The Longshot

Four years after Rivera knocked Cal from dominance in the sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Cal's coach, Riley, has set up a rematch. It will be good for Cal, and he's ready for it--he's been training harder than ever, trying to shake the lethargy that's plagued him ever since he lost. Knowing he's going to face Rivera again, he gets his focus and energy back, but Rivera has never lost a fight, and in the final days before the match, both Cal and Riley secretly begin have doubts, though neither wants to let the other down. In taut, rhythmic language, Katie Kitamura renders the urgency, discipline, and mutual affection of athlete and coach with depth and subtlety. As the excruciating tension builds around the big fight, the listener will be captivated through the final electrifying scene.

About the Author :
Katie Kitamura is a critic and novelist, author of Gone to the Forest and The Longshot, both of which were finalists for the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award. She is a recipient of a Lannan Residency Fellowship and has written for the New York Times, Guardian, Granta, BOMB, Triple Canopy, and Frieze. Mark Bramhall has won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration, more than thirty AudioFile Earphones Awards, and has repeatedly been named by AudioFile magazine and Publishers Weekly among their Best Voices of the Year. He is also an award-winning actor whose acting credits include off-Broadway, regional, and many Los Angeles venues as well as television, animation, and feature films. He has taught and directed at the American Academy of Dramatic Art.

Review :
"[Kitamura] writes with the kind of controlled, compressed passion that produces literary gems." -- "Jon Fasman, author of The Geographer's Library" "Brutally honest, The Longshot tells of a man's passion and dreams, and what's left when those hopes collide with reality. Kitamura's debut is a gripping novel of courage. A Barnes and Noble Discover Author selection." -- "BarnesandNoble.com review" "Deft, subtle, and hard-hitting all at once...A disquisition on hope, hurt and vulnerability that's heartbreakingly acute." -- "Ekow Eshun, author of Black Gold of the Sun" "Hemingway's returned to life--and this time, he's a woman." -- "Tom McCarthy, author of Remainder" "In taut, pared-down prose, Kitamura takes the reader right into the ring. Kitamura's understanding of the psychological dimension of this brutally physical sport is uncanny and never less than convincing." -- "Hari Kunzru, author of The Impressionist" "She knows her way around the ring and the human heart." -- "Elizabeth Benedict, author of Almost and The Practice of Deceit " "Spare and beautifully written...Kitamura, a journalist who for years has followed MMA matches, brings a physicality to her story with descriptions of the action so vivid the reader feels the pain of every punch and kick." -- "Publishers Weekly" "This convincing meditation on combat skews admirably close to the stories of F.X. Toole as it plunges toward its harrowing ending. A real shot to the heart--a resonant portrait of a man out to prove he can take anything the world throws at him." -- "Kirkus Reviews" "This is a terrific debut: charged, intimate, raw. Here is an author who not only understands the alloying of muscle and mentality in sport, the elation and heartbreak of competition, and of life, but can also write about it all with compassion and beautiful austerity." -- "Sarah Hall, author of The Electric Michelangelo" "With refreshingly unadorned prose, Kitamura reduces to an intensely crystalline moment the tension surrounding a fighter and his coach as they prepare for a match." -- "Yannick Murphy, author of Signed, Mata Hari" Mark Bramhall's urgent delivery of the exciting novel turns it into a production listeners won't be able to turn off...Bramhall's punchy delivery is the perfect vehicle for the story of a man who sets out to conquer his own fear. -- "AudioFile"