Could this finally be the Cubs' season? The team is in first place and playing well as the All-Star break approaches.

As every die-hard Cubs fan knows, however, the team's success cannot come easily. Never, however, could they imagine the hurdles this club would face in its attempt to reach the World Series for the first time since 1945. No club in baseball history has ever had to overcome the challenges that suddenly are thrust upon these Cubs.

The Curse: Cubs Win! Cubs Win! ... Or Do They? by former major league player Andy Van Slyke and veteran baseball author Rob Rains takes readers along for this thrilling fictional journey that involves much more drama and action than just winning and losing games on the field.

Written with the inside baseball knowledge that only someone who has spent a lifetime working in the sport can provide, the book uses a fictional backdrop to revisit many of the Cubs' failed pennant pursuits of the past - the Curse of the Billy Goat; the late season collapse in 1969; watching the ball squirt through Leon Durham's legs in the 1984 playoffs, and how Steve Bartman got in the way of the 2003 pennant-clinching moment.

More than just a baseball novel, this is a story about the bond that exists between fathers and sons, the bond that exists between a team and its fans, and the dangers of the lust for power, glory, and money.