13 Feb Will Ferguson…in Vegas?
What do Will Ferguson and Las Vegas have in common?
Well, I don’t know, really. Mr. Ferguson might be a big time gambler (he’s certainly up on his clever crime schemes of the depression-era) or maybe he enjoys a good stiff drink, readily available in any hotel bar. Maybe he’s a fan of the famous Cirque de Soleil (he is Canadian, after all). I’m going to guess he doesn’t hit Sin City for the shopping.
But here’s the connection for me. I just got back from four days in Vegas with a good friend (which explains my tardiness in blogging our next book) and the timing was just right for me to start the LOL’s latest book. With a lay-over in Seattle and a few hours to kill on flights, it’s like my reading got a tailwind! I’m about a third of the way through Spanish Fly and have so much to say…But first, here’s Lane and I, dressed up for our l
ast night in Vegas, moments before meeting an old friend of mine from high school, Jean-Pierre, now a manager @ Caesar’s Palace & a new dad, (congrats, JP!)…and about an hour before seeing Elton John in concert. Unreal…but I do digress…
Set in the American Southwest during the Great Depression, the novel features Jack McGreary, a young man growing up in Paradise Flats–a broken-down dust bowl of a town. Witty, wonderfully quick with math, and a speed reader, it’s clear from the outset that Jack will out grow the tiny town he was born in. With a deceased mother and a good-hearted but going-crazy father, Jack outsmarts everyone around him and is itching for more out of life than the salt mines of Paradise Flats–and even the libararian’s “reed of a daughter”, Becky, in her tempting floral dress and page-boy haircut–can provide. So when two “fast-talking swindlers blow through town”, Jack ends up joining them on a wild and crazy ride of crime spreeing across the Southwest.
It’s a very interesting premise, and a delight to read Will Ferguson’s (he of the Leacock Medal for Humor) wonderful wit working its way through the novel in the voice of Jack. But don’t take my word for it, here’s what Monday Magazine had to say about the book:
“Ferguson’s intriguing characters and rich descriptions of the depressed towns they inhabit draws you into the forlorn pre-war world of the Depression. I couldn’t get enough of their cons and was seduced by the romantic notion of a grifter’s exciting life. From the coffee tins full of cash to the getaway car to the hot jazz clubs…Spanish Fly is a compelling piece of historical fiction that bring’s Ferguson’s writing to a whole new and exciting level.”
Why not pick up a copy of Spanish Fly and join the LOL in our latest book? And join me here for Wordy Wednesday for more and if you want to know what we bought (and ate, and drank, and saw) in Vegas, tune in for Free-For-All-Friday.
Good to be back,
Cheers!
Shannon