Queen of Spades

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Pub Date 10 Oct 2017 | Archive Date 08 Mar 2022

Description

“Michael Shou-Yung Shum’s Queen of Spades is a remarkable debut by an enormously talented young writer who has produced a literary delight that circles the dead center of a very dangerous pleasure—casino gambling. ”—Frederick Barthelme, author of Bob the Gambler

“Michael Shou-Yung Shum’s Queen of Spades is a remarkable debut by an enormously talented young writer who has produced a literary delight that circles the dead center of a very dangerous...


A Note From the Publisher

Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Michael Shou-Yung Shum eventually found himself dealing poker in a dead-end casino in Lake Stevens, Washington. Two doctorates bookend this strange turn of events: the first in Psychology from Northwestern, and the second in English from University of Tennessee. Along the way, Michael spent a dozen years in Chicago, touring the country as a rave DJ. He currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia, with his spouse and three cats. Queen of Spades is his first novel.

Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Michael Shou-Yung Shum eventually found himself dealing poker in a dead-end casino in Lake Stevens, Washington. Two doctorates bookend this strange turn of events:...


Advance Praise

“A magical debut—literally. This tale is both spare and sprawling, gritty and otherworldly, both an homage to the complex psychology of gambling and a cautionary tale for those watching from the rail. A ridiculously satisfying read.”

Jamie FordNew York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, and Songs of Willow Frost

 

“Michael Shou-Yung Shum’s Queen of Spades is a remarkable debut by an enormously talented young writer who has produced a literary delight that circles the dead center of a very dangerous pleasure—casino gambling. The novel is a perfectly rendered view of gambling from the inside, the dealers and their overseers in the casinos, hard at work but with vastly different objectives. Some are company men and women, others—and some here in Queen of Spades—not so much. The novel is a lovely and complex gambling fairy tale that twists and turns in intriguing ways on its way to a most satisfying conclusion.”

Frederick Barthelme, author of Bob the Gambler and Moon Deluxe

 

“In a spellbinding structure that spirals around the mysterious Royal Casino, Queen of Spadesweaves a cast of high-stakes dealers and gamblers closer and closer together as if within a spider’s web. Though their games are staked on chance, these characters’ lives intersect by fate, destiny and magic. Michael Shou-Yung Shum has written a luminous and mesmerizing debut, a novel I couldn’t put down.”

Anne Valente, author of Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down

 

“Queen of Spades is a paean to the deeply human thrill of gambling—part fond portrait of casino life, part poker-faced mysticism, part exploration of the risks we’re willing to take in search of meaning. Michael Shum has imagined a world in which cosmic forces are at play, populated it with odd and charming seekers and turned them loose among the games of chance to seek their destinies. Like drawing just the right card to a longshot inside straight, what they find—and what we read—seems at once astonishing and dazzlingly preordained. A remarkable and original debut, rendered in impossibly lucid prose.”

Michael Knight, author of The Typist and Divining Rod

 

The Queen of Spades shimmers with suspense and a magical sense of forces just beyond our ken. Debut novelist Michael Shou-Yung Shum deftly deals hand after narrative hand, initiating the reader into the mysteries of the gambler’s universe, its language, laws and gorgeous arcana. I felt I wasn’t so much reading as leaning over a high-stakes gambling table as this quartet of vulnerable characters played for their lives. How will the cards fall? How will their lives transform? And who is the elegant and mysterious Countess who watches it all from her high-backed chair? An addictive and wholly satisfying reading experience.”

Marjorie Sandor, editor of The Uncanny Reader: Stories from the Shadows

 

“In Queen of Spades, many unlikely and uncanny events transpire, all against a brooding and moody Pacific Northwest somehow reminiscent of both Twin Peaks and Crime and Punishment. How has an American writer created a brand-new nineteenth-century Russian classic in 2016? His name is Michael Shou-Yung Shum, and he has.”

Margaret Lazarus Dean, author of The Time It Takes to Fall, Leaving Orbit

 

Queen of Spades raises gambling to a metaphysics that reminds us being in the world is an amalgam of gratuitous rules, chance, danger, and faintly Borgesian sleights-of-hand. Many may read Shum’s smart, fast, impressive debut as a how-to fiction about betting, but at the end of the day it’s really all about the epistemologically and ontologically incomprehensible all the way down.”

Lance Olsen, author of Dreamlives of Debris

 

“Likable characters, a strong plot, and that most elusive of all qualities: a satisfying ending.”

Michael Keefe, bookseller, Annie Bloom’s Books

“A magical debut—literally. This tale is both spare and sprawling, gritty and otherworldly, both an homage to the complex psychology of gambling and a cautionary tale for those watching from the...


Marketing Plan

Booksellers, please consider nominating QUEEN OF SPADES for Indie Next; deadline is Aug. 4.

•   Distribution of early galleys (starting in summer 2016) and ARCs (starting February 2017) to media outlets, reviewers, bloggers, magazines, and key booksellers and librarians

•   National tour with his wife, Jaclyn Watterson, also a debut author

•   Author interviews: radio, TV, print, and online venues

•   Reviews targeting Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Library Journal, Booklist, The Washington Post, Bookforum, O Magazine, People, Asian American Magazine,

•   Coverage targeting Atlanta-area media, casino/gambling-themed magazines, as well as Electric Lit, Book Riot, Late Night Library, The Rumpus, Literary Hub, Entropy Magazine, Necessary Fiction, Huff Post, Fiction Writers Review, Writing Under Pressure, and more

•   Bookseller outreach at PNBA and SIBA

•   Casino outreach through press releases, galley offers, and personal contacts

•   Reader and media outreach at AWP 2017; press presence and possible author presence

•   NetGalley, Edelweiss, and Goodreads ARC giveaways

•   Social media including blog appearances, excerpts, Twitter, Facebook, and honing a strategy with Forest Avenue’s social media strategist

•   Promotions on author's website, michaelshum.wordpress.com, and the publisher's website, forestavenuepress.com

•   Publicity and promotion in conjunction with author's speaking engagements

 

 

Booksellers, please consider nominating QUEEN OF SPADES for Indie Next; deadline is Aug. 4.

• Distribution of early galleys (starting in summer 2016) and ARCs (starting February 2017) to media...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781942436317
PRICE $15.95 (USD)
PAGES 64000

Available on NetGalley

Send to Kindle (EPUB)

Average rating from 34 members


Featured Reviews

What a cracking tale! As soon as I saw the title, I knew I had to read it. Although "Queen of Spades" isn't my favorite of Pushkin's stories--that honor goes to his "Little Tragedies"--it's certainly a classic for a reason. This version, set in a casino in Snoqualmie in the 1980s, is a loose adaptation that maintains the essential premise--an obsessed gambler, an impossibly old and lucky Countess, and a fatal game of Faro--while modifying it enough that even readers familiar with Pushkin's tale won't be able to guess the final outcome.

Arturo Chan is a dealer who never stays more than a few months at a casino. He's hired at the Royal and discovers that it's one of the few casinos left that still offers Faro, and that a mysterious elderly woman known as the Countess sometimes comes and places the occasional, but very large, bet at the Faro table. Arturo becomes fascinated with her and seeks to learn more about her and about Faro.

Meanwhile, Chimsky, a dealer in the High Limit Room, has gotten into trouble with a loan shark. To pay off his debt, he offers to throw a game of Faro for him, even though it's technically almost impossible. Only fate takes a hand--or is it Lady Luck?

This "Queen of Spades" is a longer work than the original, with more characters and a more detailed plot. In lieu of Pushkin's spare compression, this version chooses to spend more time with the characters and their lives, all of which are sad but slightly magical. We get to know the types of people who spend their time in casinos and racetracks, and, more than that, we get a feel for their lives, and the sense that events converge in patterns. Gambling, like drugs, may be addictive, but also like drugs, it can put you in touch with with something greater than yourself--when luck is with you, you're aligned with the entire universe, a part of something greater than yourself. Pushkin, himself an inveterate gambler and a duelist, focused on the sick thrill and the destructive power of gambling; Shou-Yung Shum, while not neglecting that aspect of it, focuses more on both the technical aspects and the "flow state" that players can sometimes enter into. So WARNING! Gambling addicts will probably want to stay far, far away from this book! Although ignorant enough of cards that I don't even know the rules for poker (and therefore found some of the technical moments above my head), I still found myself hopelessly sucked into the action, biting my nails until all the races had been run or the cards had been played. A deeply thrilling and magical tale of life, cards, and adrenaline.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

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A retelling of a Pushkin fable by the same name, Michael Shou-Yung Shum's debut novel centers around the mysterious Royal Casino. It tells the story of a dying pit boss, an ex-gambler in a 12-step program, and a new dealer who is captivated by the Royal's most mysterious customer- The Countess. The three stories converge in a breathtaking climax that attests to Shou-Yung Shum's incredible writing skills.

It is hard to believe that this is Shou-Yung Shum's first novel, the writing is elegant and the plot had me glued to the book until the very last page. The story is reminiscent of a memoir tinged with fantastical elements that make this story so interesting. I would highly recommend this novel and I know that I will read any future stories written by this promising author.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

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Thank you, Forest Avenue Press and Net Galley for an advanced copy of the book. Thoroughly enjoyed and it was literally like being in a Casino. I really appreciate the author's efforts. His experience is well put in words, The extensive research on Probability and Statistics, the part where Countess explains the concept was one of the highlights of the book.
I expected a nail-biting end, and it did end on a dramatic climax. I wish to read many more from this author in the future.

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Although I've never read the original Pushkin short story upon which this novel is based, my enjoyment was not diminished one bit. Inside the world of a 1980's-era casino, we meet distinct characters who have complex relationships with gambling and the highs and lows it brings. Michael Shou-Yung Shum deftly weaves the stories of each together, while maintaining an interesting plot.

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Queen of Spades is a retelling of the classic by Pushkin of the same name. I really enjoyed the look into the reality of gambling with its highs and lows.

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While I am not familiar with the Pushkin tale that inspired this book, I enjoyed the tale as told here. The greatest strength of the book is the fantastic cast of characters, each with a particular link to gambling, from the dealer to the recovering addict to the mysterious Countess who gambles vast sums on the single turn of the card. Each character is well developed as are the connections between them, and it is these connections and relationships that drive the plot of the book to it's dramatic and unexpected conclusion. A few loose ends were just a little to neatly tied up for my liking but other than that the book was an engaging read and one that I would recommend. I also found that I learned about card games and their history while reading, so it was informative as well as entertaining.
I reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley.

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I had no idea a story about casino dealers would hold my attention, especially when there were 13 rules for the game Faro described in the beginning pages. But it did hold my attention. What hit home the most for me was the way Shou-Yung Shum juxtaposed the mathematical probabilities of winning, where one takes into account the weight of the ink on the cards, and the effect of gravity at certain times of the year such as solstices; against pure intuition and luck, where one considers sensations felt in the body, lucky streaks, and matters simply intuited. We get the feeling he’s talking about more than cards.

Arturo Chan, a new dealer at the Royal, deals mathematically, feeling the weight of the cards, and using probabilities in his calculations. Sam Chimsky, a high-limit dealer unhappily divorced from Barbara, deals intuitively, focusing all his mental energies on feeling the placement of cards and leaving the rest to chance. The way these two dealers handle the cards with the mysterious gambler, The Countess, will determine their fate.

The Countess is an intriguing character and I don’t recall meeting one like her in other novels. She has her own chair in the high limits room. She often watches the play without betting. Other times, she places a single bet of $25,000 or more. Her one time $100,000 winning is legendary at the Royal. She never loses. The dealers believe she has a system, but no one can figure out what it is. Chan is so intrigued, he investigates and learns she donated the $100,000 she won to a school. Still, he cannot determine that she lives anywhere other than her Rolls Royce Phantom driven by her assistant, even though from her winnings alone, she’s very wealthy. “[S]he played. . .as a reason to live.” The Countess is a gambler who plays using mathematical principles.

Enter Barbara Chimsky, a one-time Gamblers Anonymous member and Sam Chimsky’s ex-wife. She can’t resist buying a lottery ticket and wins $1000. Barbara believes in lucky streaks unlike the Countess. She goes on a wild ride.

It was fun to learn that dealers, too, like to gamble. A memorable scene among three dealers occurs at the horse races. It seems dealers have developed their own systems. Do dealers beat the odds?

What bugged me at the end of this novel was realizing I had to stop and think about who the protagonist was. There were several strong characters, all of whom had conflicts and resolutions. I believe the least interesting character, Mannheim, the pit boss, was the protagonist. We learn the day he hires Chan that he is dying of dementia. He seeks help from a young boy who is prescient and a special kind of doctor who can see his aura and help prepare him for death. The two fall in the category of living life through intuition and feelings and help Mannheim do the same. These three could have been interesting, but they weren't. Their characters were hardly developed.

Both the people who live life with precision and mathematically calculate their odds, and those who live by intuition sensing their way through life, experienced magical occurrences. Overall, who is better off, the former or the latter?

Queen of Spades held promise but somehow the structure was off. Mannheim’s character development was lacking. Who is he? Why should I care he’s dying? If he’s not the protagonist, who is? This novel read more like a draft of one that could be really good but missed the mark.

I appreciated getting a sneak peek from Net Galley.

P.S. I have never read Pushkin's novel. Maybe this one would have made more sense. But I think novels should stand on their own.

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A very interesting well written book. It involved gambling at a casino and I admit as a non gambler, I did not understand all the jargon., but the author kept the book moving and very interesting, and thus provided an insight to how casinos operate.. Quite a mix of characters, one very mysterious, powerful lady who had a strange, but insightful way of winning, that Chan (one of the dealers) was determined to seek out. A great summer, I recommend it.

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While I've never read the original Pushkin story, this novel is thoroughly enjoyable. It had the flavor of a retelling, but it still seemed original and had its own personality. All the characters are well-written and relatable, and while we don't learn too much about their past (I would have enjoyed a little more detail), there is enough so that we can understand each character and carry on with the story.

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This was such an intriguing read! I loved seeing how the characters' storylines blended for the big finale.

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Enjoyable insiders tale - aimed at recounting an amazing win one night at Faro a rare game played in the back of the casino, we work up to the night - the players from dealers to card gamers. Issues are tackled too in the character's lives - Chan crossed a line (or was seen to) and now a former colleague has his over a barrel - a dying manager has his final wish to head up the high dealing Faro room - a couple deeply in debt trying to get away from gambling just get in deeper ... and a mysterious Countess who senses when a fix is on, and capitalises on it - astute assessments of character in what is a claustrophobic surrounding - very highly manipulated tensions and no easy way to say who is the 'good guy' - I was surprised how much I was engaged by this ... I hope the writer will go on for more - he knows his stuff.

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Fantastic debut; would make a great movie. Vivid, interesting characters that felt fresh.

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