Chess With A Dragon


David Gerrold - 1987
    Pawns in a Deadly GameMan reached the stars and was offered unlimited access to the accumulated knowledge of the universe.Too good to be true: when the bill was presented, man had no way of paying other than enslavement and ultimate extinction...David Gerrold, creator of the classic Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" pits Earth against a host of predatory worlds—with some surprising results.

Murphy


Samuel Beckett - 1938
    The novel recounts the hilarious but tragic life of Murphy in London as he attempts to establish a home and to amass sufficient fortune for his intended bride to join him.

Game Theory 101: The Basics


William Spaniel - 2011
    From the first lesson to the last, each chapter introduces games of increasing complexity and then teaches the game theoretical tools necessary to solve them. Inside, you will find: All the basics fully explained, including pure strategy Nash equilibrium, mixed strategy Nash equilibrium, the mixed strategy algorithm, how to calculate payoffs, strict dominance, weak dominance, iterated elimination of strictly dominated strategies, iterated elimination of weakly dominated strategies, and more! Dozens of games solved, including the prisoner's dilemma, stag hunt, matching pennies, zero sum games, battle of the sexes/Bach or Stravinsky, chicken/snowdrift, pure coordination, deadlock, and safety in numbers! Crystal clear, line-by-line calculations of every step, with more than 200 images so you don't miss a thing! Tons of applications: war, trade, game shows, and duopolistic competition. Quick, efficient, and to the point, Game Theory 101: The Basics is perfect for introductory game theory, intermediate microeconomics, and political science.

Check Mates


Stewart Foster - 2019
    But the thing is, I’m not a problem child at all. I’m just a child with a problem. Felix is struggling at school. His ADHD makes it hard for him to concentrate and his grades are slipping. Everyone keeps telling him to try harder, but no one seems to understand just how hard he finds it. When Mum suggests Felix spends time with his grandfather, Felix can’t think of anything worse. Granddad hasn’t been the same since Grandma died. Plus he’s always trying to teach Felix boring chess. But sometimes the best lessons come in the most unexpected of places, and Granddad soon shows Felix that there’s everything to play for.

Chess Story


Stefan Zweig - 1942
    It is the only story in which Zweig looks at Nazism, and he does so with characteristic emphasis on the psychological.Travelers by ship from New York to Buenos Aires find that on board with them is the world champion of chess, an arrogant and unfriendly man. They come together to try their skills against him and are soundly defeated. Then a mysterious passenger steps forward to advise them and their fortunes change. How he came to possess his extraordinary grasp of the game of chess and at what cost lie at the heart of Zweig's story.This new translation of Chess Story brings out the work's unusual mixture of high suspense and poignant reflection.

The Grass Arena: An Autobiography


John Healy - 1988
    This Penguin Classics edition includes an afterword by Colin MacCabe.In his searing autobiography Healy describes his fifteen years living rough in London without state aid, when begging carried an automatic three-year prison sentence and vagrant alcoholics prowled the parks and streets in search of drink or prey. When not united in their common aim of acquiring alcohol, winos sometimes murdered one another over prostitutes or a bottle, or the begging of money. Few modern writers have managed to match Healy's power to refine from the brutal destructive condition of the chronic alcoholic a story so compelling it is beyond comparison.John Healy (b. 1943) was born into an impoverished, Irish immigrant family, in the slums of Kentish Town, North London. Out of school by 14, pressed into the army and intermittently in prison, Healy became an alcoholic early on in life. Despite these obstacles Healy achieved remarkable, indeed phenomenal expertise in both writing and chess, as outlined in the autobiographical The Grass Arena. If you enjoyed The Grass Arena, you might like Last Exit to Brooklyn, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.'Sober and precise, grotesque, violent, sad, charming and hilarious all at once'Literary Review'Beside it, a book like Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London seems a rather inaccurate tourist guide'Colin MacCabe

My Best Friend's Brother


Kennedy Claire - 2015
    Attractive, young and equally strong-headed, Scarlett Sommerfield and Dev Bashir were never meant to be a match--at least if his very wealthy and traditional Indian parents have anything to say about it. So it's a good thing that they've despised each other for most of their young lives.But that's about to change. Growing up poor and motherless, smart and ambitious Scarlett is graduating from high school and becoming a new adult in the big scary world without a safe place to land, so when she's invited to move in with her best friend's palatial home on the right side of the tracks for her senior year, things couldn't be better.There, she finds security and kindness--with the exception of her best friend's brooding and arrogant older brother, Dev, who returns home from college struggling with his own demons and seemingly focused on making her the object of his contempt. Over time--and some ill-timed run-ins--Scarlett learns that he's not at all what he seems, and a forbidden love sparks between them, burning out of control when she least expects it. But when there's fire, there's smoke, and controlling Mrs. Bashir catches onto their young romance...and everything goes to hell.Steeped in outdated rules and traditions about love and marriage, the matriarch of the Bashir Family makes no secret that Scarlett simply doesn't measure up as a match for their eldest son. And the very people who made her feel part of the family now want nothing more than to see her gone for good.Including her former best friend. Will Scarlett and Dev's love survive against his intolerant mother's sabotage, her personal misfortunes and a dark life-changing secret he's kept simmering just under the surface? Or will Scarlett end up back where she started: facing her future utterly alone.

Striding Folly


Dorothy L. Sayers - 1972
    Each of the stories introduces a different side of the twentieth century's most ingenious detective hero.This book also features a biographical essay by Janet Hitchman, Sayers' first biographer.

The Bride / In the Rich Man's World (Anetakis Tycoons, #2)


Maya Banks - 2013
    But Isabella Caplan had known from the moment she'd met Theron as a girl that she was meant for him, and he for her. And now she was going to make him realize it, too…by seducing him to one knee. But if becoming his bride came at the cost of his honor, could he forgive her? Could she forgive herself?INCLUDES THE BONUS BOOK "IN THE RICH MAN'S WORLD" BY CAROL MARINELLI

The Squares of the City


John Brunner - 1965
    It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1966. It is a sociological story of urban class warfare and political intrigue, taking place in the fictional South American capital city of Vados. It explores the idea of subliminal messages as political tools, and it is notable for having the structure of the famous 1892 chess game between Wilhelm Steinitz and Mikhail Chigorin. The structure is not coincidental, and plays an important part in the story.

Pawn


Molly Joseph - 2015
    Her prowess at the game is matched only by her rivals’ desire to defeat her, or, worse, avenge their losses. When an international championship threatens Grace’s safety, a bevy of security experts are hired to look after her, but only one is her personal, close-duty bodyguard, courtesy of Ironclad Solutions, Inc. Sam Knight knows nothing about chess, but he knows that Grace is working to achieve something important, and he vows to shelter her from those who mean her harm. In the course of his duties, he realizes there’s more going on than a simple chess match between rivals, and his fragile client is all too aware of the stakes. When she leans on him for emotional support, attraction battles with professionalism and Sam finds his self-discipline wavering. Soon the complexity of their relationship resembles a chess board, where one questionable move can ruin everything—or win a game that could resonate around the world.

The Flanders Panel


Arturo Pérez-Reverte - 1990
    Translation: Who killed the knight? Breaking the silence of five centuries, Julia's hunt for a Renaissance murderer leads her into a modern-day game of sin, betrayal, and death.

Lazy Ways to Make a Living


Abigail Bosanko - 2002
    It's a dazzling performance ...That film made me get out the chess set I'd abandoned three years earlier. It made me search through East Anglia for a blue-eyed boy suffering from wealth-ennui. I never found one, but my chess and my nails were outstanding for a thirteen year old.' Lexicographer, chess master and hedonist, Rose is down on her luck when she meets Jamie, a guy she beat at chess twelve years previously who has never recovered from losing the game or forgotten the sight of Rose's perfectly manicured nails poised to strike over the chess board. She's destitute, he's loaded and terrified of losing her again. They strike a bargain: in return for chess he will keep her. What is it like being a kept woman in the 21st century? Rose is about to find out. She's also about to learn that disguising your moves in chess can lead to victory, but doing the same thing in love leads to disaster.

Pulse


Jeremy Robinson - 2009
    This is the dream of Richard Ridley, founder of Manifold Genetics, and he has just discovered the key to eternal life: an ancient artifact buried beneath a Greek-inscribed stone in the Peruvian desert.When Manifold steals the artifact and abducts archaeologist Dr. George Pierce, United States Special Forces Delta operator Jack Sigler, call sign King, and his “Chess Team” —Queen, Knight, Rook, Bishop, and their handler, Deep Blue—give chase. Formed under special order from President Duncan, they are the best of America’s Special Forces, tasked with antiterrorism missions that take them around the world against any threat, ancient, modern, and at times, inhuman. With cutting-edge weapons, tough-as-nails tactics, and keen intellects, they stand alone on the brink, facing the world’s most dangerous threats.Ridley’s plan to create unstoppable soldiers has just made him threat number one. Tension soars along with the body count as the team faces high-tech security forces, hordes of “regens,” the horrific results of Manifold’s experiments, and a resurrected mythological predator complete with regenerative abilities, seven heads, and a savage appetite. The Chess Team races to save Pierce and stop Manifold before they change the face of genetics—and human history—forever.Heart-pounding action combines with adrenaline-charged suspense in the first of Jeremy Robinson’s smart, sharp series featuring the Chess Team.

Shadow Without a Name


Ignacio Padilla - 2000
    In 1960, Adolf Eichmann, a master chess player, is arrested in Buenos Aires, extradited to Israel, and hanged. Years later, a dying Polish count casts doubt on Eichmann's identity, leaving behind a manuscript with clues that tie the three men together. A gripping novel of imposture and identity, Shadow Without a Name is a harrowing parable of our century of chaos, where individual will is swamped by the cult of personality and destinies hang on a game of chess.