About the Book

Book: Fool’s Luck

Author: Dave Milbrandt

Genre: Political Fiction

Release date: July 13, 2021

When high school teacher Myles Bradford wins the Powerball lottery, he decides to do something truly unexpected: run for President of the United States. Bradford is eager about the opportunity, but his family clearly is not. With little time to sway them to his side, he’s thrust into running a quarter-billion-dollar nationwide campaign, complete with cross-country flights and road trips, expert staff, and armed security. But like most dreams, Bradford soon finds that what he imagined is completely different from what is real. Thrust into the spotlight, he faces attacks from newfound political enemies and false accusations while striving to climb the ladder of success. As Bradford gets closer to achieving his dreams, danger lurks on the home front. As his attention is pulled farther away from the things that matter most, Bradford may learn that even success has its price. Will he be able to have it all? Or will his thirst for power come at a tremendous cost?

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About the Author

The author of the Jim Mitchell series of novels (Chasing Deception, Undue Pressure and Running), Dave Milbrandt fell in love with writing in junior high and has been a storyteller ever since. A former staff writer for a daily newspaper, the Southern California native spent five years in journalism and public relations before becoming a teacher.

In addition to working at several colleges, Dave has taught high school English and Social Science classes since 2005. Dave and his wife, Renée Lynn Milbrandt, who is also a writer, have been married since 1997.

Find out more about Dave and his latest projects at www.davemilbrandt.com

More from Dave

Telling Other People’s Stories

One of the benefits of being married to a fellow writer is that you have a built-in sounding board for story ideas. Your next novel can come from something as simple as a dinner conversation or one person musing out loud and before you know it, the two of you are heaping ideas on top of each other until the bare bones of a promising story emerge.

That’s how Fool’s Luck started. My bride and I were talking and she wondered aloud about why people who won the lottery don’t so something spectacular and world-changing with the the winnings. Before I knew it, we were talking about one “lucky” such person deciding to spend his winnings on a run for president of the United States, and my latest novel was born.

Like with all my books, first came the outline, followed by the research. For my previous trilogy (Chasing Deception, Undue Pressure and Running), the protagonist Jim Mitchell was a much more exciting version of myself, so I could write about being a journalist, college professor and political candidate (for the latter, I had worked enough campaigns to paint some broad brushstrokes).

With Fool’s Luck, however, the only part I could directly relate to was the fact Myles Bradford and I were both married high school teachers. But that was only going to take me so far. I had friends give me insight about life in other parts of the country, and fill in blanks about medicine and private security, but there were two parts of the story that I knew would involve details requiring some pretty in-depth, and sometimes painful, interviews.

The first major tale I had to tell was a political one and a good friend gave me insights that helped build out that side of the story with richness and depth.

The second story, the personal one, was much harder to flesh out. More than medical information, I needed emotions, real, raw emotions, to tell my story and give my characters depth. This need drove me to interview a parent of a former student of mine. Her story was so heart wrenching, so real, that it was hard to read without crying. Her willingness to share her story, to open up a wound, was brave beyond words. Her generosity helped me create a tale would ring true with my readers.

All storytelling is sharing the very real emotions of friends and family, strangers and acquaintances, in a fashion that retains the truth while weaving in enough fiction to keep the story true to itself. Balancing the nonfiction within the fiction with finesse is the key.

Making readers laugh once in a while along the way, well, that’s just the icing on the cake.

MY REVIEW

What would you do if you won the lottery? I think a lot of us would say pay off bills, buy a new car, take a vacation or maybe give some to a charity. For Myles he had a very different plan when he won. He shocks his family when he tells them he is going to run for President of the United States. Okay now there are many thoughts rushing through my head. Is he qualified? Does he know what he is getting into? Is he crazy?

I was very engaged in the story as this unknown decided he wanted to make a difference. Being a teacher for many years , he has loved every minute of it. Myles is ready to change the world and being President will give him the opportunity to take his ideas and watch them improve our nation. Okay I did laugh as I read that this virtually unknown man thought he could actually win the race.

The story follows one man as he puts his name in the race. I liked learning all the ins and outs of running for office. Your life is now very public and everything is open season to the media. It did have a hint of realism as one story came out that was definitely a smear campaign. The author does a good job of tackling this issue and delivers a nice way to stop the rumors.

I did like the story but for me the behind the scenes personal story where the author shined. Myles must convince his wife that this is the right thing to do. He is willing to use every cent of his winnings to be the President. I thought his wife was wonderful and supported him every step of the way. Of course there was that moment of “Are you kidding me?” that she thought but wouldn’t you ask the same thing?

There is a part of the story where Myles struggles with his faith. He has the same question that many of us have. Why does God allow things to happen? We may not get the answer but Myles will face a crisis that will not only test his faith but what his priorities are. This was the best part of the book for me. We witness real emotion, see Myles struggle with what he should do and watch him tackle the very basic question. Is being President more important than family?

Be prepared to laugh, cry and rejoice as one man sets out to change the world in this emotional journey. I really enjoyed the book and loved how believing in yourself gives you confidence to see your dreams come true.

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.