Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
A 1987 Colfax High graduate has a second book which has just been published.
Michael Weitz of Boise, a Broadcast Television major from University of Idaho and English literature minor, is the author of “Grandmaster’s King,” (Musa Publishing) a new book set amidst chess players in Seattle. It is the follow-up to “Dead Men Play Chess” (Lachasis Publishing, 2009).
“Grandmaster’s King” was released as an e-book Dec. 27, and subsequently named 2013 Book of the Year by the leadership of Chess Club Live, an online group with 70,000 members worldwide.
E-book will be the sole format of “Grandmaster’s King,” which Musa Publishing only works in.
For Weitz’ first book, Lachasis Publishing of Nova Scotia published hard copies.
“We just couldn’t agree on renewing the contract for the second book,” Weitz said.
Both stories, set in Yakima and Seattle, center on Ray Gordon, a former policeman and longtime chess player.
The new book takes place during the U.S. Chess Championships in Seattle.
Weitz is the son of Terry and Sandy Weitz of Colfax. After growing up in Colfax and graduating from University of Idaho, Weitz began a career as a commercial television producer, working for the ABC affiliate in Yakima for 13 years before spending four years in Phoenix with an NBC affiliate.
In Yakima, he wrote and co-produced a documentary on the 20th anniversary of Mt. St. Helens which was picked up by the Discovery Channel.
After Phoenix, Weitz and wife Catherine moved to Boise where he now produces training videos for Hewlett-Packard.
Weitz began writing with hopes to be published in 2004, beginning with a failed novel and a few short stories that were published, including an account of a pumpkin harvest for Acreage Magazine.
A longtime reader, eventually, Weitz began to think of writing another novel.
“I really like mysteries and I like chess, so I just decided to combine them,” he said.
For his first book, he wrote out the first draft in three months – in long-hand per chapter and then typing each before going on to the next.
It turned out they were a little shorter than needed.
“Because I write for television I’m used to writing (too) short and succinct,” he said.
In the process of writing and re-writing, he would work on it every day.
“The trick is to write every single day and getting it done,” he said. “Because it’s really easy not to.”
In the process, aside from the initial crime and who would have done it and why, Weitz worked out the subplots and side issues in the character’s lives.
“It makes it more realistic to the reader to have the different points of interest; the other things going on in his life,” Weitz said.
Once he had the 55,000-word manuscript ready, he then spent a year going after publishers, looking them up through the mystery genre.
As for his future plans, he started a third Ray Gordon story before being taken with an idea for a completely different story, which is not a mystery.
As for “Grandmaster’s King” being solely an e-book, Weitz said he is conflicted.
“I’m kind of torn,” he said. “I’m old-school enough that I still like physical books.”
The book can be downloaded (including in PDF form) at Musapublishing.com. The author’s website is Michael-Weitz.com
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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