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"His plots are ingenious." — Time Out This long-overdue collection of Walter Tevis's best short stories proves him to be a master of the form. They range from the ingenuity of "The Other End of the Line", in which a man receives a phone call from himself in the future and follows the instructions he is given with unexpected and disastrous results, to the sophistication of "Rent Control", where a couple discovers that when they are in bed together they can literally make time stop, to the deeply-felt emotion of "A Visit from Mother", whose protagonist is revisited by his dead parents. Entertaining and perceptive, the stories in Far from Home show the same talent which has made Tevis's novels The Man Who Fell to Earth and Mockingbird modern SF classics. "The poetic imprints of a fine writer's trail." — The Times

For the first time ever, a complete collection of short fiction the New York Times bestselling author of The Queen's Gambit Walter Tevis is widely regarded as a master for both his gritty poolhall novels and his brilliant rendering of the world of competitive chess. This long overdue collection establishes Tevis's rightful place as a maestro of the short form, as well. Bringing together the 1981 short story collection Far From Home with a host of other previously unpublished stories from journals and magazines, this entertaining collection showcases Tevis's characteristic perceptiveness, empathy, and range. In one story, a man receives a phone call from his future self and follows their instructions to unpreditcable, calamitous results. In another, a famous actor and a young actress showcase their talent for acting both on and off the stage. Here also are five short stories set in poolhalls, including one that features Fast Eddie Felson and another that was the basis for the novel The Hustler . Here also is his first fictional foray into chess, with a ranked chess player finding fellowship in the prison yard with another player. In all of them, Tevis reminds again and again why his writing has long been revered for its roving curiosity and innate humanity.