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Fight Card
Counterpunch
Jack Tunney is Wayne Dundee this time around. Cover art is by Keith Birdsong
Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
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18 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 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 3, 2012
Contrary to rumor, good guys don’t always finish last.
Danny “The Duke” Dugronski, an ex-Marine who has earned a solid reputation in the ring, is grieving the death of his longtime manager, mentor and friend when he’s approached by mobsters who want him to participate in a series of rigged fights. Adding insult to injury, they also defame the good name of his late manager.
Danny belts one thug and throws the offered money in the face of the promoter. As might be expected, this brings first threats and then violence.
Danny is cautioned to “lay low,” but that just isn’t in his nature. His greatest fear is that standing up to the mobsters will place his friends in jeopardy. He’s just begun a tentative romance with the daughter of his former manager. Complicating matters, the object of his affection is the ex-wife of a friend who is also the police officer trying to build a case on the mobster.
How Danny shifts the obstacles to provide opportunity for an effective counterpunch is an astute lesson in ring tactics and an action-packed story.
This is the fourth in the Fight Card series, each penned by a different writer. Dundee’s contribution is definitely a winner and highly recommended.
Danny “The Duke” Dugronski, an ex-Marine who has earned a solid reputation in the ring, is grieving the death of his longtime manager, mentor and friend when he’s approached by mobsters who want him to participate in a series of rigged fights. Adding insult to injury, they also defame the good name of his late manager.
Danny belts one thug and throws the offered money in the face of the promoter. As might be expected, this brings first threats and then violence.
Danny is cautioned to “lay low,” but that just isn’t in his nature. His greatest fear is that standing up to the mobsters will place his friends in jeopardy. He’s just begun a tentative romance with the daughter of his former manager. Complicating matters, the object of his affection is the ex-wife of a friend who is also the police officer trying to build a case on the mobster.
How Danny shifts the obstacles to provide opportunity for an effective counterpunch is an astute lesson in ring tactics and an action-packed story.
This is the fourth in the Fight Card series, each penned by a different writer. Dundee’s contribution is definitely a winner and highly recommended.
March 16, 2012
One of my favorite film noirs is Robert Ryan starring in the boxing classic THE SET-UP. It's about a decent boxer approached to take a dive and throw a boxing match. While I was reading COUNTERPUNCH by Wayne Dundee, I thought of Robert Ryan in one of his best roles. Here we have Danny "The Duke" Dugronski who is a 33-year-old skilled boxer touting an impressive 38-5 win-loss record living in Milwaukee. The time period is the early 1950s, evoked with precision and atmosphere. Danny also works as a security guard, and just comes across as an honest, decent bloke. His specialty is his handy knack to counterpunch and score a knockout. Speaking of knockouts, I got one out of reading COUNTERPUNCH where Mr. Dundee serves up a masterful pugilist yarn with a memorable, tough-as-nails protagonist and vivid fight scenes. This is the second title I've read in the Jack Tunney series, enjoying them both.
September 18, 2012
Danny Dugronski is the hard punching hero of Counterpunch, the forth book in the Fight Card series created by Mel Odom and Paul Bishop. The man behind the pen name, Jack Tunney, for this entry is Wayne D. Dundee.
As the story opens, Danny Dugronski has just lost his trainer, and friend, Packy, to a heart attack. But he goes into his next fight without him. The fight is tough but fair, but going into the eighth round ‘The Duke’ is down on points. Summoning up a bit of grit, he goes in hard and scores a knockout.
It all seems good. That is until later – some punk knocks on his door, and hands him an envelope with two-hundred and fifty dollars in it. The punk claims it was part of a deal that Packy had arranged, and this was ‘The Dukes’ share. This angers Danny, as he knows that there is no way that Packy would have arranged a rigged fight. And secondly, the fight was tough and hard. There was no way that his opponent took a dive. Was there?
Danny follows up on this, approaching the gangster behind it all, a fellow named Malone, and tells him he is not interested in participating in any fixed fights. Later, of course, as any two-bit gangster worth his salt would do, Malone sends out his boys to rough up Danny. The thing with Danny is, that he was a Marine – and sure he knows how to fight with his fists – but he also knows other ways to fight too!
Of the elements I have enjoyed about the Fight Card series so far, is the diversity of the stories. Each writer has brought something new to the plate. If you’ll forgive the cinematic comparisons – but totally appropriate, because the stories are very cinematic – Felony Fists was like a cross between LA Confidential and Rocky – The Cutman was like a wartime Robert Mitcham film, crossed with the Godfather Part II – and Split Decision was like Body and Soul crossed with Robert Siodmak’s The Killers.
What does Counterpunch remind me of? The Big Heat. Fritz Lang’s The Big Heat, starring Glenn Ford as a relentless police detective, Dan Bannion, is one of my favourite crime films from the 1950s. Counterpunch shares more than a few similarities. At the start of The Big Heat, Bannion shares a steak and a beer with his wife. In Counterpunch, after winning a fight, Danny would always head back to Packy’s for a steak and a beer. Another similarity, is the almost relentless decency, that both men share, despite being drawn in to a corrupt world. And both men, refuse to back down, fighting for what is right – their way!
Of course, Danny is a boxer, not a cop, and Counterpunch is a boxing story, so there has to be a big fight at the end, and this has a good one. Despite being previously beaten by hoods with baseball bats, Danny has to get into the ring with a wrecking machine, known as Edgar ‘The Ogre’ O’Brien.
Counterpunch is another ‘kayo’ for the Fightcard series.
As the story opens, Danny Dugronski has just lost his trainer, and friend, Packy, to a heart attack. But he goes into his next fight without him. The fight is tough but fair, but going into the eighth round ‘The Duke’ is down on points. Summoning up a bit of grit, he goes in hard and scores a knockout.
It all seems good. That is until later – some punk knocks on his door, and hands him an envelope with two-hundred and fifty dollars in it. The punk claims it was part of a deal that Packy had arranged, and this was ‘The Dukes’ share. This angers Danny, as he knows that there is no way that Packy would have arranged a rigged fight. And secondly, the fight was tough and hard. There was no way that his opponent took a dive. Was there?
Danny follows up on this, approaching the gangster behind it all, a fellow named Malone, and tells him he is not interested in participating in any fixed fights. Later, of course, as any two-bit gangster worth his salt would do, Malone sends out his boys to rough up Danny. The thing with Danny is, that he was a Marine – and sure he knows how to fight with his fists – but he also knows other ways to fight too!
Of the elements I have enjoyed about the Fight Card series so far, is the diversity of the stories. Each writer has brought something new to the plate. If you’ll forgive the cinematic comparisons – but totally appropriate, because the stories are very cinematic – Felony Fists was like a cross between LA Confidential and Rocky – The Cutman was like a wartime Robert Mitcham film, crossed with the Godfather Part II – and Split Decision was like Body and Soul crossed with Robert Siodmak’s The Killers.
What does Counterpunch remind me of? The Big Heat. Fritz Lang’s The Big Heat, starring Glenn Ford as a relentless police detective, Dan Bannion, is one of my favourite crime films from the 1950s. Counterpunch shares more than a few similarities. At the start of The Big Heat, Bannion shares a steak and a beer with his wife. In Counterpunch, after winning a fight, Danny would always head back to Packy’s for a steak and a beer. Another similarity, is the almost relentless decency, that both men share, despite being drawn in to a corrupt world. And both men, refuse to back down, fighting for what is right – their way!
Of course, Danny is a boxer, not a cop, and Counterpunch is a boxing story, so there has to be a big fight at the end, and this has a good one. Despite being previously beaten by hoods with baseball bats, Danny has to get into the ring with a wrecking machine, known as Edgar ‘The Ogre’ O’Brien.
Counterpunch is another ‘kayo’ for the Fightcard series.
January 3, 2013
Milwaukee 1954
Danny Dugronski has been a fighter all his life.
As an orphan at St. Vincent's Asylum for Boys, he first learned the "sweet science" of boxing from Father Tim, the battling priest. Then the Marine Corps taught him far more lethal fighting tactics before shipping him off to do battle in the hell of the South Pacific.
Now, with World War II over, Danny "The Duke" has returned home and earned a respectable ranking as a regional heavyweight in the Milwaukee area. But his record, free of KO losses, is jeopardized by a mob front man who tries to push him into a series of rigged fights.
When Danny refuses, hard push comes to deadly shove, and he must call upon all his fighting skills to stand his ground. And when Danny comes out swinging, he’s determined to put the mob down for the count.
Danny Dugronski has been a fighter all his life.
As an orphan at St. Vincent's Asylum for Boys, he first learned the "sweet science" of boxing from Father Tim, the battling priest. Then the Marine Corps taught him far more lethal fighting tactics before shipping him off to do battle in the hell of the South Pacific.
Now, with World War II over, Danny "The Duke" has returned home and earned a respectable ranking as a regional heavyweight in the Milwaukee area. But his record, free of KO losses, is jeopardized by a mob front man who tries to push him into a series of rigged fights.
When Danny refuses, hard push comes to deadly shove, and he must call upon all his fighting skills to stand his ground. And when Danny comes out swinging, he’s determined to put the mob down for the count.
July 21, 2017
Wayne Dundee, writing under the house name of Jack Tunney, spins a yarn about a Polish fighter in the blue-collar town of Milwaukee. Danny "The Duke" Dugronski fights several great matches told in such terrific play-by-play action that you'd swear you were watching the match instead of only hearing about it. It might be a cliched story about the mob guy wanting to control the fighter and sending toughs to teach him a lesson when he wont play ball, but this writer makes it work so well it is hard to stop turning the pages. This is the good stuff if you are looking for a story that has all the feel and action of a 1940's boxing story.
August 1, 2015
A well paced and quick read. Our boxer/narrator is targeted by an mobster who wants him to throw fights for geetus. Plenty of action and a bit of romance. It's a great read. I find most modern novels bloated and overlong. These Fight Card books are the right length to contain a solid plot, and short enough to knock out in a couple of sittings.
August 4, 2012
This is the warmest and fuzziest Fight Card story of my experience to date (I think I managed to get them out of order again). I enjoyed this read.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews