Deuces Wild

website of author L. S. King

Deuces Wild: Beginners' Luck

by L. S. King

With gangsters hot on their heels, a bereaved cowboy and cynical space pirate are forced to work together for their own survival.

All Slap ever wanted was his ranch and family. The gangster Lyssel destroyed all that, leaving only charred remains. Tristan wanted nothing; he had no expectations from life and trusted no one.

The cowboy and space pirate discover they are hunted by a common enemy: Lyssel. Able only to trust each other against this gangster and his mob, the two are forced to work together. But how can two such total opposites ever make their alliance work?

Buy it in bookstores or order it online!

Double-Edged Publishing, Inc.
ISBN: 0979307988
March 2008

There is something intriguing about the prospect of throwing two different temperaments together and watching the sparks fly. Especially when one party is a rigorously meticulous death-dealer, and the other is a happy-go-lucky life-giver.
In Deuces Wild: Beginners' Luck, we get to see the beginning of a classic, literary friendship. Two diametrically opposed personalities work together to forge their uneasy bond, thrown together by cruelty, circumstance, and sealed by something as old-school as "honor."
Author L. S. King gives us a series which combines the best Western vibe of Butch and Sundance with the space-faring vigor of Joss Whedon's Firefly. This is a new series whose elements feel familiar, but whose treatment is entirely fresh.
Johne Cook
Editor, Ray Gun Revival magazine

Book One: Beginners' Luck - the first three chapters

Introduction: "Reluctant Allies":

part one

part two

part three

This book first appeared as a serialized novel in Ray Gun Revival. Back issues are available in the Vault, found in RGR's forum.

Many thanks to James King for his invaluable help in creating the ships and weapons Slap and Tristan have been up against throughout all of the Deuces Wild stories.

Special thanks to physicist Jonathan Crofts for his patience as he attempts to keep me from breaking too many physics rule outright.

These two men are my heroes.

Anything technically or scientifically Not Right in my stories is due to my own fallibility and misunderstanding.

I would like to add an additional thanks to Johne Cook, editor at Ray Gun Revival for coerc—for, ah, convincing me I could do a serialized novel for the zine, and to Shannon McNear, my writing buddy, who has always been there for me.

And, last but definitely not least, thanks to E.J. Mickels II for the fantastic cover art!

Deuces Wild is dedicated to the memory of my best friend; my inspiration for an enduring friendship...
http://loriendil.com/Starsky/

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