Escapes : a novel

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Escapes : a novel

Title:

Escapes : a novel

Author:

Tunnard, Daniel, 1976- author.

ISBN:

9781951213114

Edition:

1st ed.

Physical Description:

200 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm.

Subject Term:

Contests -- Fiction.

Scrabble (Game) -- Tournaments -- Fiction.

Organized crime -- Fiction.

Corruption -- Fiction.

Genre:

Satire.

Alternative histories (Fiction)

Summary:

After the peak of the 1990s Scrabble boom, an estranged couple (both Scrabble world champions), meets deep in the Tigre Delta for one final game. The words they play spell out how they ended here, and why they are probably going to die. In this alternate history, Scrabble is suddenly everywhere. The once innocent board game went pro, and got rich and corrupt on TV money and cigarette sponsorships-becoming the third-most televised sport by 1996 and earning its major players fame and fortune. The league was tightly controlled by the Scrabble mafia, popularly known as the Scrafia, who muscled its way in so betting on major Scrabble matches, and the subsequent match-fixing, became the scourge of the game. This is the story of two of the world's best Scrabble players, Florence Satine and Buenaventura Escobar, and their defiance of the sinister Scrafia. --

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Lake Elmo Library	FICTION TUN	Searching... Unknown
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	FICTION TUN	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

"Florence Satine and Buenaventura Escobar live and die by the luck of the draw from the Scrabble tile bag in Tunnard's delightful debut." -- Publishers Weekly
In an alternate 90s where Scrabble (not poker) is a global sensation broadcast live on ESPN, former world champs Florence Satine and Buenaventura Escobar meet deep in Argentina's Tigre Delta for one final game. The words they play spell out how they ended up here, and why they are probably going to die.
By 1996, Scrabble is big business. The once innocent game has gone pro, becoming the third-most televised "sport" in the world, and earning its major players fame, fortune and corporate sponsorships. The league, however, is tightly controlled by a Scrabble mafia (e.g., The Scrafia) and is suffering from a scourge of corruption, match-fixing, and most disturbingly, the mysterious disappearances of problematic players. When Florence and Buenaventura defy the sinister Scrafia, they recall the unlikely obsession that dominated their lives: a tumultuous romance...with a game.
This is the story of a Scrabble reality that never was, but should have been. A bilingual, lexicographical romp across the world, Escapes raises the stakes with each new letter placed upon the rack.

Author Notes

Daniel Tunnard is a competitive Scrabble player, who finished thirtieth in the Scrabble World Cup in Spanish, in Paraguay, in October 2017. He finished thirteenth at the subsequent World Cup in Mexico in 2018. He will be competing in the 2020 World Cup, in Montevideo, and intends to win it outright, purely for book marketing purposes. Tunnard is also the author of two nonfiction books Colectivaizeishon, el inglés que tomó todos los colectivos de Buenos Aires (Penguin Random House Argentina, 2013), which is about taking all the buses in Buenos Aires, and Trenspotting en los ferrocarriles argentines (Marea 20,16), a follow-up in which he rides all the trains in Argentina. ESCAPEs is his first novel.

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Florence Satine and Buenaventura Escobar live and die by the luck of the draw from the Scrabble tile bag in Tunnard's delightful English language debut. In this world, Scrabble is the highest-grossing tabletop game of the 1990s, Scrabble tournaments are multimillion-dollar events (and a sport contested at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics), and backroom high stakes games worldwide are controlled by the elderly Gilbert triplets of Argentina, who lead a crime syndicate called the "Scrafia." The three sisters have a choke hold on competitive Spanish Scrabble, which overtakes the originating English edition as the world standard. However, the Scrafia doesn't intimidate the five-time world champion Florence, whose dominant style could topple their hold on the game. During three years of intense competition, Florence and Buenaventura endure match-throwing, mid-match tantrums, betrayal, and a press exposé that turns the world of competitive Scrabble on its head. Tunnard's professional experience and outlandish premise combine wonderfully to create an entrancing alternate reality. Told in both English and Spanish (and using game tiles), this enjoyable romp will please lovers of camp. (Oct.)

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

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