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Fight Card #3
Split Decision
Kansas City, 1954.
Jimmy Wyler is a fighter punching his way straight to the middle. All he wants is to make enough dough to buy his girl, Lola, a ring. And maybe make the gang back at St. Vincent’s orphanage proud.
A slick mobster named Cardone has an offer for Jimmy – money, and lots of it – for a fix. Jimmy takes the fight. The ring is almost on Lola’s finger, until Jimmy collides with Whit – another mobster with another up-and-coming fighter.
Whit has an offer of his own. Same fight, different fix. Now Jimmy is caught between two warring factions of the Kansas City underworld. He can’t make a move without someone getting mad, getting even, or getting dead.
From sweat-soaked fight halls to darkened alleyways, the countdown has begun. With his girl and his manager in the crossfire, everything Jimmy ever learned about fancy footwork and keeping his defenses up may not be enough …
Fight night is approaching and nobody is going to be saved by the bell.
Also in the Fight Card series - Felony Fists (book #1) and The Cutman (book #2)
Jimmy Wyler is a fighter punching his way straight to the middle. All he wants is to make enough dough to buy his girl, Lola, a ring. And maybe make the gang back at St. Vincent’s orphanage proud.
A slick mobster named Cardone has an offer for Jimmy – money, and lots of it – for a fix. Jimmy takes the fight. The ring is almost on Lola’s finger, until Jimmy collides with Whit – another mobster with another up-and-coming fighter.
Whit has an offer of his own. Same fight, different fix. Now Jimmy is caught between two warring factions of the Kansas City underworld. He can’t make a move without someone getting mad, getting even, or getting dead.
From sweat-soaked fight halls to darkened alleyways, the countdown has begun. With his girl and his manager in the crossfire, everything Jimmy ever learned about fancy footwork and keeping his defenses up may not be enough …
Fight night is approaching and nobody is going to be saved by the bell.
Also in the Fight Card series - Felony Fists (book #1) and The Cutman (book #2)
150 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 12, 2011
3 people are currently reading
22 people want to read
About the author
Jack Tunney
43 books15 followersJack Tunney is the unifying pen name for authors of the FIGHT CARD series - created by Mel Odom and Paul Bishop. Up-and-coming new authors, such as Eric Beetner, David Foster, Kevin Michaels, and Heath Lowrance have all penned entries in the series alongside more established names in the field such as Wayne D. Dundee, Bishop, and Odom.
The books in the Fight Card series are 25,000 word novelettes, designed to be read in one or two sittings, and are inspired by the fight pulps of the '30s and '40s - such as Fight Stories Magazine - and Robert E. Howard's two-fisted boxing tales featuring Sailor Steve Costigan.
Each of the novellas is short, sharp and packs a punch.
FOR MORE VISIT www.fightcardbooks.com
The books in the Fight Card series are 25,000 word novelettes, designed to be read in one or two sittings, and are inspired by the fight pulps of the '30s and '40s - such as Fight Stories Magazine - and Robert E. Howard's two-fisted boxing tales featuring Sailor Steve Costigan.
Each of the novellas is short, sharp and packs a punch.
FOR MORE VISIT www.fightcardbooks.com
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 21, 2017
Eric Beetner is the guy who brought us the classic "Stripper Pole at the End of the World" about a one-legged stripper surrounded by hordes of drooling cannibals. So you have to wonder what he brings to the table in "Split Decision." Here, he has crafted a solid boxing tale true to the Fight Card tradition. Solidly set in the late post-war 1940's in Kansas City, this is the story of a boxer who struggles with his ethics and the lessons taught to him by Father Tim at the Chicago orphanage where many of the Fight Card boxers grew up. Of course, if you know anything about boxing and boxing stories, ethics means someone wants him to take a dive. But, Beetner is a terrific writer and this is not just some cliched story that you have heard before. It is filled with period references, with solid boxing action that makes you feel as if you are right there watching the action, and a good, plot line. If you like the Fight Card series, there is nothing not to like about this selection. If you are new to this series, there is no better place to dive in but this one. And, if you are looking for that tough, solid, furious action, you came to the right place.
November 23, 2012
Split Decision is as fast and sharp as Jimmy Wyler's right hook. This has everything that I love so much about crime fiction: real characters with something very important at stake who are stuck between an immovable object and an unstoppable force. It also has a devastating ending, not just because of the emotional weight Beetner gives it, but because I was so caught up in the last scene that the end came before I knew it and left a spinning sound in my head and I turned the last page (or rather, hit the next page button.)
Excellent and quick read. Off to get Mouthful of Blood now.
Excellent and quick read. Off to get Mouthful of Blood now.
June 15, 2013
This book would have made a helluva B movie back in the '50s. It conjures up the seedy atmosphere of lower-rank boxing in a powerful way. I imagined an old black-and-white flick that would have played on the same card with the likes of "Champion" with Kirk Douglas or "The Set-Up" with Robert Ryan. Though those did come out several years before the time in which this story was set, they're blood brothers. "Split Decision" is lean, economical, swift-paced, and hits hard. My all-time favorite boxing story is "A Piece of Steak" by Jack London. This can stand right up there with it.
July 2, 2020
This is the first Fight Card novella that I've read. I partly went with this one because I am well aware of Eric Beetner and his status in the neo-noir community, so I expected something good. Fight Card is a series of novellas/short novels about the fight game that hit an interesting area that previously was filled by paperback originals, pulp boxing stories and men's adventure series'.
Split Decision is set in Kansas City, 1954, and focuses on Jimmy Wyler, a middling middle-weight who really just wants to make enough money fighting to finish paying for a ring for his girl and marry her and start a life together. He's still coherent enough that he knows he's never going to make the big time and he needs to strike now before he's punch-drunk and unable to move on to a different phase in life.
There's a lot here that runs to the expected in a neo-noir boxing tale. Wyler gets afoul of rival mob factions that are trying to run the fight game and fix fights. Luckily Beetner is a skilled enough writer that he's able to navigate what could be a hoary tale in an interesting manner and with a few turns that aren't 100% expected. Beetner also does a great jobs with the fight scenes.
It's a good short read. Unfortunately, browsing around the net it looks like Fight Card has gone the way of my late lamented Thuglit. The hey-day of neo-noir short fiction and net-fiction has clearly passed, though the continued life in Switchblade magazine and the re-birth of Pulp Modern is encouraging. Luckily a lot of that content is still available and is well worth seeking out.
Split Decision is set in Kansas City, 1954, and focuses on Jimmy Wyler, a middling middle-weight who really just wants to make enough money fighting to finish paying for a ring for his girl and marry her and start a life together. He's still coherent enough that he knows he's never going to make the big time and he needs to strike now before he's punch-drunk and unable to move on to a different phase in life.
There's a lot here that runs to the expected in a neo-noir boxing tale. Wyler gets afoul of rival mob factions that are trying to run the fight game and fix fights. Luckily Beetner is a skilled enough writer that he's able to navigate what could be a hoary tale in an interesting manner and with a few turns that aren't 100% expected. Beetner also does a great jobs with the fight scenes.
It's a good short read. Unfortunately, browsing around the net it looks like Fight Card has gone the way of my late lamented Thuglit. The hey-day of neo-noir short fiction and net-fiction has clearly passed, though the continued life in Switchblade magazine and the re-birth of Pulp Modern is encouraging. Luckily a lot of that content is still available and is well worth seeking out.
July 28, 2017
This is the first book that I've read from Eric Beetner, who has garnered much acclaim for his neo-noir stories. Split Decision takes place in 1953 and it does a great job capturing the pulpy feel of a paperback from that era. The short novella builds quickly to a furious pace and is nearly impossible to put down. I am looking forward to reading more from Mr. Beetner.
October 18, 2021
A Moral Dilemma
Jimmy Wyler faces a moral dilemma going into his next fight. Always one to give each fight his all, he's being asked to say the outcome now. He tells himself it's a one time deal, but he's in over his head. Soon he finds himself in the middle of a gang war, and all he ever wanted to do was box and marry his girl Lola. Now he'll be happy just to survive the night..
Great boxing action and a very troubled boxer makes this a tense and emotional story. Tunney doesn't pull any punches, even as his fighters are second guessing themselves. Wyler is going through the ringer, and while there is no good decision for him at this point, he needs to make one and commit to it and the consequences that come with it. I wasn't sure which way it would go until the end.
Jimmy Wyler faces a moral dilemma going into his next fight. Always one to give each fight his all, he's being asked to say the outcome now. He tells himself it's a one time deal, but he's in over his head. Soon he finds himself in the middle of a gang war, and all he ever wanted to do was box and marry his girl Lola. Now he'll be happy just to survive the night..
Great boxing action and a very troubled boxer makes this a tense and emotional story. Tunney doesn't pull any punches, even as his fighters are second guessing themselves. Wyler is going through the ringer, and while there is no good decision for him at this point, he needs to make one and commit to it and the consequences that come with it. I wasn't sure which way it would go until the end.
January 3, 2013
Kansas City, 1954
Jimmy Wyler is a fighter punching his way straight to the middle. All he wants is to make enough dough to buy his girl, Lola, a ring. And maybe make the gang back at St. Vincent’s orphanage proud.
A slick mobster named Cardone has an offer for Jimmy – money, and lots of it – for a fix. Jimmy takes the fight. The ring is almost on Lola’s finger, until Jimmy collides with Whit – another mobster with another up-and-coming fighter.
Whit has an offer of his own. Same fight, different fix. Now Jimmy is caught between two warring factions of the Kansas City underworld. He can’t make a move without someone getting mad, getting even, or getting dead.
From sweat-soaked fight halls to darkened alleyways, the countdown has begun. With his girl and his manager in the crossfire, everything Jimmy ever learned about fancy footwork and keeping his defenses up may not be enough …
Fight night is approaching and nobody is going to be saved by the bell.
Jimmy Wyler is a fighter punching his way straight to the middle. All he wants is to make enough dough to buy his girl, Lola, a ring. And maybe make the gang back at St. Vincent’s orphanage proud.
A slick mobster named Cardone has an offer for Jimmy – money, and lots of it – for a fix. Jimmy takes the fight. The ring is almost on Lola’s finger, until Jimmy collides with Whit – another mobster with another up-and-coming fighter.
Whit has an offer of his own. Same fight, different fix. Now Jimmy is caught between two warring factions of the Kansas City underworld. He can’t make a move without someone getting mad, getting even, or getting dead.
From sweat-soaked fight halls to darkened alleyways, the countdown has begun. With his girl and his manager in the crossfire, everything Jimmy ever learned about fancy footwork and keeping his defenses up may not be enough …
Fight night is approaching and nobody is going to be saved by the bell.
October 27, 2012
This is my second read from this series and the first of two contributions from Eric Beetner. For those not familiar, the Fight Card series currently consists of a dozen or so boxing-themed novels featuring a rotating lineup of authors including series creators Paul Bishop and Mel Odom. This installment stars mid-50's Kansas City fighter Jimmy Wyler who finds himself caught up in big city style corruption with no apparent means of escape. The level of intensity in these books is quite high and I am always anxious to see what each author brings to the mix. I am also now anxious to read Eric's second contribution to the series A Mouth Full of Blood, which continues the saga of Jimmy Wyler from this book's close. Also excellent and recommended for fans of the Fight Card series is Eric's other boxing novels co-written with JB Kohl, the first of which is One Too Many Blows to the Head.
December 14, 2011
Boxer Jimmy Wyler has a problem.
He's an average boxer and knows it. He'll never get a championship fight. His last win, after three losses in a row brings him back to five hundred. Average.
So when a slick mobster named Cardone offers him $500 for a fixed bout, one which he will win, he accepts against his better judgment. He has a ring laid away for his girl Lola and wants to get if for her soon.
But the win leads to another fix, one in which he's supposed to lose.
His real problems begin when a second mobster, one on the rise and an enemy of Cardone tells him he's going to win the fight. Or else. He gets beat up just enough to make the point and not ruin him for the fight.
What's he to do?
Another nice boxing tale set in the fifties, a pulp style story.
Recommended.
He's an average boxer and knows it. He'll never get a championship fight. His last win, after three losses in a row brings him back to five hundred. Average.
So when a slick mobster named Cardone offers him $500 for a fixed bout, one which he will win, he accepts against his better judgment. He has a ring laid away for his girl Lola and wants to get if for her soon.
But the win leads to another fix, one in which he's supposed to lose.
His real problems begin when a second mobster, one on the rise and an enemy of Cardone tells him he's going to win the fight. Or else. He gets beat up just enough to make the point and not ruin him for the fight.
What's he to do?
Another nice boxing tale set in the fifties, a pulp style story.
Recommended.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews