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Walter Tevis is widely regarded as a master for both his gritty poolhall novels and his brilliant rendering of the world of competitive chess. This long overdue collection establishes Tevis’s rightful place as a maestro of the short form, as well. Including previously unpublished stories from journals and magazines, this entertaining collection showcases Tevis’s characteristic perceptiveness, empathy, and range.
In one story, a man receives a phone call from his future self and follows their instructions to unpredictable, calamitous results. In another, a famous actor and a young actress showcase their talent for acting both on and off the stage. There are five short stories set in poolhalls, including one that features Fast Eddie Felson and another that was the basis for the novel The Hustler. Here also is his first fictional foray into chess, with a ranked chess player finding fellowship in the prison yard with another player.
In all of them, Tevis reminds us again and again why his writing has long been revered for its roving curiosity and innate humanity.
A W&N Essential
In one story, a man receives a phone call from his future self and follows their instructions to unpredictable, calamitous results. In another, a famous actor and a young actress showcase their talent for acting both on and off the stage. There are five short stories set in poolhalls, including one that features Fast Eddie Felson and another that was the basis for the novel The Hustler. Here also is his first fictional foray into chess, with a ranked chess player finding fellowship in the prison yard with another player.
In all of them, Tevis reminds us again and again why his writing has long been revered for its roving curiosity and innate humanity.
A W&N Essential
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Reviews
A fine, swift, wanton, offbeat novel
Tevis writes about pool with power and poetry and tension . . . Grabs the reader and doesn't let go. You don't have to appreciate pool to like this book, to appreciate its sense of living on the edge
If Hemingway had the passion for pool that he had for bullfighting, his hero might have been Eddie Felson
Compelling. . . . A magnificent obsession
Sheer entertainment. It is a book I reread every few years - for the pure pleasure and skill of it
Tevis traps us in the breathless drama of the moment and makes us feel the same intense involvement his characters feel