Luck Be A Chicken: a comic novel by Jameson Gregg

Hilarious southern-fried chicken fiction from the Georgia Author of the Year Butterbean and Ruby Sweat, heads of a comical, fantastically redneck southern family, are trapped in generational poverty and facing a gut-wrenching crisis — how to quickly raise money for their baby daughter’s clubfoot operation lest she be a cripple for life. Memorable characters swarm the pages. Slob extraordinaire Bean – the beer-guzzling, pickup-driving, NASCAR-loving deer hunter – sails through life as trailer park philosopher, clown prince, and champion of his fellow chicken plant workers. Ruby styles in her leopard leotard as a “kitchen-tician” in her beauty parlor, Ruby’s Curl Up ‘N Dye, plopped inside an abandoned Airstream trailer now connected to their singlewide. Patrons regale in good-natured gossip swapping, banter, and laughter. Dark forces loom in the form of Bean’s nemesis, Calvin Butler, the unscrupulous and evil chicken plant owner who inherits the reins of the family business. Butler’s seedy, drug-clouded world of greed and corruption spins out of control as blackmail becomes a business strategy and weapon of choice. Company funds for modernization and sanitation now pay for Butler’s private jet forays and his posh hunting lodge. Tensions with USDA Inspectors escalate and his lawyers fight to hold government hounds at bay. The flashpoint occurs when Bean suspects a salmonella cover-up then faces the dilemma of a lifetime. Hide the lethal secret and more people could die, or whistle blow and the plant could close and all would lose their jobs. Southern Baptist forces weave through the Sweat’s lives. Bean doubts God’s existence but Ruby the Baptist shines the light. Will Butler face justice? Will baby have her operation? Luck Be A Chicken is hilarious and heartbreaking southern fried chicken fiction; satire flavored with a bit of farce. The Sweat family pathos is tragic, yet comedic. Bean’s heroism and viewing life through the lens of humor are their ultimate salvation, at least here on earth.