The Fred Parker Show by Vincent Glen

Following the adventures of a group of talking animals trying to make it in show business, The Fred Parker Show by Vincent Glen is a wildly inventive and original novel with a theatrical structure.

On the stage of the Magic Rainbow Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, the Fred Parker Show is about to commence – the audience cheers the entry of Fred, a St. Bernard dog who is not only able to talk but is also a talented comedian. With a series of raunchy jokes, Fred introduces the main act of the show, a two-act play that tells the story of his nomadic band of animals., and how they tried their luck in Las Vegas.

Fred the St. Bernard dog, Joe the orangutan, Elvyra the gorgeous Siamese cat, Chipper the scarlet macaw, and Tango, their human manager, arrive at the Lucky Jackpot Hotel looking for a place to stay, and a job in the entertainment department. The rundown hotel, owned by a stubborn middle-aged man with no talent for business called Abner Redder, is their only chance to get back onto their feet. Although Redder hates animals, his wife Tutty decides to hire the company in the hope that this will change the faith of the Lucky Jackpot for good…

Hilarious and imaginative, this book will charm readers who like a fair dose of the absurd in their fiction, as the novel never takes itself too seriously – or seriously at all, yet still manages to be weirdly plausible in the way each animal character behaves. By borrowing from plays and musicals, the story leaps off the page, feeling like a multimedia work comprising a cadre of genres – surrealism, comedy, musical theatre, and contemporary fiction – for a novel that reflects the madness of Las Vegas like no other.