Final Table: Answers to Reader Questions

(and/or questions I made up)

One of the most fun parts of having a novel out in the world is receiving reactions and questions from readers. For me, writing a book starts with a collection of unformed ideas in my head, mixed with memorable personal experiences that I’m trying to incorporate into the story. Next there’s a lot of time outlining, writing, editing, and editing some more (and more and more).

Then it’s surreal and electrifying when people are actually asking me questions about the book. I also love when different people have contrasting takes on the characters and plot. With Final Table, some readers told me (or wrote in reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and elsewhere) that they liked certain characters while others really disliked the same ones.

I think the most divisive character in this book was poker phenom and human rights activist Priya Varma, with some readers admiring her commitment to a noble cause while others finding her callous and unnecessarily hurtful to those in her way. I also received a variety of reactions Kyler Dawson and his struggles, ranging from sympathy and support to annoyance and frustration. I can’t wait to hear responses to the Open Bar characters after August 12.

Here are answers to some Final Table questions I’ve received both via Substack and recent book club meetings. For those who haven’t read it yet, I’ve avoided including any significant spoilers.

Please post any other questions in the comments and I’ll be happy to answer!

What country is the Kingdom based on?

The Kingdom, a totalitarian nation with rampant human rights abuses, was based on a combination of Saudi Arabia, North Korea, and China. Saudi Arabia’s murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and its use of incremental, insufficient reforms and sportswashing to gain good publicity and favor with other nations were definitely on my mind when I wrote Final Table. And my novel was published before Saudi Arabia’s creation of LIV Golf, which shared a lot of thematic similarities with my book’s Goodwill Poker Classic.

Years ago I traveled in North Korea and saw this closed-off nation from the inside. It was a chilling look at life in a place where the government controls virtually all aspects of its citizens’ lives and allows absolutely no political freedoms. My time in North Korea was unlike any experience I’ve ever had, as it felt like I was living amidst a cult dedicated to Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. North Korea’s continual efforts to become a nuclear power with missiles that can reach other nations also became a central idea in Final Table.

One of my most interesting and enjoyable experiences was living and teaching law in China. I met lifelong friends and learned so much about a historic culture and wonderful people, but I also saw life under a government that, while not as restrictive as North Korea, brutally crushed dissent and attempts to exercise free expression contrary to the nation’s leaders. Also, many of the Kingdom’s locations were inspired by places I visited in China, including The Den, where Final Table’s Canadian ambassador takes important visitors when he wants to discreetly talk about sensitive topics without being overheard.

Every day we see democratic governments, entertainers, sports stars, and business leaders make decisions about whether and how to engage with these governments, when to take moral stands, and when to remain silent about horrendous human rights violations in order to further their own goals. For Kyler Dawson, the Kingdom’s poker tournament offers the prospect of financial and personal redemption, but also the threat of worldwide condemnation for appearing to lend moral support to immoral government leaders.

Is stealthing actually a crime?

I wrote about stealthing, the surreptitious removal of a condom during sexual intercourse, in this article for Law & Crime when Final Table was published. At the time, California had just became the first state to outlaw stealthing, although its anti-stealthing legislation only makes the practice a civil offense (empowering victims to sue their assailants for damages), but not a crime that could lead to jail time. Unfortunately, I’m not aware of any significant legal movement in this area in the U.S. since then, although it’s prohibited by most campus sexual misconduct policies and is a crime in some foreign countries.

How do you select the names for your characters?

A character’s name says so much about them - their personality, age, background, and more. I sometimes try out multiple names for characters, using one in a first draft to see how it feels, and then deciding that something a little different would work better. For Maggie in Final Table, that was her name from the beginning, as I’ve really liked it for many years and instantly felt it was a great fit for this story.

When I’m trying to brainstorm new names, I’ll often check out the Penn Athletics site and start reviewing the names of players and coaches on a variety of teams, mixing and matching first and last names until I come up with the right combination. And when I finally have a character name, I plug it into LinkedIn and see if the people who have that name appear to have profiles consistent with the character I’m creating.

What’s the worst idea for a Final Table sequel that you’ve even thought of?

Great question. I wrote a few weeks ago about my quasi-science fiction writing roots, so here’s my answer: Aliens from a far-away solar system invade Earth and threaten to destroy the planet. At the last minute, the alien leader says he’ll spare us only if someone from Earth can compete in and win an intergalactic poker tournament taking place in the Andromeda Galaxy. Kyler Dawson wins a UN-sanctioned satellite tournament to choose mankind’s representative and then heads off on an alien spaceship for a poker tournament with the highest stakes imaginable. Basically, it’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets Rounders meets Independence Day.

How did you come up with Kyler’s E-ZPass nickname?

When I was a domestic violence and sex crimes prosecutor, some of my colleagues were investigating a local massage parlor for violating New York prostitution laws. My fellow prosecutors ultimately arrested the owners and employees, and seized the massage parlor’s business records. These records had detailed notes for each client, including the designation “E-ZPass” for customers who only took a short amount of time to finish receiving their services. I don’t know if this is an industry-wide phrase or just used by one local massage parlor, but it definitely fit well with Kyler’s story in Final Table.

A separate question is whether sex work should be criminalized and stigmatized at all, and this issue is addressed in one of the subplots of Open Bar.

One Fictional Congressman’s Take on Signalgate

The fallout from last week’s Signalgate scandal reminds me of a line from Congressman Aaron Montgomery in Open Bar (coming August 12):

“While old-school politics was about crafting a strong apology if you got caught doing … whatever … modern politics is about never apologizing, never admitting mistakes, never looking weak. Instead, you double down and show strength or they’ll tear you apart.” - Congressman Aaron Montgomery

First Book Club Meeting

Our inaugural Book Club (Zoom) meeting will be on Tuesday, April 22 at 7:30pm ET. Registration is now open here. We’ll discuss Counting Backwards by USA Today bestselling author Jacqueline Friedland, and she’ll be Zooming in to the meeting to discuss her latest book and answer your questions. You can get Counting Backwards anywhere books are sold, such as here and here.

Hope you can join us for this first meeting, and feel free to invite others!

Welcome New Subscribers!

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