Excerpt from The Slip by Lucas Schaefer, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

It was real, this place, in a way the big box gyms weren't. And though many of the nonfighters were drawn to Terry Tucker's, at least in part, out of that weird, white-collar obsession with "authenticity," it was this crossing of worlds that also gave the gym its magic. David had to admit it appealed to him, too.

Alone in the thicket of heavy bags, David swung his arms in a half-hearted shoulder stretch, regarded his world-weary competitor. At Terry Tucker's, duct tape cured everything—a permanent Band-Aid for any rip or tear—and the gym owner had taken his love of the stuff to an extreme on David's favored heavy bag, now mummified from head to toe.

David got into fight position. A few Christmases ago, Ramona had gotten him a pair of black Everlast gloves that Velcroed at the wrists to replace his battered lace-ups. They still looked new. David pushed the bag to make it swing. He jabbed softly, jabbed again.

This was the silliest part of David's silly problem: none of his stories were true. He didn't even want them to be true. Never unfaithful or much tempted was David Dalice, yet get him alone with a concupiscent Trekkie and he'd launch into the most prick-tingling of sexual soliloquies without so much as bothering to remove his wedding band. Worse still, he liked it, liked the thrill of dangling the bait and reeling in his charges.

Excerpted from The Slip by Lucas Schaefer. Copyright © 2025 by Lucas Schaefer. Excerpted by permission of Simon & Schuster. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.