The Quick and the Rest

At the age of five, Tony Huarte receives a prophesy from an erotic gypsy woman a birthmark, he is told, reveals that he has a special gift of quickness. Pilar, the sensuous, spell-casting fortune-teller, is also a world-class flamingo dancer. She takes Tony under her wing and introduces him to 40s jazz music, inspiring his lifetime love of jazz. As early as ten, Tonys elite quickness and determination, spurred on by Pilar and his uncle Pablo, enable him to have early triumphs in the youth boxing tournaments. Set against the 50s - 80s jazz scene, The Quick and The Rest is a 120,000 word fiction novel. It is the chronicle of a young boy of simple emigrant parents who discovers that he is gifted with elite reactions and hand-eye coordination. His profession as a boxer and the aftermath take him and his boyhood football companion Charlie on a wild odyssey through the brutal championship fights, the bright lights of the jazz world, the dangerous contacts with criminals, the adventure of an epic sail, and the encounters with many stunning, but problematic, women. Tonys penchant and magnet for violence outside the ring leave him with a smashed right hand, several dead men and his challenge for the top of the professional boxing world severely, as well as his physical and mental well-being, jeopardized. These violent engagements are, for the most part, the result of his obsession with highly desirable women and the fast living that accompany them.