Sun City

Minson (Perspectives) unfurls a deliriously funny tale of retribution set in a Texas retirement community overrun by garden gnomes and feral pigs and controlled by a bullying board of directors. Seventy-year-old widower Cal Yarborough feels like he’s been sentenced to life in the Sun City senior independent living community. Medically, it’s safer for him there after his heart attack, but he’s a man of the earth, a lifelong farmer devastated at losing his purpose. He’s dismayed by the militant, power-hungry Sun City Board, led by arrogant retired Navy admiral Karl “Kong” Lurkey, who drives around in a golf cart modified to look like an F-15 fighter jet and blares Kenny Loggins’s “Danger Zone.” Wild Bill, a former CIA agent turned hippie and rock band roadie, has a scheme to buy out the board, which can’t be voted out. He’s got a secret stash of fast-growing marijuana seeds obtained from a defunct Cold War operation against Fidel Castro, and with Cal’s farming skills and the distribution connections of fellow resident Todd, a former mob boss in witness protection, they plan to sell enough super pot to blunt the board. Minson imbues his narrative with absurdity, heart, and razor-sharp wit, and builds intrigue as the silver-haired upstarts fully commit to their last chance to feel relevant. This is a gem. (Self-published)