Definitive Guide to Obscure One-Legged Combat Sport Finally Arrives After Decades of Mishaps and Institutional Secrecy
Hop Fight: The Authoritative Guide to the Drunken Sport Even a Child Can Play Brings Forgotten Discipline to Public Attention
"What began as a simple proofreading project, most of the details of which I had forgotten, became a complex reconstruction" explains a spokesperson for one of the authors, S. Pluck, whose background in policework and fiction informed the book's meticulous approach. "Fortunately the IFOHF's archives contained a trove of poorly organized memos and sketches that helped fill in for the fuzziness of our memories. Irish whiskey helped, too. And other whiskies."
The 176-page volume includes detailed illustrations, comprehensive information about the sport's culture that covers everything from foot bath rituals to judge certification protocols, and an extensive historical discussion tracing one-leggededness across history and myth by a guest historian. The work maintains the deadpan institutional voice characteristic of official sporting federation publications while making the sport's complex technical requirements accessible to general readers.
Hop Fight arrives at a moment when alternative and forgotten sports are experiencing renewed cultural interest and society. The book serves both as practical reference for potential practitioners and as a self-help guide for those looking for meaning and purpose while navigating unfathomable events.
Hop Fight will be available through discerning retailers and independent booksellers beginning March 8, 2026, published by Fiero Books and distributed by IngramSpark. Those looking to explore the world of hop fight sooner can find out more at the project’s Kickstarter. Retail price: $19.23/trade paper.
About the Authors
The proofreaders of the first edition, S. Pluck and P. MacCruiskeen, reconstructed this second edition of Hop Fight from memory, years after it was lost in a fire. When they disappeared, F. T. Marquardt, the book’s editor, took over. Shortly before publication, he died in an unfortunate book fair accident, leaving the work to his third cousin, Frank T. Marquardt, who had attained minor notoriety in hop fight circles after his victory at the 2018 Boise Biennial.
About Fiero Books
Fiero Books is an independent press dedicated to bringing overlooked institutional knowledge and forgotten disciplines to public attention while doing a minimum of work.
Media Contact: Frank T. Marquardt, hopfight@gmail.com
Review Copies Available Upon Request
