Lubrican's Short Stories - Volume Eight

Volume eight of Lubrican's short stories begins with a coming of age tale called "The Tutor's Blues," in which a bonafide geek is steered toward tutoring a young lady. She is everything he could dream of, but of course she wouldn't even have noticed him, had he not been her tutor. But he acts differently than other boys - he's a real gentleman - which is intriguing to the young woman. And the mores she's around him, the more intrigued she becomes, until she decides to see just how much of a gentleman he can be. When she finds out, she can't resist him and she finds herself on the slippery slope of young, passionate love.

Book two, titled "John Deere Green" explains that message on that water tower that Joe Diffie sang about and made famous. Who was Billy Bob? And what relationship did he have to Charlene BEFORE that proclamation was painted way up there. And what if Billy Bob wasn't SUPPOSED to love Charlene? All is revealed in this light-hearted look at a country western song.

In "The Not So Ugly Duckling," a plain Jane grows up and is appreciated by her uncle, who isn't really her uncle, of course. It's a social relationship, rather than one of bloodlines. And of course, never having been appreciated prior to this, the girl drinks it all in, loving every second of it and wanting more. She REALLY wants more, and Uncle Bob finally gives it to her, at which point she'll never, ever worry about whether or not she's desirable to men again.

Finally, there is an odd little story called "The Little Red Bike That Changed My Life." This story resulted from a challenge from another author, who laid out a fairly complicated and unlikely series of events that had to be included in the story. The challenge itself is some pretty good reading, because it makes you wonder how the heck he thought this stuff up. But then you get to see what the heck Lubrican thought up to meet ... nay joyfully crash into ... the challenge.