a reading in celebration of its publication in the Grupp Fireside Lounge at Canisius College on Thursday, February 26 at 7pm. The event is free and open to the public.

—michael kelleher