<div>The author of Searching for Bobby Fischer tackles his own childhood in this &ldquo;remarkably ambitious and satisfying memoir&rdquo; (The New York Times Book Review). Fred Waitzkin depicted the joys and trials of parenthood with remarkable perception in Searching for Bobby Fischer, the inspiration for the beloved major motion picture. A New York Times Notable Book, The Last Marlin is another sweeping family saga, the tale of an adolescence spent navigating between two very different parents and the discovery of a lifelong passion for deep-sea fishing. Waitzkin&rsquo;s father, Abe, is both a prolific salesman&mdash;the &ldquo;Beethoven of fluorescent lighting&rdquo; in the fifties&mdash;and a frail man, driven to succeed despite his declining health, while his mother, Stella, is an eccentric abstract artist, once a student of de Kooning and Hans Hoffman, and a free spirit who resents her husband&rsquo;s dirty business tactics and conventional notions of success. As their relationship disintegrates, Waitzkin is torn between them. But soon he finds solace on the ocean. At first, fishing is a way to bond with Abe&mdash;and irritate Stella&mdash;but over the years it becomes a way of life. From the Long Island Sound to the drug-infested coastline of Bimini and the marlin-rich waters of the Gulf Stream, Waitzkin comes to believe that fishing is the answer to all his problems, even as he starts his own family. Hailed by Outside magazine as &ldquo;a graceful father&ndash;son memoir that artfully braids rich, disparate strands,&rdquo; The Last Marlin is a tribute to the open sea, the solitude it provides, and the connections it fosters. </div>

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The Last Marlin

<div>The inspiration for the iconic film, this memoir by the father of a prodigy reflects on chess, competition, and childhood. Fred Waitzkin fell in love with chess during the Cold War&ndash;era showdown between Russian champion Boris Spassky and young American superstar Bobby Fischer. Twelve years later, Waitzkin&rsquo;s own son, Joshua, discovered chess in Washington Square Park and began displaying the telltale signs of a prodigy. Soon, crowds gathered to watch the six-year-old, calling him a &ldquo;Young Fischer.&rdquo; An unstoppable player, little Josh was suddenly catapulted into the intense world of competitive chess. When Josh first sat down at a chessboard, he was a charming, rambunctious, rough-and-tumble child. Within weeks, he was playing the game with poise and constrained violence, as if there were a wise old man plotting moves inside him. Then, renowned coach Bruce Pandolfini discovered Josh in the park and began to refine the child&rsquo;s game. In Searching for Bobby Fischer, Waitzkin recounts his journey with his son into the world of chess, from the colorful milieu of street hustlers to the international network of grandmasters. Looming large over their story is the elusive Bobby Fischer, whose mysterious disappearance from the chess world created a vacuum that would profoundly affect young Josh and his dad. Josh went on to win eight national championships before he turned twenty&mdash;but his achievements did not come without cost. In this memoir, Waitzkin explores his love and ambition for Josh, who faces pressures far beyond his years. Even as father and son travel to Moscow to watch Kasparov challenge Karpov, Waitzkin doubts his own motives: Is he pushing his son too hard? Is the game a joy to Josh, or is he just fulfilling his father&rsquo;s wishes? Searching for Bobby Fischer is about more than chess. &ldquo;A little gem of a book,&rdquo; it is ultimately about the struggle we all face to love our families and do right by them while also setting our own paths as individuals (The New York Times). </div>

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Searching for Bobby Fischer

<div>An illuminating profile of the world champion chess player and political activist by the acclaimed author of Searching for Bobby Fischer. Over the course of his unprecedented career, Garry Kasparov dominated the chess world with astonishing creativity and explosive passion. In this unforgettable work of reportage, author Fred Waitzkin &ldquo;captures better than anyone&mdash;including Kasparov himself in his own memoir&mdash;the various sides of this elusive genius&rdquo; (The Observer). Waitzkin had intimate access to his subject during Kasparov&rsquo;s gripping 1990 matches against his sworn enemy, Anatoly Karpov. As the world chess champion defends his title, Waitzkin analyzes the match play with verve and depth that will delight lay readers and aspiring grandmasters alike. Against this backdrop, Waitzkin assembles a fascinating portrait of a complicated man who is both a generational talent and an outspoken advocate of Russian democracy, brilliant and volcanic, tenacious and charismatic, despairing one moment and exuberant the next. </div>

Mortal Games

<div>Inspired by a true story, artfully told by the author of Searching for Bobby Fischer: A Bahamian island becomes a battleground for a savage private war. Charismatic expat Bobby Little built his own funky version of paradise on the remote island of Rum Cay, a place where ambitious sport fishermen docked their yachts for fine French cuisine and crowded the bar to boast of big blue marlin catches while Bobby refilled their cognac on the house. Larger than life, Bobby was really the main attraction: a visionary entrepreneur, expert archer, reef surfer, bush pilot, master chef, seductive conversationalist. But after tragedy shatters the tranquility of Bobby&rsquo;s marina, tourists stop visiting and simmering jealousies flare among island residents. And when a cruel, different kind of self-made entrepreneur challenges Bobby for control of the docks, all hell breaks loose. As the cobalt blue Bahamian waters run red with blood, the man who made Rum Cay his home will be lucky if he gets off the island alive . . . When the Ebb Tide cruises four hundred miles southeast from Fort Lauderdale to Rum Cay, its captain finds the Bahamian island paradise he so fondly remembers drastically altered. Shoal covers the marina entrance, the beaches are deserted, and on shore there is a small cemetery with headstones overturned and bones sticking up through the sand. What happened to Bobby&rsquo;s paradise?</div>

Deep Water Blues

<div>An American tourist finds himself obsessed with a young Costa Rican woman in this novel by the author of Searching for Bobby Fischer and Deep Water Blues. Narrated by a man vacationing in a remote fishing village on the spectacular Pacific coast of Costa Rica, Strange Love tells a story of disappointments, unusual desires, and the things people will do when their dreams haven&rsquo;t materialized in the ways they had hoped. The man once imagined himself as a great novelist like his heroes Philip Roth and John Updike. Instead, he has spent thirty years working as an exterminator in filthy basements and elevator shafts. The young woman he meets in Costa Rica, Rachel, grew up in the shadow of poverty, loss, and trauma, yet she possesses an uncanny talent for storytelling, the very gift the man himself lacks. Now, along with her sister, she has pieced together a life running the Fragata Lounge, a ramshackle bar on the beach, where their aunt flirts with the American tourist and not-so-subtly reminds Rachel that her youthful appeal is fleeting, her chance to escape this place diminishing with each passing day. As Rachel shares her story with the man, he is mesmerized&mdash;by her beauty, the details of her past, and the way she tells of them. Soon he finds himself hinting that he is in fact the wildly successful author he once dreamed of being&mdash;and that he has the power to change her life . . . Praise for Fred Waitzkin &ldquo;Compelling.&rdquo; &mdash;GQ on Mortal Games &ldquo;Vivid, passionate, and disquieting.&rdquo; &mdash;Martin Amis, The Times Literary Supplement, on The Dream Merchant &ldquo;Sophisticated, literary, and intelligent.&rdquo; &mdash;Kirkus Reviews on The Dream Merchant &ldquo;Engaging and affecting . . . The setting may draw the reader in as much as the characters do.&rdquo; &mdash;James Blair, English Plus Language Blog, on Strange Love &ldquo;Strange Love is a hot, smart and irresistible read.&rdquo; &mdash;Harvey Blume, literary critic &ldquo;One of the things I love most about Fred Waitzkin&rsquo;s writing is his ability to transport me to other places. . . . His stories are immersive and masterfully woven. . . . Rachel&rsquo;s story is heartbreaking. It will take its toll on you. It will find the deep places of your heart and rip at them.&rdquo; &mdash;The Plucky Reader </div>

Strange Love

<div>Two Bronx boys take radically different paths in this novel about the limits of genius and the loss of home, by a &ldquo;terrifically gifted&rdquo; author (Anita Shreve, New York Times&ndash;bestselling author). Ralph Silverman was a foreign film buff, a victim of bullies, and a boy genius. He held long conversations with his pet parakeet and spent countless hours on a computer, creating mesmerizing music and solving problems in philosophy. He was a friend of great scholars and the son of a wealthy outer-borough businessman with shady associates and a secret second family. And, as he begins to take over the story from the narrator, Ralph finds himself in South Florida, physically abused and expelled into a frightening world of the unhoused&mdash;with a broken pair of glasses, no money, and no shoes. From the celebrated author of Searching for Bobby Fischer, Anything Is Good is a hypnotically compelling tale of a man haunted by the fate of his childhood buddy, and of that friend&rsquo;s pleasures and misfortunes as he navigates an unhoused life&mdash;a life more complex and dramatic than a bypasser might ever imagine. &ldquo;Anything Is Good . . . offers a deeply affecting dive into the lives of the unhoused. Its shifting perspective and changing narrative voice builds to a clarion call for greater empathy and understanding.&rdquo; &mdash;Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize&ndash;winning author of March &ldquo;Anything Is Good is the best portrait of homelessness I&rsquo;ve read since George Orwell&rsquo;s Down and Out in London and Paris. . . . Superbly written.&rdquo; &mdash;Gabriel Byrne Praise for Fred Waitzkin&rsquo;s previous books &ldquo;Very few writers can deliver a story with this much heart . . . A great novel.&rdquo; &mdash;Sebastian Junger &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve seldom been so captivated by a book.&rdquo; &mdash;Tom Stoppard &ldquo;A gem of a book.&rdquo; &mdash;The New York Times</div>

Fred Waitzkin
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Books By Fred Waitzkin (6 Books)

The Last Marlin

Searching for Bobby Fischer

Mortal Games

Deep Water Blues

Strange Love

Anything Is Good

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Books By Fred Waitzkin (6 Books)

The Last Marlin

Searching for Bobby Fischer

Mortal Games

Deep Water Blues

Strange Love

Anything Is Good

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