Books
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Tales of the Lucky Nickel Saloon
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Also available in e-book format: Amazon: Kindle |
Ain't nowhere quite like the Lucky Nickel Saloon
It's a place of mystery and wonder, and the address of the Lucky Nickel Saloon, a fairly normal place with mostly ordinary regulars where some of the strangest things happen.
So come on in, say howdy to the regulars, yell your drink order to the nearly deaf bartender, find a stool at the bar, sit down and enjoy a cold drink — and prepare yourself for a truly weird adventure at the Lucky Nickel Saloon.
The classic American tall-tale device is king here. Ken Rand offers a welcome change of pace in terms of historical fantasy.
— Ed Bryant, author & reviewer (excerpt from the full review in Locus Magazine, 10/2002)
Every story in the Lucky Nickel is an absolute delight! They're all funny and witty, and Ken Rand has a knack for writing 'Old West' dialect that consistently rings true. It's everything an aficionado could hope for in a collection of F&SF 'bar tales.'
— Lambda Sci-fi
Ken Rand's Tales of the Lucky Nickel Saloon is cleverly written, imaginative, and highly entertaining. It's fiction of an entirely new flavor.
— Kevin J. Anderson, co-author of Dune: The Butlerian Jihad
...the most interesting bar in the West.
— Denver Post
Have you ever heard a cockroach fart, or felt someone sigh like the cold breath of a graveyard? Ken Rand has the most vivid descriptions, the most picturesque language of anyone I have read for a very long time. His verbs, nouns and evocative imagery pop every detail into the reader's mind's eye with zest and humor. I laughed aloud at least once in every chapter as this master storyteller presented the regulars of the Lucky Nickel Saloon with western dialogue that rings true, spices the story and lends the mind's ear the perfect timbre for the tale. His characters are real people each distinguishable from the other as black is from white.
"He looked to be no more than a suggestion of a man, something somebody thought up and then decided ‘nevermind’ halfway through." How can you not picture the skeletonized man through this phrase?
Chapter by chapter the reader is drawn into the lives of the patrons of the Lucky Nickel and their incredible visitors, though eccentric, they were still believable under the pen of the genius of storyteller Ken Rand. A definite 6 on a scale of 1 to 5 where five is the highest score, I would highly recommend this book no matter what your favorite genre, Rand will give you a new favorite to enjoy.
— Billie A. Williams, mystery writer