Meet the Rookie, a suave, smooth-talking, hard-drinking gambler on a mission to topple the country's biggest names in poker. From Northbridge to Melbourne, the Rookie experiences the exhilarating highs and catastrophic lows of the underground poker circuit. Beyond material concerns, the Rookie rides on the hard edge of existence in his struggle to defeat Indersmith. Beyond poker, beyond caring, the Rookie exists only for the moment. Damned Good achieves a fusion between technical and literary writing, and will appeal to aficionados of poker and of quality writing alike. "DeCeglie has balls roughly the size of Bukowski's. Damned Good is goddamned good"Jimmy Jack - Winner AFI Award for Best Screenplay"DeCeglie knows all too well how often men seek meaning in life's dark corners, then find they've cornered themselves. He wields his strong, original voice dexterously through the shadowy corridors of his protagonist's world, with prose so sharp it often cuts you on the way past. Damned Good is a must-read for poker fans and those who can't help but flirt with the dark side."Patrick O'Neil, author of Sideways: Travels with Kafka, Hunter S. and Kerouac"The novella as I love it - Steinbeck, Kafka, Capote, Hemingway, Conrad, Kerouac - is a hard literary act to pull off. "Damned Good" is unapologetic writing reminiscent of the tough son of a bitch poetry of Frederick Seidel. DeCeglie is a man who knows his literary tools and how to use them - just the ones he needs. This is a voice that's heard clear above the loud-mouthed D-lister literary grant huggers, presenting us with a magnificent concatenation of mens games." James Phelan, critically acclaimed bestselling novelist.More information, visit http://www.fontainepress.com/damnedgood