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The Bad Luck Spirits' Social Aid and Pleasure Club
A startlingly original dark fantasy set in the New Orleans of the acclaimed Fat White Vampire series. Takes place between the events of Bride of the Fat White Vampire (book #2) and Fat White Vampire Otaku (book #3). Who Knew It Would Be So Easy to Destroy the Big Easy? Have you ever felt cursed by bad luck? Everyone living in the path of Hurricane Antonia knows that feeling. In their case, it's justified! A confederation of trickster gods and bad luck spirits schemes to take advantage of inept political leadership and midwife a catastrophe so overwhelming it drives every human inhabitant from New Orleans! They name their scheme "Operation Big Blow". Who stands between the Big Easy and obliteration? Only a lone traitor, human-loving Kay Rosenblatt, the weakest member of the mysterious Miasma Club... also known as the Bad Luck Spirits’ Social Aid and Pleasure Club!
467 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 15, 2021
1 person is currently reading
14 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Fox
48 books36 followersAndrew Fox was born in Miami Beach in 1964. He has been a fan of science fiction and horror since he saw Godzilla and friends romp through Destroy All Monsters at the drive-in theater at the age of three. In 1994, he joined award-winning science fiction author George Alec Effinger's monthly writing workshop group in New Orleans, where Andrew lived for more than two decades. Since 2009, he has lived in Northern Virginia with his wife and three boys, where he works for a federal law enforcement agency.
His first novel, Fat White Vampire Blues, published by Ballantine Books in 2003, was widely described as "Anne Rice meets A Confederacy of Dunces." It won the Ruthven Award for Best Vampire Fiction of 2003. Its sequel, Bride of the Fat White Vampire, was published in 2004. His third novel, The Good Humor Man, or, Calorie 3501, was published by Tachyon Publications in April, 2009. It was selected by Booklist as one of the Ten Best SF/Fantasy Novels of the Year and was first runner up for the Darrell Award, presented for best SF or fantasy novel written by a Mid-South author or set in the Mid-South. In 2006, he was one of the three winners of the Moment Magazine-Karma Foundation Short Fiction Award.
Andrew is an outspoken advocate for freedom of speech and thought in science fiction. MonstraCity Press is publishing two volumes of short fiction that, in the tradition of Harlan Ellison's groundbreaking anthologies Dangerous Visions and Again, Dangerous Visions, push the boundaries of what is considered taboo in science fiction. The first volume, Hazardous Imaginings: The Mondo Book of Politically Incorrect Science Fiction, includes two of Andrew's short novels and three of his stories. The second volume, Again, Hazardous Imaginings, features 14 stories by writers from all over the world. Science fiction is not a safe space!
MonstraCity Press has published Fire on Iron (Book One of Midnight's Inferno: the August Micholson Chronicles), a steampunk dark fantasy novel set aboard ironclad gunboats during the Civil War, and will publish the second book in the series, Hellfire and Damnation, in 2023. MonstraCity Press has also published the third book in the Fat White Vampire series, Fat White Vampire Otaku, and the fourth book in the series, Hunt the Fat White Vampire, both in 2021. The Bad Luck Spirits' Social Aid and Pleasure Club, a fantasy novel which intertwines a supernatural secret history of New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, also came out in 2021; this is a tie-in to the Fat White Vampire series.
In 2022, Potomac Books, an imprint of The University of Nebraska Press, published Andrew's first non-fiction book, The Devil's Toy Box: Exposing and Defusing Promethean Terrorists. In 2023, Agaddah Try It, an imprint of Madness Heart Press, published his novel The End of Daze, an eschatological satire that presents the end times from an off-kilter Jewish perspective.
Andrew's other jobs have been varied. He has worked at a children's psychiatric center, managed a statewide supplemental nutrition program for senior citizens, taught musical theater and improv to children, and sold Saturn cars and trucks (just before the automotive division was abolished by General Motors). He has also been a mime (in his younger days) and produced a multi-sensory interactive play for blind children in New Orleans.
Andrew Fox's website and blog can be found at:
www.fantasticalandrewfox.com
The latest information about MonstraCity Press books can be found at:
www.monstracitypress.com
His first novel, Fat White Vampire Blues, published by Ballantine Books in 2003, was widely described as "Anne Rice meets A Confederacy of Dunces." It won the Ruthven Award for Best Vampire Fiction of 2003. Its sequel, Bride of the Fat White Vampire, was published in 2004. His third novel, The Good Humor Man, or, Calorie 3501, was published by Tachyon Publications in April, 2009. It was selected by Booklist as one of the Ten Best SF/Fantasy Novels of the Year and was first runner up for the Darrell Award, presented for best SF or fantasy novel written by a Mid-South author or set in the Mid-South. In 2006, he was one of the three winners of the Moment Magazine-Karma Foundation Short Fiction Award.
Andrew is an outspoken advocate for freedom of speech and thought in science fiction. MonstraCity Press is publishing two volumes of short fiction that, in the tradition of Harlan Ellison's groundbreaking anthologies Dangerous Visions and Again, Dangerous Visions, push the boundaries of what is considered taboo in science fiction. The first volume, Hazardous Imaginings: The Mondo Book of Politically Incorrect Science Fiction, includes two of Andrew's short novels and three of his stories. The second volume, Again, Hazardous Imaginings, features 14 stories by writers from all over the world. Science fiction is not a safe space!
MonstraCity Press has published Fire on Iron (Book One of Midnight's Inferno: the August Micholson Chronicles), a steampunk dark fantasy novel set aboard ironclad gunboats during the Civil War, and will publish the second book in the series, Hellfire and Damnation, in 2023. MonstraCity Press has also published the third book in the Fat White Vampire series, Fat White Vampire Otaku, and the fourth book in the series, Hunt the Fat White Vampire, both in 2021. The Bad Luck Spirits' Social Aid and Pleasure Club, a fantasy novel which intertwines a supernatural secret history of New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, also came out in 2021; this is a tie-in to the Fat White Vampire series.
In 2022, Potomac Books, an imprint of The University of Nebraska Press, published Andrew's first non-fiction book, The Devil's Toy Box: Exposing and Defusing Promethean Terrorists. In 2023, Agaddah Try It, an imprint of Madness Heart Press, published his novel The End of Daze, an eschatological satire that presents the end times from an off-kilter Jewish perspective.
Andrew's other jobs have been varied. He has worked at a children's psychiatric center, managed a statewide supplemental nutrition program for senior citizens, taught musical theater and improv to children, and sold Saturn cars and trucks (just before the automotive division was abolished by General Motors). He has also been a mime (in his younger days) and produced a multi-sensory interactive play for blind children in New Orleans.
Andrew Fox's website and blog can be found at:
www.fantasticalandrewfox.com
The latest information about MonstraCity Press books can be found at:
www.monstracitypress.com
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 29, 2024
Do you believe in luck? You might after reading this combo of fantasy, horror and political intrigue in an urban setting. Pros: Very likable MC, even though she is one of the baddies. DO NOT be intimidated by the character list at the beginning. The names are easy to keep up with as the story develops. Character development is excellent and well balanced with the action scenes. Cons: The horror element leans toward light body horror, not scary just gross. It isn't pervasive and I was easily able to skim over those bits. Overall - I would highly recommend to fans of American Gods. It is that but on a granular intimate level - these are the creatures that live in your neighborhood and are sustained by cultural beliefs far more than the old forgotten gods and therefore actively impact our every day lives.
May 16, 2024
This book, like everything by Andrew Fox, is a crazy ride, especially if you're from New Orleans. It's a joy to read, and an astonishingly imaginative take on climate change and more, including The City That Care Forgot.
Recommend wholeheartedly!
Recommend wholeheartedly!
April 18, 2023
Fairly enjoyable novel, but be warned that it has nothing to do with the "Fat White Vampire" series, other than being written by the same author and also set in New Orleans. The premise is that each major group of people in New Orleans had their own trickster/bad luck spirit/evil eye being to trick/persecute/test them - Owl Lookingback (Houma tribe), Ayin Hora (Jewish), Reynard (French), Fortuna Discordia (Italian), Old Scratch (English), Mephistopheles (Spanish), Tim Malice (Haitian), Eleggua-Eshu (Yoruba), Na Ong and Na Ba (Vietnamese), Balor the Formorian and Faebar the Leprechaun (Irish), Pandora (Greek), Krampus (German), Gremlin (technological) - together forming the Miasma Club. The story centers around a fictionalized version of Hurricane Katrina (so be warned if you're not cool with this being used in a story) and a number of characters inspired by real people to one degree or another. Many (but not all) of the Miasma Club are evil, just as the Muses (who oppose them) are not 100% good, and the humans in this story range from deeply flawed to flat-out terrible people. Interesting take on the supernatural components of luck (good and bad) and inspiration. The quality of the story is a bit rough and not all of the characters are well-written (e.g. the Krampus in this story is just terrible, and I feel like Fox just used him to include a "devil" (even though he appears as some sort of lizard creature) to represent the German immigrants. I'll give the story a low 3 stars. I liked it OK but the author could have done better.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews