Desperate Measures (Angel's Luck Series, Volume 1) [Mass Market Paperback]

Joe Clifford Faust (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Del Rey; First Edition edition (June 14, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345350200
• ISBN-13: 978-0345350206
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,893,266 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joe Clifford Faust was born in North Dakota, raised in Alberta and Wyoming, went to college in Oklahoma, and now lives in Ohio. He has been married for more than thirty years to the same woman, has two adult children, and has worked at a local advertising agency since 1997.

When not writing, he can be found ministering to his Church family, eating chili, badly singing and playing original songs on the guitar, playing wargames, and reading books on his Kindle.

He is currently at work on his next novel, which he says, "May involve either UFOs, amnesia, or dogs. I haven't decided which."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good story based Sci fi, June 12, 2009

By 

Cerankoman (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Desperate Measures (Angel's Luck, Book 1) (Hardcover)

Desperate Measures is the first book in the series about a ship Captain named James May set in the far future. He has had a shady past and owes money to the yakuza who own his ship. While dodging them, he finds back alley deals where he can to survive and stay off the police and yakuza radar. This series was written in the 80's and it is very reminicent to Firefly in its Genre. If you liked the Firefly TV series you will like this book. The Author for some reason doesn't like to describe fight scenes, he just shows you the outcome which annoyed me at first but the story just moves along. Good dialog and plot in the story. Looking forward to reading the other series books.

3.0 out of 5 stars Drunken Space Trader Captain Making a Living, December 14, 2011

By 

Judah (Terre Haute In USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Desperate Measures (Angel's Luck Series, Volume 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

Angel's Luck is the name of his spaceship, and Captain James May is having a hard time making his installment payments to the Yueh-sheng (think Asian Yakuza) who owns the title. He gets into trouble, and barely manages to get out of it again, usually by making things worse. While I wasn't too pleased with the characterization, the book was like a train wreck in motion. I wanted to look away, but wanted to know 'how-they-got-out-of-it-this-time'.

The 'drunken' adjective is earned by Captain May doing most of his negotiation in bars, and you won't go more than 25 pages without one character or another drinking or getting drunk. This serves to frequently complicate the plot line.

I didn't like the story enough to follow the series, because Captain May is a jerk to the people he works with, even the people who might help him. In the second half of the book, the perspective switches over to Duke, so perhaps the author realized this and tried a fix, but it didn't redeem the novel. Duke has some development, and I was starting to like him when the book ended, but I didn't like him *enough*.

4.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic series, January 31, 2004

By 

Richard Jones "people pay me to write" (Charlotte) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Desperate Measures (Angel's Luck Series, Volume 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

I first read these books when they originally came out, way back in the mists of time in the '80s and I fell in love with them. The author brings the characters to life and makes you care for them. Not only that, but the plot is fantastic. This, the first book in the series, is well worth searching out.

However, I will warn you, if you do read this book, you're in for a lot of work, in that you'll find yourself forced to hunt down the rest of the series.