The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis

First edition of The Queen's Gambit published by Random House in 1983

Walter Tevis' fifth and second to last novel is about the ascent of female chess prodigy Elizabeth Harmon. Orphaned when her mother dies at age 8, Beth spends the next five years in the Methuen home for girls and learns how to play chess covertly with one of the janitors while combating an addiction to tranquilizers. Beth is eventually adopted and steals money to play in a tournament, where she finally becomes recognized as the talent that she is. The Queen's Gambit follows Beth from her humble beginnings to challenging the world champion at 18, and, despite being extremely chess-heavy in detail, is incredibly gripping and fun to read. I have yet to read or even hear of another book that deals with the plight of the female chess player in an almost always male-dominated field. The Queen's Gambit is easily in contention for my favorite of Tevis' novels, and this first edition features great jacket art by Will Barnet.

The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis

First Gold Medal paperback of The Man Who Fell to Earth

The above paperback copy isn't in the greatest condition, but it's the only one of The Man Who Fell to Earth I have with this amazing cover. Published in 1963 by Gold Medal following Walter Tevis' success from The Hustler, The Man Who Fell to Earth tells the story of the alien Newton who comes to Earth in a human body to try and rescue his home planet of Anthea. Tevis' novel was adapted into an equally good film in the 1970's, appropriately starring David Bowie as Newton. I'm a big fan of Walter Tevis' work—he only wrote six novels in his lifetime, most of them in varying genres and all of them very solid books.