Shut Up and Deal: A Novel

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This be it!

Great account of the poker world - but it isn't a novel

Atmospheric...

The Real Deal

For people who know or want to know

Shut Up and Deal: A Novel
Jesse May
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0385489404
Release Date: 1998-04-13

Amazon.com

The vignettes in Shut Up and Deal are a bizarre mingling of Damon Runyon and David Mamet. Mickey, the book's narrator, is always playing cards with people who have monikers such as Uptown Raoul, Hot Mama Earl, Johnny World, and Vinnie the Greek, and he himself generally wears at these card games something like "yellow pants and a green double-breasted jacket from the seventies and a green and yellow flowered shirt with dark sunglasses" in order to sucker the unsuspecting mark into maybe thinking that he is not such a good poker player and that his money can be easily won, which it usually cannot. Yet the dialogue, relecting life on the professional poker circuit, is stark and brutal, as in Mickey's advice to a dilettante who is considering following in his footsteps: "All I can tell you is that it's lonely out there, real fuckin' lonely, and your play doesn't matter so much as how tough you are and whether or not you fall apart."

The plot, like poker itself, is a transitory affair. "I been playing for over six years now," says Mickey, the narrator of Shut Up and Deal, "and I still try and start each day as a new day, pick myself off the floor and get focused." This works fine when you're sitting at the poker table, where no given hand means anything in the context of any other given hand, but readers who enjoy traditional narrative, where events have a causal relationship to the events immediately preceding, will face a stiff challenge in the unrelenting cycle of hands won and lost with no visible grander scheme of things in which player--and reader--might take solace. --Ron Hogan

Book Description

In 1987, there was legalized poker in Nevada and in one county of California. Author Jesse May was seventeen years old and already hooked. By 1996, poker could be legally played in casinos in over twenty states of the union and five countries in Europe. Legalization changed the face of poker, and as the game came of age, so did May, who by 1989 had dropped out of the University of Chicago after one year due to irreconcilable differences between Tuesday- and Thursday-morning classes and Monday- and Wednesday-night poker games.

Based on his experiences in the strange world of poker, May's debut novel Shut Up and Deal is the story of a nontraditional '90s slacker, a dropout with an incurable obsession and incredible stamina, who makes a career in a profession where the only goals are to stay in action and to not go broke. In Shut Up and Deal, a professional poker player takes readers along on his adventures over several years in and out of casinos and card rooms in locales such as Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and Amsterdam.

Told in a catching, likeable voice, this story offers up one rip-roaring poker-table drama after another, with narrator Mickey ultimately finding himself in a spot that jeopardizes his entire bankroll and calls into question his morals, such as they are. In rhythmic, high-octane prose that is as addictive as the game it describes, Shut Up and Deal zooms in on the swirling, feverish microcosm of the contemporary poker world from its very first line and never cuts away.

Customer Reviews:

This be it!.......2006-02-16

I'm just adding my voice to those who have said this is the greatest poker novel ever written. It stands alone. It is so good, I suspect reader-players will take all manner of different stuff from it. This is only poker novel I know worth reading several times to get at its many meanings.

Why any non-poker player would read it is beyond me. A non-poker player critiquing it would be a joke.

Great account of the poker world - but it isn't a novel.......2005-03-28

For poker nuts I'd recommend this book for its evocative descriptions of the high-stakes poker world. But it's a series of vignettes, descriptions of games and characters, without much plot or development. So it's not a novel in the sense that, say, the Cincinatti Kid is. It has more in common with the non-fiction poker books by Al Alvarez and Anthony Holden. Still, worth reading if you want to soak up everything you can about the poker world, and you may recognise something of yourself in the descriptions of the gambler's psychology.

Atmospheric..........2004-06-10

This is the best novel ever written about poker. It effectively captures the mood, atmosphere, characters, and What-day-of-the-week-is-it?/Is-it-morning-or-night-outside? mania of the subculture. It is a mood piece that creeps very close to the real experience-- probably better than anyone has ever written it. Those looking for page-turning plots (which would otherwise blur/undercut the central theme here), need to grab some generic title off the best-seller list.

The Real Deal.......2003-11-05

"Shut Up and Deal" by Jesse May is one of the best novels I have ever read. The writing is excellent and the author tells the truth about poker.

For people who know or want to know.......2003-06-18

Shut up and deal is a unique book that provides players of all skill levels a constant reminder that the philosophy of luck is as important to learn and understand as all of the "how to and statistical calculation" books ever written about poker. It does so in one book that also stands out as entertaining poker fiction. The underlying truths provide what it takes to win at playing poker at the highest levels and the pitfalls that are there everyday to test any player that has chosen to make poker their profession, or who have chosen to play semi-pro. I understand that to a literary critic, this book rambles, but to players who have been there it is a must read.

Book Description

Lanen Kaelar has dreamed of dragons all her life. But not just dreaming, for Lanen believes in dragons. Her family mocks her that dragons are just a silly myth. A legend. But Lanen knows better. And she means to prove it. One day she sets out on a dangerous voyage to the remote West to find the land of the True Dragons.What she discovers is a land of real dragons more beautiful-and surprising-than any dream she could have imagined.

Customer Reviews:

A wonderful read.......2007-07-19

I got this book years ago and I still pick it up today and enjoy reading. A wonderful tale of love and adventure and show that just because something is big and unusual it does not mean it is evil. Humans can be just as bad if not worse.

A Good Book, especially if you like Dragons.......2007-06-21

I am a big fan of Anne McCaffrey and her Dragonriders of Pern, and am in a constant quest to find similar good books about dragons. Ofcourse no one can write them like McCaffrey, but Kerner does an excellent job, her dragons are quite likable. I absolutely loved the beginning of this book, it has a great start. I enjoyed all the characters and learning about this world and its inhabitants. I admit I wasn't sure I liked the relationship that developed between Lanen and Akor, but eventually got used it. And the surrounding story was good enough to keep me interested and wanting to continue reading the story. This is a great start to a new trilogy (perhaps a series?). It will definately make you want to continue the story in the next book.

Abridged version by accident.......2007-02-09

I bought the ubridged version by accident, certainly did not mean to. How ever, it was not so bad. Since I haven't read the original unabridged book, I cannot say whether the book benefited from the compacting. :-) Anyway, the story was good, and if you like dragon fantacy, you'll propably like this book. It was entertaining and did not just repeat something that has been written a hundred times already.

A GREAT READ.......2006-10-11

This story is one of the best I have read in a long time. Elizabeth Kerners style is unique and her ability to decribe is fantastic. I think what I liked best was that her main character Lanen was not the prettiest or even the smartest character but that she was strong and followed her beliefs. I found the romance between Akhor and Lanen refreshing. It was not the steriotypical "love at first sight" non sense someone described below. Also yes they did have an interspecies romance but if you go on to read the second and third book in this series Akhor gets changed back into a dragon!! So all the problems don't just dissapear. Anyway like I said its a great read. You won't get much sleep though so if you pick this book up don't expect to put it down till you finish.

Better than I anticipated........2006-03-17

I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. After letting it collect some dust on my "to read" shelf for a couple of months, where it didn't look too thrilling and I must admit that a number of other books skipped ahead of it in the queue, I finally picked it up for a long plane ride. Unfortunately for me, I found myself pretty much engrossed right from the beginining and didn't get any of the sleep I was hoping for on that trip.

The characters are engaging and the plot is unique and exciting. I liked the naivety and innocence of Lanen, full of confidence in her ability to overcome any obstacle that the world might throw in her path, and determination to reach her goal of visiting and communicating with the dragons. In the begining of the tale she is completely unaware of the dark and dangerous forces searching for her, or of the impact that her destiny may have on the world. Other characters were also very well formed, although without much shades of grey (good or evil, but not in between).

When I realized that the whole book would be told in the first person, I didn't think that I would enjoy it. However, I found that I wasn't bothered by it in the least, and that it actually enhanced parts of the story by allowing the author to reveal intimate details of key characters that helped flesh out and give feeling to some of the dragons and the villians. I actually thought that the writing style was top notch and was especially impressed because this was the first of Kerner's books.

I really look forward to reading the others in the series, and can pretty much guarentee that they won't spend much time on the "to read" shelf.

Song in the Silence: The Tale of Lanen Kaelar

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Song in the Silence: The Tale of Lanen Kaelar
Elizabeth Kerner
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTS7XE

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Song in the Silence: The Tale of Lanen Kaelar

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Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 1417670177

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Burning Fiery Furnace: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
Guy R. Williams
Manufacturer: Players Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0887344135

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Shadrach and the Furnace

Manufacturer: Bobbs-Merrill
ProductGroup: Book
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SHADRACH IN THE FURNACE
Silverberg Robert
Manufacturer: Bobbs Merrill
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Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J4XZF4

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Shadrach in the Furnace
Robert Silverberg
Manufacturer: Science Fiction Book Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0575021918

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Shadrach in the Furnace
Robert Silverberg
Manufacturer: Bobbs-Merrill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NZRYGU

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Shadrach in the Furnace
ROBERT SILVERBURG
Manufacturer: BOBBS-MERRILL
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HN0RDA

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There are only so many ways you can say "he's great!"

A neglected classic...

Shadrach in the Furnace
Robert silverberg
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Silverberg, Robert | ( S ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0671812734

Book Description

Continuing the series of authoritative new editions of the novels of Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Robert Silverberg!

The stunning novel of a man surrounded by machines that flash instantaneous pictures of everything happening...a man surfeited with drugs that allow him to be eyewitness to the living past and pleasured by sensual women who vie for his favors...a man named Shadrach who find slittle rest in his miracle-infested world. A supershocker about what happens when telemetric sensors no longer suffice, when the great Khan, ruler of the Earth, needs more...when he needs to survive through the body of a virile, healthy, very special man -- through Shadrach Mordecai.

Customer Reviews:

There are only so many ways you can say "he's great!".......2004-10-02

I'm sure Mr Silverberg has mediocre or less than brilliant books somewhere lurking somewhere in his canon (good as he is, nobody has a perfect batting average, unless you only write one great book and then die, which is a different kind of bad) and maybe I should go off and read some of those, because it would sure make reviewing his classic books that much easier. This is yet another excellent addition to the world of SF, detailing a coherent and believable future world with a story that focuses more on characters than wowing us with hard science and uses the trappings of SF to tell said story, putting plot and characterization first. Of course, it's no longer in print, but that's pretty much a given with this stuff now, eh? In yet another interesting twist on an old concept, Silverberg takes the idea of the old man wanting to live forever. Now, this can be done well (like this book) or poorly (Heinlein's I Will Fear No Evil) but Silverberg doesn't just focus on the situation, but expands it to include the world itself. Genghis II Mao IV Khan (or something like that) has taken over the world some years back and his governments rule over everything, in the wake of a Virus War that has inflicted most people with an organ rotting disease. However, he's an old man now, nearly a hundred and subject to constant transplants and surgeries to stay healthy, and he's looking to the day when those no longer work. Shadrach is his personal physician, wired with sensors and things that constantly key him into the dictator's state of health. When it turns out that the dictator's scientists will be able to transfer his mind and peronality into another, younger, healthier body, the person they settle on is . . . Shadrach himself. Silverberg takes this central concept and travels far with it, creating compelling characters, from the scientists working to further the dictator's agenda, to the possibly not wrapped too tight dictator, to all the people who willingly work with a despot, to Shadrach himself. The plot is by no means breakneck but a heck of a lot happens as Silverberg details a world enslaved but still functioning after a fashion. He makes no moral judgements, not painting anyone as truly good or evil, everyone is grey, from the security guy who hates torturing people but does it because it's his job, to Shadrach, who has to wrestle with keeping the man who rules the planet with an iron fist healthy. In the process he shows us all the corners of the world, the inner workings of a dictator's reign and even the state of religion in a world falling apart. Again, one of the most amazing things about Silverberg is his ability to cram all these concepts into a slim (two hundred and fifty pages!) book and make it feel complete. His use of the present tense gives the book a calm immediacy, sprinkled with Shadrach's version of the Khan's diary. This is SF at its quietly experimental best, telling a thought provoking story and utilizing his typically effortless techniques to weave a plot that falls together perfectly, surprisingly and in the only way it could. Although the ending has an open ended quality to it, Silverberg never wrote a sequel to it and he never needed to. Along with the rest of his stuff, this is highly recommended and well worth your time to track it down, or badgering a publisher to get it back out there again.

A neglected classic..........2004-05-22

I first read Shadrach Mordecai's story in the pages of the July 1976 Analog magazine, so this story has been with me a long time. It affected me so strongly, that I remember the *other* stories in that edition of Analog (the cover story was "Tricentennial", a story you've NEVER heard of--see what I mean)

This book, with Stochastic Man, Thorns, and a couple of others came just before Silverberg took a decade long hiatus from writing. Each of these "last" books was mind blowingly powerful, deep, and affecting. This book, out of print and mostly overlooked for much of that time, is in my opinion the best of those pre-hiatus novels.

The story is basic SF. Shadrach is doctor to the world's tyrant dictator, and his job is to keep the ancient tottering monarch alive until a more permanent solution to old age can be found. That solution is to move the tyrant's mind to the body of a younger man and slowly Shadrach learns that the younger man chosen is---Shadrach Modecai.

Set in Ulan Bator (today's capitol of Mongolia, and, here, world capitol), this novel follows Shadrach's dealing with this problem: how he is mentally affected and how he solves the problem in a world where everything is monitored. As usual, Silverberg gives us both the interior of a compelling character and spectacular and vivid flavor of a future world unlike our own.

Highly recommended.

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Shadrach in the Furnace
Robert Silverberg
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000TYBZA6

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The Burning Fiery Furnace (Dramascripts)
Guy R. Williams
Manufacturer: Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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SHADRACH IN THE FURNACE
Robert Silverber
Manufacturer: Bobbs-Merrill
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ASIN: B000IOJ8NI

Book Description

How should we understand the stories of the Babylonian Talmud? Where do they come from? Why are they in the Talmud? How do they relate to Talmudic law? In Talmudic Stories, Jeffrey Rubenstein deepens our appreciation for the complexity of these texts by drawing attention to the literary aspects and cultural contexts that are essential to understanding their narrative art, meanings, and importance. Focusing on six famous stories of the Babylonian Talmud and discussing many others in relation to these, Rubenstein's analysis illuminates the ways in which the rabbis used narratives to grapple with fundamental tensions of their culture. The book also features an appendix including the original Hebrew/Aramaic texts for the reader's reference.

Customer Reviews:

An outstanding contribution to Judaic Studies........2000-06-05

In Talmudic Stories: Narrative Art, Composition, And Culture, Jeffrey Rubenstein (assistant professor in the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University) draws attention to the literary aspects and cultural contexts of six Babylonian Talmud stories and provides a framework essential for a proper appreciation and understanding of their narrative art, meanings, and importance in Judaic studies. The chapters composing Talmudic Stories include: Torah, Shame, and "The Oven of Akhnai"; Elisha ben Abuya: Torah and the Sinful Sage; Torah and the Mundane Life; The Education of R. Shimon bar Yohai; Rabbinic Authority and the Destruction of Jerusalem; Torah, Lineage, and the Academic Hierarchy; Torah, Gentiles, and Eschatology. Talmudic Stories is an impressive work of insightful scholarship and a highly recommended addition to academic, temple, and personal Judaic studies collections.

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Here is all the evidence you'll ever need that a sober lifestyle is anything but bland. Blending flavorful recipes and the camaraderie of cooking and eating together with the spirit of recovery, this delightful cookbook by renowned Hazelden-New York chef Gino Dalesandro brings together the main ingredients for the good life.

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Illustrated Catalog of Civil War Military Goods: Union Army Weapons, Insignia, Uniform Accessories, and Other Equipment

Manufacturer: Dover Publications
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10, 20, 30 Minutes to Sew for Your Home (Sewing with Nancy)
Nancy Zieman
Manufacturer: Krause Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Any time is a good time to sew!

This exciting new book from the host of America's top-rated PBS sewing program features 25 soft-furnishing projects for every room of the home that can be completed even by those who only have 10, 20, or 30 minutes to spare. Sewers of all skill levels will learn to create a quilt and lampshade for the bedroom, a table runner and napkins for the kitchen, a machine mat for the sewing room, crib sheets for baby's room, and more. Step-by-step instructions expertly guide sewers from choosing fabrics through finishing each project.

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• Includes helpful sewing tips and techniques

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Huey, 'Fast' and Mackie are better known as those crazy, streetwise Fun Lovin' Criminals.

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