Luck Be Ladies: A Poker Boy Collection

By Dean Wesley Smith

Superhero Poker Boy works for Stan, the God of Poker. But sometimes Poker Boy and his team come to the aid of Lady Luck, the most powerful God of them all. And the boss of everything.

In these five Poker Boy stories, meet three of Lady Luck's four daughters. In the novella, "For the Balance of a Heart," Lady Luck asks Poker Boy to find her missing daughter, the Queen of Hearts. In "That Lost Riddle," Poker Boy helps the Queen of Diamonds solve an ancient riddle. And in "The Rules of the Game," Poker Boy assists Lady Luck with her warrior daughter, the Queen of Clubs.

But Poker Boy also gets to save Lady Luck in "Luck Be a Lady" and rescue Lady Luck's one great love in "You Forgive the Night's Scream."

Enjoy the crazy world of Poker Boy, one of the newest and most puzzling superheroes you might ever meet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WMG Publishing
• Release date: Aug 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393008910

Dean Wesley Smith

Dean Wesley Smith is the bestselling author of over ninety novels under many names. He has written books and comics for Marvel, DC Comics, and Dark Horse, as well as scripts for Hollywood. Over his career, he also worked as an editor and publisher for Pulphouse Publishing and Pocket Books. Currently, he writes thrillers and mysteries under one of his many pseudonyms.

Book preview

Luck Be Ladies

Luck Be Ladies

A Poker Boy Collection

Dean Wesley Smith

WMG Publishing

Contents

Introduction

For the Balance of a Heart

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

That Lost Riddle

Introduction

That Lost Riddle

Luck Be a Lady

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

You Forgive the Night’s Scream

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

The Rules of the Game

Introduction

The Rules of the Game

Also by Dean Wesley Smith

About the Author

Introduction

Getting to Know You

At some point I will publish a Poker Boy novel with all four of Lady Luck’s daughters. I kept promising myself that. Years now that promise has been unfulfilled.

However, to prepare for that novel, I have written three Poker Boy stories introducing three of the daughters. All three of those stories are in this volume, starting with the Queen of Hearts in the story Balance of a Heart.

But since I am talking about Lady Luck’s daughters, I felt I also needed a few stories about Lady Luck herself. So, I included Luck be a Lady, a story about Lady Luck herself being missing. And also You Forgive the Night’s Scream about a love of Lady Luck’s life.

I flat love writing Poker Boy stories because, to be honest, I have no idea what is going to happen next, how Poker Boy will solve the problem, and which new character will pop up next.

In fact, I love writing in this crazy superhero world so much, I have spun off three different series. Poker Boy stories are from the viewpoint of Poker Boy. There are at least 40 of them, and a couple novels. Not all of the stories are in print yet.

Then I spun off a series called Ghost of a Chance series. Those are all novels starring ghost couples who solve crimes and sometimes help Poker Boy save the world.

Then I spun off two crazy and sexy ghosts in the Marble Grant series. Those are only short stories so far and have only been published in Smith’s Monthly issues. But more are coming.

Then, just to make it even more crazy, I started a brand new series starring superhero detective Sky Tate. She is not a ghost, but a superhero like Poker Boy, only working in the crime-solving side of things. Sometimes she works with the ghost Marble Grant to solve cases.

The first Sky Tate mystery is out in Volume #35 of Writers of the Future, for which I was invited to write a story around the wonderful Bob Eggleton cover. Sky Tate just raised her hand and said, Oh, let me play.

I have a dozen unpublished Sky Tate mystery stories to come out this next year. And all of this is wrapped up in the Poker Boy universe.

So I hope you enjoy learning more about Poker Boy and the God who runs everything in all the series, Lady Luck herself. I sure enjoyed writing them.

---

Dean Wesley Smith

Las Vegas, Nevada

July 9, 2019

For the Balance of a Heart

A Poker Boy Story

Introduction

As a superhero in the gambling universe, Poker Boy works directly for Stan, the God of Poker.

Poker Boy’s job? To save those who need saving and take money at the poker tables from those who need it taken.

But when Lady Luck herself comes calling and asks for a personal favor, Poker Boy and his team must travel far beyond the edges of Las Vegas to find the Queen of Hearts.

Chapter One

I always figured that when Lady Luck needed a favor from me, things had to be really, really bad.

Laverne, aka Lady Luck, appeared a little after noon on a Friday. My entire team was in my new office eating take-out Chinese and talking about our plans for the weekend. I had a poker tournament I hoped to play in later in the evening at the Bellagio and Patty Ledegerwood, aka Front Desk Girl, my sidekick and girlfriend, had to work swing at the MGM Grand Hotel front desk.

In other words, a pretty standard weekend night for us.

Then Lady Luck appeared.

When that happens, normal becomes a laughing matter.

Laverne had on her standard business casual gray pantsuit. Her dark hair was pulled so tight into a bun on the top of her head that it had to hurt. Her eyes looked neutral as they always did. Lady Luck seldom showed anyone any emotion and it was always impossible to get a read on what she was thinking.

She looked around my new office and smiled and then nodded. Original.

I thought that meant she liked my new office layout. At least I hoped that was what she meant.

She glanced at Stan, the God of Poker, who was trying to choke down the remains of a spring roll. Good job.

Stan, who had on his standard gray cardigan sweater and gray slacks, only nodded. Compliments from Lady Luck herself were rare and Stan knew that. The expression on his face and in his dark eyes never changed.

At times I couldn’t believe my new office, or the fact that a superhero poker player like me even had an office. But I did, and it was invisible and floated above the city of Las Vegas, about a thousand feet above the MGM Grand Casino and Hotel.

I doubted I would ever get used to how amazing that was.

Since Patty worked at the MGM Grand, I figured directly above the MGM Grand just seemed like a great place to anchor the office. Besides, since I got a lot of my superhero power from casinos funneled through my black leather coat and Fedora-like hat, being parked over a major casino never hurt.

And I seldom took off my coat and hat. Even now over a Chinese lunch that was about to get very cold.

The office in this spot also allowed for a great view of all of Las Vegas and the surrounding mountains and desert since all four walls were glass and perfectly clear. At first that had scared me so much I stayed to the center of the room. Finally, after a day of almost crawling around the room on my hands and knees for fear of falling off the edge of my office tile floor, I had decided to put in a wooden rail about a foot wide and waist-high across the glass. On all four walls. That helped. I now could actually go to the edges of my own office and look down.

Compared to normal offices, mine really wasn’t much of an office. No desk, no couches, no pictures or awards hanging on the glass walls. The entire center of the square office was filled with a large, oblong wooden booth. It was an exact replica of the booth in the Diner Restaurant from downtown Las Vegas where we had all met for the last couple of years.

Plastic-covered booth seats and a scarred tabletop made it feel real. Bottles of ketchup and mustard sat next to the salt and pepper and a pile of white paper napkins in the center.

Every detail was the same as in the Diner.

In other words, my nifty new office was nothing more than a hunk of tile floor and a diner booth floating in the air over a major casino. I liked it.

So did the rest of the team, or so they had said.

The booth was large enough to handle the six members of my team. There were two or three extra chairs in the room that visitors could pull up to the end of the booth and a couple of lawn chairs in one corner where Patty and I could just sit and stare out at the city and the mountains.

I’d only had this office for a week and I was starting to love sitting in those lawn chairs in the evenings before sunset.

Lady Luck turned around, grabbed a chair and pulled it toward the end of the booth where we were all sitting. It had been Lady Luck herself who had suggested that Stan, my boss and the God of Poker, teach me how to build and secure a floating office for me and my team.

Over the last few years my team had saved the world more times than I wanted to count, so it seemed like a great idea to me and it was turning out to be just that. But while I was building it, I hadn’t been so sure.

It had taken two very long days and just about every ounce of energy I had, even with Stan helping, to put it all together and get it secured somehow in its floating and invisible location. But now it took no energy at all for me to keep it there.

Stan tried to explain to me how that worked, but I flat didn’t understand a word he said. I figured there had to be some things only the gods could or should know. Since I was only a lowly superhero in the gambling universe, I wasn’t meant to know what we had just done or how it even worked. Honestly, I was fine with that, as long as the office stayed in the air and we could go and come from it.

Lady Luck pulled the chair to the table and sat down. Then she sampled a bite of an extra spring roll and nodded. The food was from a restaurant called Larry’s Chinese Place just off The Strip. The locals knew it was the best in town.

My entire team was there, plus Stan. I could tell they were all as shocked by Lady Luck’s action as I felt. One of the most powerful gods in the universe just didn’t join a bunch of superheroes and a poker god for lunch.

The Smoke and Screamer both eased away from her on the left side of the booth. The Smoke was basically a werewolf who could walk through walls. He stood about my height at six foot, but had shoulders so large it made him seem shorter. His most striking feature was his deep blue eyes.

Screamer was shorter than me and usually just wore Las Vegas tourist clothes like bright shirts and ugly shorts. He worked for the law enforcement side of the gods and seemed far, far harder than he actually was.

Madge, the food-service-superhero waitress who always wore a too-tight pink