Table Tennis Books by Larry Hodges

(The two table tennis novels are in both the table tennis and science fiction/fantasy sections.)

Table Tennis Doubles for Champions
Finally, a book for doubles players! 133 pages with 109 photos or illustrations. Chapters include:

• Great Partnerships
• The Start of a Match
• Serving in Doubles
• Receiving in Doubles
• Rallying in Doubles
• Positioning & Footwork
• Tactical Doubles Stories
• Secrets from the Pros
• The Wacky World of Doubles
• Doubles Rules
• World and Olympic Champions

Instructor's Guide to Table Tennis
I plan to do a new version of this later. Teaches how to coach table tennis at the lower levels. This is primarily for beginning coaches and non-table tennis coaches (such as PE instructors). 85 pages (8.5x11). It was online at the USATT web page, but at some point it was taken down, so the link above goes to another online version at Masa Table Tennis. 

The Spirit of Pong - Fantasy Table Tennis Novel
Andy “Shoes” Blue wants to be a table tennis champion, but he’s just another wannabe American. And so he goes to China to learn the secrets of table tennis. He is trained by the mysterious Coach Wang, and begins an odyssey where he learns the secrets of table tennis from the spirits of Ichiro Ogimura (who helped spawn China’s greatness), Rong Guotuan (China’s first world champion in 1959, whose tragic story Andy must relive), and others, and must face the mysterious “Dragon.” Can he overcome treachery and learn the final secret of table tennis in time to defeat his ultimate nemesis? 100 pages.

SPECIAL - read the first two chapters (17 pages) for FREE! (100 pages.)

First Galactic Table Tennis Championships (Novelette)
Li Yi is a member of the Chinese National Table Tennis Team and the best woman in the world. She has trained long hours since she was a child. But now she faces her biggest challenge – aliens! Table tennis has spread to the galaxy and alien players now dominate the sport. The best are the giraffe-like Ith, with their dominating champion Egrayu.

But Earth isn't part of it, not since the cowboy Americans colonized a moon in the Ith home system, which led to a blockade of Earth. The Chinese hope to reopen trade with the galaxy by using "Ping-Pong Diplomacy" – by running the first Galactic Table Tennis Championships in Beijing. Li, her teammates, and the American champion Danny See – a literal cowboy – play aliens of all shapes and sizes, including the seemingly unbeatable Egrayu, as they battle for the biggest cash prize in table tennis history. But Li is drawn into a corrupt conspiracy that will shake the very foundations of honor and sportsmanship. Plus, there's that problem with the Chinese dumplings… 42 pages.

Science Fiction & Fantasy Books by Larry Hodges

Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpions
The satirical SF novel covers the election for president of Earth in the year 2100, where the world has adopted the American two-party electoral system. Features a third-party moderate challenge and an increasingly incredulous alien ambassador who learns about Earth's history and politics as the readers does. One of the main characters is a professional table tennis player who becomes the campaign director. From Phoenix Pick, 400 pages.

Here's the review from SF Crow's Nest. "There are so many good things in this novel that I’m bursting to share them but that would spoil it for the first time reader." "Anyway, it’s a marvellous book. Easy reading, fast-paced, lots of surprise plot twists, likeable heroes, a loveable alien and a gripping climax that takes the election right to the wire. Highly recommended." 

Here's the Campaign 2100: Game of Scorpion Preview Video!

Sorcerers in Space
A humorous fantasy that retells the U.S.-Soviet space race in the 1960s, but with sorcerers instead of astronauts. The main character has to give up his table tennis dreams to save the world! 318 pages.

It is 1969, at the height of tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Neil, 13, badly wants to be someone. Instead he's stuck as a sorcerer's apprentice for Gus, the "meanest sorcerer in the world." Gus creates a magical talisman to spy on the Soviets, but instead it spies on them and sends text into space. A Giant Face in the Sky shows up, reading the text. 

Since whoever gets to the Face first can lob down spells and have the world at their mercy, the Race to the Face begins. The Soviets invade the U.S. in their attempts to kill Neil, who is prophesied to defeat them. A floating, talking meteor assassin named Buzz becomes Neil's companion--but in one week, Buzz must kill Neil. 

President Kennedy puts together a motley crew that includes Neil, Gus, Buzz, a dragon, the god Apollo, a 2-D sorcerer, and the sorceress Jackie Kennedy. Can they make it to the Face before the Soviets? And before Buzz kills Neil?

"Reading this book had me humming tunes from the 1960s, and smiling, for days." -Abyss & Apex Review. 

• SPECIAL - read the first six chapters (46 pages) for FREE! 

The Spirit of Pong - Fantasy Table Tennis Novel
Andy “Shoes” Blue wants to be a table tennis champion, but he’s just another wannabe American. And so he goes to China to learn the secrets of table tennis. He is trained by the mysterious Coach Wang, and begins an odyssey where he learns the secrets of table tennis from the spirits of Ichiro Ogimura (who helped spawn China’s greatness), Rong Guotuan (China’s first world champion in 1959, whose tragic story Andy must relive), and others, and must face the mysterious “Dragon.” Can he overcome treachery and learn the final secret of table tennis in time to defeat his ultimate nemesis? 100 pages.

SPECIAL - read the first two chapters (17 pages) for FREE! (100 pages.)

First Galactic Table Tennis Championships (Novelette)
Li Yi is a member of the Chinese National Table Tennis Team and the best woman in the world. She has trained long hours since she was a child. But now she faces her biggest challenge – aliens! Table tennis has spread to the galaxy and alien players now dominate the sport. The best are the giraffe-like Ith, with their dominating champion Egrayu.

But Earth isn't part of it, not since the cowboy Americans colonized a moon in the Ith home system, which led to a blockade of Earth. The Chinese hope to reopen trade with the galaxy by using "Ping-Pong Diplomacy" – by running the first Galactic Table Tennis Championships in Beijing. Li, her teammates, and the American champion Danny See – a literal cowboy – play aliens of all shapes and sizes, including the seemingly unbeatable Egrayu, as they battle for the biggest cash prize in table tennis history. But Li is drawn into a corrupt conspiracy that will shake the very foundations of honor and sportsmanship. Plus, there's that problem with the Chinese dumplings… 42 pages.

When Parallel Lines Meet
A SF novel co-written by Larry Hodges, Mike Resnick, and Lezli Robyn. It's about a human traveling the galaxy who falls in love with an alien, and finds that such inter-species relations are not looked on kindly on most planets. From Phoenix Pick, 226 pages.

Pings and Pongs: The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Stories of Larry Hodges
These are his 30 best stories through 2012. 
They were all sold and published in various magazines. 207 pages.

Still More Pings and Pongs: The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Stories of Larry Hodges
The 25 best of Larry Hodges, 2017-2020. 192 pages.

Other Books by Larry Hodges