Don't Fall for the Mainstream Ping-Pong Propaganda!
Download or listen to my novella "Paddlehands" before this Timothée Chalamet nonsense hits the big screen.
Word reached me earlier this year that a major motion picture would be released on Christmas Day about “the greatest American ping-pong player ever.” I was horrified that the Hollywood bigwigs would attempt to steal the headlines on Jesus’s birthday. But more selfishly, I was worried that they’d also beaten me to the story of Eddy Fink.
However, it turns out the Josh Safdie flick—which, per trusted sources (i.e., Wikipedia), is being promoted as a biopic—is more Rocky than Rocky Marciano.
No disrespect to Mr. Marty Reisman, who’s been dead since 2012, and helped popularize the sport in my old haunts. (Ms. DeMarco, the woman who mentored me in the game, had trained under Marty Supreme in the dingy pool halls of the Lower East Side.) But yours truly has stood across the table from the deadliest ping-pong player in the Western Hemisphere, and he has only one name: Paddlehands.
Let’s call it the Christmas spirit (and not righteous indignation) taking root. But I’d like to offer you access to the true story of a man so good at “the other gentleman’s game,” as the Brits refer to table tennis, that he once (nearly) led out the Chinese Olympic delegation at London 2012, and the rivalry we shared.
Here you can download or listen to my novella, Paddlehands: The Most Epic and Absurd Ping-Pong Story Ever Told, for free!
If you do take advantage of this offer, write me a review on Goodreads.
And before you go, take advantage of another Christmas offer: for $40, you can join the Attic Club, where my most faithful readers and friends reside, for the next year. Upgrade your subscription here.
Merry Christmas!
Chapter 1: Searching for a Ghost
Chapter 2: The King Enters the Arena
Chapter 3: An Unforeseen Betrayal
Chapter 4: With Thor, All Things Are Possible
Chapter 5: Be Careful What You Pray For
Chapter 6: He’s Been Hit!
Chapter 7: Returning to Battle
Chapter 8: You Could Not Write a Script Like This
If you’d like to purchase the e-book or listen to Paddlehands in a show of support, you can do so on Amazon, Audible, Barnes & Noble, and Spotify.