Good Luck Charlie

Good Luck Charlie is a historical novel set in 1898 Florida, just before the American invasion of Cuba. Charlie Herlong is a young man trying to move from Lake City to Jacksonville despite a shortage of transportation options to get there. Each step takes him further from his original destination but brings unexpected benefits, joy, adventure, and danger. He meets another young man traveling to join the US Army’s 10th Cavalry, the Buffalo Soldiers. They become private security detectives for a cotton baron, meet a Florida Cow Hunter who lives on a steamboat in the middle of a prairie, and become entrepreneurs. Charlie thwarts a train robbery, saves the life of a captain of industry, finds love, and draws the ire of a vacuous and obtuse killer. He manages to change the lives of nearly everyone he meets, all by accident, coincidence, divine intervention, or Charlie’s good luck. Good Luck Charlie is a laugh-out-loud, heartwarming, and occasionally violent story that portrays the excitement, danger, and chance of chasing adventure in a time of significant change.

Dicky Palmer has been entertaining people his whole life through theater, documentary film production, stand-up comedy, coaching football, and teaching high school. Twenty years as a full-time standup and twenty more as an educator and football coach have prepared him for his next step as a novelist. He is a husband, father, uncle, and grandfather to a family of talented artists and public servants. He lives with his wife in Jacksonville, Florida and St. Marys, Georgia.