“If Hemingway had the passion for pool that he had for bullfighting, his hero might have been Eddie Felson” (Time). The novel that inspired the classic film starring Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason, The Hustler tells the story of Fast Eddie Felson, a young pool player who hustles suckers in small towns, looking for stake money so he can reach his goal: a marathon match in Chicago against Minnesota Fats. An exploration of guts, stamina, and character, and of the difference between winners and losers, this tense, gritty tale is “a wonderful hymn to the last true era when men of substance played pool with a vengeance” (Time Out).

“SF writing of a rare quality” lifts this collection of stories from the renowned author of The Hustler and The Man Who Fell to Earth (Time Out). The author of the competitive pool thriller The Hustler and the groundbreaking sci-fi novel The Man Who Fell to Earth, Walter Tevis was also a master of the short story. His work was published in Playboy, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, and many other magazines. This anthology collects some of his best short work. Full of wit, surprise, dark humor, and deep emotion, these stories pack a punch—and are ideal for fans of his longer work or those looking for an introduction to one of America’s most iconic sci-fi writers. “The poetic imprints of a fine writer’s trail.” —The Times (London)

Netflix’s most watched limited series to date! The thrilling novel of one young woman’s journey through the worlds of chess and drug addiction.​ When eight-year-old Beth Harmon’s parents are killed in an automobile accident, she’s placed in an orphanage in Mount Sterling, Kentucky. Plain and shy, Beth learns to play chess from the janitor in the basement and discovers she is a prodigy. Though penniless, she is desperate to learn more—and steals a chess magazine and enough money to enter a tournament. Beth also steals some of her foster mother’s tranquilizers to which she is becoming addicted. At thirteen, Beth wins the chess tournament. By the age of sixteen she is competing in the US Open Championship and, like Fast Eddie in The Hustler, she hates to lose. By eighteen she is the US champion—and Russia awaits . . . Fast-paced and elegantly written, The Queen’s Gambit is a thriller masquerading as a chess novel—one that’s sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. “The Queen’s Gambit is sheer entertainment. It is a book I reread every few years—for the pure pleasure and skill of it.” —Michael Ondaatje, Man Booker Prize–winning author of The English Patient

What is the difference between a promoter and a hustler?" Bill Veeck asks. "Well, let's look at it this way. Neither one of them is an advertiser. An advertiser pays for his space. A promoter works out a quid pro quo . A hustler gets a free ride and makes it seem as if he's doing you a favor." Keep this in mind as Veeck, one of baseball's all-time characters and certainly its best-ever hustler, draws on an apparently bottomless well of stories, anecdotes, theories, and attitudes involving the often bizarre world of major league baseball. And, of course, he's never afraid to speak his mind. The Hustler's Handbook is a rich, hilarious, flagrantly outspoken lesson on how to operate as a hustler in the corporate jungle of modern baseball.

A memoir of living with writer Walter Tevis.

A legendary pool hustler tries to make a comeback in the novel that inspired the Martin Scorsese film: “A great read, entertainment of a high order” (Los Angeles Times). Fast Eddie Felson was the best in the country. Then he walked out on his talent. He ran a poolroom for the next twenty years, got married, and watched pool games on television. One evening he watches a pool player who reminds him of his old rival, Minnesota Fats, and it sparks something in him. Feeling a sudden grief at the loss of his old self and his old life, he leaves behind his business—and his marriage—and finds Fats, now retired in the Florida Keys. Now the pair is about to embark on a tour of the country together. Eddie hopes to recapture his glory days, but the journey will come with a price . . . The author of the classic The Hustler, which also features Fast Eddie Felson, “is unequaled when it comes to creating and sustaining the tension of a high stakes game. Even readers who have never lifted a cue will be captivated” (Publishers Weekly). “Tevis writes about pool with power and poetry and tension. From the opening scene of this fine book, the reunion between Eddie and Fats twenty years after, the staccato beat of the prose and finely drawn characters grab the reader and don’t let go. You don’t have to like pool to like this book, to appreciate its sense of living on the edge.” —The Washington Post