FOREST OF FORTUNE:
a reading and book signing
by Jim Ruland
Something’s not right at Thunderclap Casino…
Forest of Fortune tells the story of three haunted souls—an alcoholic, an epileptic, and a gambling addict—who try to turn their luck around at a decrepit Indian casino. As they try to come to terms with the ways in which they are haunted by the past and struggle with their addictions, they must confront the malevolent force that won’t rest until old wrongs have been made right.
“Beguiling, nimble, and wonderfully weird, The Forest of Fortune is an out-of-left-field gem.”
—Patrick deWitt, author of The Sisters Brothers
“A little spooky, very funny, and thoroughly engrossing from start to finish. Ruland writes with real aplomb and takes no prisoners.”
—Fiona Maazel, author of Woke Up Lonely
“Jim Ruland’s debut novel Forest of Fortune celebrates casino luck, mostly bad. A tour de force about a casino’s back rooms and environs, Forest of Fortune delivers on the seductive hardboiled territory of dread and despair. I’d bet plenty that you’ll like this.”
—Terese Svoboda, author of Bohemian Girl
“American culture is now casino culture, as anyone with a mortgage or student loan or 401(k) knows all too well. Jim Ruland’s terrific novel gets to the heart of the matter, his characters struggling mightily to keep their heads above water, to find something better, something more, in all the wrong places. Smart, honest, darkly funny, Forest of Fortune is a powerful debut from a writer of real talent.”
—Scott O’Connor, author
of Untouchable and Half World
“Forest of Fortune captures the soul and voice of hard-luck, hard-living Americans in a way that conjures up earlier masters like Raymond Carver and Richard Ford. Jim Ruland has an uncanny ability to get inside his characters – the small-time gamblers, washed up ad-men, and ladies of a certain age with a taste for one-armed bandits who people the casino at the center of the novel, the aptly named ‘Thunderclap.’ It’s been a long time since I’ve read an author with this much heart and talent. I really loved this book.”
—Jerry Stahl, author of Happy Mutant Baby Pills and Permanent Midnight
Saturday, August 16th | 7pm
avenue 50 studio | 131 N. Avenue 50 Highland Park 90042