LEWISTON – Before there was the newspaper article, there was the story behind the story.

“Sidelined,” a new book by Kevin C. Mills, an award-winning sports journalist, takes a look at journalism in a unique way. Reliving his own experiences with some of New England’s top newspapers, Mills presents strange but true episodes from his own career. He chronicles some of his favorite incidents with humor and wit while presenting the finished product, which barely hints at the story behind its publication.

Mills shares moments chasing hockey legend Wayne Gretzky down the hall of the FleetCenter; showing up at Mike Bordick’s doorstep; and experiencing the stop-the-presses moment he missed when Mike Tyson was knocked out by Buster Douglass.

Readers will learn the back-story to some of Mills’ greatest stories and laugh along as he endures faulty stadium lights and gates that lock him inside the football stadium — not to mention the story that accidentally won an award or how he went from reporter to rescuer while on the sailing beat.

Mills writes about his adventures and then provides the article that was subsequently published, from game stories to some of his best work. He lets the reader in on what truly happens when a journalist is on the sidelines and reporting on the world of sports.

“Sidelined” is available at www.kevincmills.com and will soon be in select area bookstores. Mills has worked for the Boston Globe, the Portland Newspapers and the Lynn Daily Evening Item and has been with the Sun Journal for the last 19 years. He has been recognized numerous times by the Maine Press Association and the New England Press Association. He has also been honored by the Maine Basketball Coaches Association and the Maine Athletic Administrators Association for outstanding print media contributions to Maine interscholastic athletics.

A native of Gorham, Mills has republished his first novel, “Sons and Daughters of the Ocean,” with Maine Authors Publishing in Rockland. The book, set in the 1870s, follows the lives of three young teens growing up in Brooks Harbor, a small Maine coastal village.

Mills’ ancestors were shipbuilders, merchant mariners and lighthouse keepers. “Sons and Daughters of the Ocean” is based loosely on that heritage. Two of his ancestors, poetess Celia Thaxter and maritime author George S. Wasson, were integral parts of Maine’s early literary heritage. Mills spent much of the last decade researching his family history and subsequently wrote and published two books about that heritage.

For more information, go to www.kevincmills.com or e-mail [email protected]. Mills also has an author’s page on Facebook.