Lubrican: Blog

I recently got some kudos aimed at my support staff, whose names you see (or should see) in the end note of all my recent books and stories. By recent I mean books and stories I wrote in the last ten or so years. Michelle is my proofreader and "normal human" who does a 'reaction video' to each book I write, except it's not a video. Most people have seen those reaction videos, though and she does very much the same thing. Once she sends me her changes and thoughts back and I digest them, the book then goes to Andy, who is in Mensa and twice as smart as I'll ever be. His background is in strict grammar, so he keeps me honest (or tries to) when it comes to using the King's English, so to speak.
So I passed on the kudos to them, as I always do, and I thought the readers might like a peek into our little literary world, in which we all work very well together.

Here are their responses:
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Andy: I don't know that I've put it this way before, Bob, but anyone can follow known rules, which is what I and Michelle do (sorry, dear, but it's true). The creative spark is yours alone, and that is the end-all and be-all of art. It's you who keep us "in business", so to speak.

Michelle: It is true what you say Andy, but mostly I just make changes just so things flow better and look nicer. Knowing the rules is just what makes things easier to understand in my book. I'm not so anal to think I've got everything nailed down, but I understand what needs to go where to make things flow nicely. That said, I do leave all the harder edits to you Andy so take your bow.

As for your fan base, Bob, be sure to tell the kind fans that they are very much appreciated and that I hope their experiences with reading your works make for a relaxing and entertaining time as it does for me. I've said many times how much I enjoy reading your work and I'm always happy to hear that they do as well. It makes things on my end much more pleasant and I'm waaaayyy more willing to make sure to catch as much as I can so their reading experience sails smoothly. Be proud of your work first and foremost and let their praise come as a close second. You really do earn it. :)
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It isn't much, just some ordinary email exchanges, but they exemplify the process in which the product you read gets to your e-reader. I hope this was interesting.

I just wanted to thank you for the nice things you say.

So do Michelle and Andy.

By the way, I just got one back from Michelle and sent it on to Andy just before I posted this blog entry. He's a busy guy and it's a longer story, so it may be a while until it gets to your e-reader, but for those of you who think i might have died or had a stroke or fallen and couldn't get up, now you know there will be something... eventually.

Thanks for reading.
Bob

Okay, I'm finally able to post something other than a short story or stroke story.

That said, this one is a little odd. Blame it on the fact that it was written over a period of four months and while I was moving from one state to another.

I would say it rambles. A number of my readers would say, "Finally, a story with some details and explanation of what happens to the characters!"

A few will say that, once again, I spend too much time explaining how people feel and why they do what they do. Those are the people who want a story that says, "They met, they liked each other, they fucked and fucked and fucked and fucked, the end."

I don't really care. I got this idea and I had a good time writing it because I felt like I was making some kind of progress while the world slowed down and I had to do what needed to be done, rather than what I wanted to do.

The story is called Accidental Gigolos and it's twenty-one chapters long. You can read the short description (all I'm allowed space for) at the posting. Here's the long description:
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Bobby mowed Trudy's lawn and on her birthday, when her husband forgot it, Bobby did not. She invited him in to talk, but he mostly listened and, somehow, their clothes fell off and he was giving her the intimacy and emotional support her husband did not. She kept inviting him in after he worked in her yard and pretty soon he was the best lover she'd ever had. One of her friends was in a similar spot and when she said, "I need to get laid!" Trudy said she might know somebody who could help her. They were both so happy with the way Bobby treated them that they felt like he could help Julie, and then Cathy and finally Sarah.

But keeping five women happy was a chore, even for a virile teenager who could get hard four times a day. So he thought maybe he could share the wealth with his best friend. So Julie broke Russell in and then Bobby and Russell shared the job of making the women happy.

And they were happy. But some of them could be happier. Some of them wanted to divorce their husbands who, for various reasons, weren't being very good husbands. Chief among these reasons were that the men weren't paying any sexual attention to their wives. That was why the women needed Bobby and Russell in the first place.

But how to get their husbands to agree to a divorce?

Well, how about if they turned up pregnant? Since the husbands hadn't touched most of the women in months, it would be obvious that any swollen bellies weren't because of matrimonial bliss. Cuckolded husbands would demand a divorce, post haste!

So then three women had to convince two young men still in high school to impregnate them. One woman's husband hadn't given his wife what she needed because he couldn't, so he gave her permission to get what he couldn't give her. And Julie had never been married.

What could possible go wrong?

Well, there was the small fact that all the women were white and Russell was African American and was the only black man in town other than his father who was under seventy. So if he made babies in any of the women it would be obvious.

The women didn't care. But literally everybody else in town would … especially his father … who was the Chief of Police.

The women had a plan, though. It was a ridiculous plan, but it was a plan.

And maybe it would be Bobby whose seed took root in their gardens and everything would look normal.

But probably not.

We won't even go into how Russell's sister found out what they were doing and wanted in on the action. Or that Russell got a girlfriend when he went to college, who also found out about things and wanted to understand why the shy, quiet man she had fallen in love with turned out to be some kind of immoral satyr.

Come along and find out as relationships are examined and the human condition is explored. Love is created and when it all blows up, it is love that saves the day.
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So, there you go. You already know whether you want to read it or not. First three chapters submitted today. I'll send in one or two chapters per day until it's all up. As usual, for the impatient ones who don't want to wait, it's on Bookapy in its entirety.

Thanks for being patient.
And thanks for reading.

Bob

Well, we got moved and are settled in, though there are stacks of boxes yet to be unpacked. The computer is set up and I'm back to work.

Today I started posting a three chapter story that got written during the hiatus. The foreword says it isn't fine literature and it's not. Call it shaking the rust off of my fingers.

It's called Daddy, I Have a Question and I'll post a chapter a day. It's also available at Bookapy if you don't want to wait.
I also finally got the boxed set of the Bobby Dalton story The Making of a Gigolo published at Bookapy. A number of people asked for that and it took a while to figure out how to do it. The whole set is made up of four volumes, each having four books in them. It was edited in the process and is "cleaner" than what is at SOL. I like to think it's only a "little" cleaner because the original is in good shape. I'm a little vain that way. That is also why I like it when people write to me and tell me I made a mistake. I can't fix them if I don't know about them.

Anyway, I hope everybody has a happy and fruitful new year and that we can write and read some good stuff.

PS Michelle currently has a twenty-something chapter book that I worked on before, during and after the hiatus. I do not expect to post it until sometime in February or March, but it's out there getting spruced up.

I haven't posted anything in ahwile and that always brings out the "Are you still alive?" people. Not that those folks bother me. I'm flattered they think about me.
Here's the deal. My wife's health took a serious dive last spring because of allergies that almost hospitalized her. So we had to get out of Kansas and go somewhere more allergy friendly. That means we've been on the road here and there (mostly there) looking for a new place to hang our hats.
The good news is we found something and it's going to get all finalized between now and the end of the year.
At that point I might be able to spend more time writing. I've been working on something as time permits but I doubt it will come out until after the new year.
I just wanted you to know I'm still alive and have some of the same problems as many of you have.
Happy Holidays
Bob

I have posted another new Uncle Bob short story, since a lot of you ask for that kind of story. It's called Jilted Niece and it's a quick read.

My writing is still curtailed to this sort of short tale. I hope to be back to writing longer stuff in five or six months.

Thanks for reading.
Bob