Miss Lovely and Other Stories
by
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1. "THE BIG BANG!" A man goes back in time in a super spaceship in search of the BIG BANG that started it all, for all of us. 2. "CHICKEN!" Two boys play a very deadly game called 'Chicken'! 3. "CREATION." A man and his crew of men and women, go back in time to investigate the truth or falseness of creation according to geneses. 4. "The End of a World!" A man predicts the end of a world! 5. "HELLO, EARTH, WE HEAR YOU!": At long last earth makes contact with life in the depths of space. 6. "IMPERIAL MAN": A man finds some fossil bones in the Southern California desert of Imperial county. Are they the bones of Neanderthal Man?! 7. "THE ONE LEGGED CLUB": Some space tourists are adrift in space in their broken down spaceship, with death by starvation the only thing they have to look forward to! 8. "MISS LOVELY": Old man Oakk, a cripple in a wheelchair, watches Miss Lovely, that's what he calls her, from his apartment with big binoculars for something to do. He's not a peeping Tom in the usual sense, he's a people watcher, and Miss Lovely is his favorite! Oakk doesn't like Miss Lovely's boyfriend, Oakk calls him 'the pirate.' 9. "THE BIRTH OF A SUN": Jupiter is so big with so much hydrogen that if it ever exploded it could turn into another sun!!! 10. "A BEACH PARTY": A young couple are enjoying the night on the beach when a rapist attacks them. 11. "THE SAUSAGE KING!": The Food King of the world gets a big idea and sends some of his men back in time to get the meat of the dinosaurs for a hungry world in the 24th century. 12. "ONE IN A MILLION SMITH": Smith is the luckiest man in all the world. He wins more million to one shots in the history of the world. 13. "THE GREAT POTATO WAR!": Two families get in an argument over boiling potatoes with a very surprising result! 14. "THE RESHAPING OF WILLIAM WESTOVER!": A young man goes to Krong The Watcher and asks him for some changes to his body. Krong agrees and the changes begin which will change William's life forever! 15. "THE MRS. IS MASTER": A young man and wife argue over balancing their budget. They agree to swap places and the fun (and trouble) starts! 16. "THE DISCONTENTED KING": In a solar system far far away, some young men go on a trading venture to the far reaches of their solar system. They find a forgotten planet and land to trade and sample the pleasures of the water world. They accept a job from the King and bet their lives on doing it. 17. "THE RAPE VICTIMS": A woman yells rape and the cops arrest the man she accuses, and puts him in jail in spite of his pleas of innocence. His guilt or innocence will be decided at his trial!
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About the Book
Mr. Warner says, "I wrote these stories over a span of many years. Their subjects range over a multitude of topics because that's the way I write, about everything that interests me, and a whole lot of things interest me. The real reason is because I thought of them. There was no effort made to separate them into categories or any of that stuff, they were just kinda mashed together into a kind of hodgepodge, because that's what they are, a hodgepodge, or mixture if ya like that word better." "There are 17 stories, some of them what I call science-fiction-fantasy; some of them tall tales, which are great fun to write; and all of them are about ideas. There is some suffering, some lovemaking, some romance, some laughter, some crime, some action, some adventure, and some of what some would call magic, but most of all, there is a whole lot of entertainment; which is what writing and reading is all about!"
About the Author
Robert James Warner was born and raised in Long Beach, California. He went to the local schools. He was drafted into the Navy on March 9th, 1944, during the 2nd World War as soon as he finished his last semester in high school. He was discharged from the Navy on June 16, 1946.
Mr. Warner went back to school, Long Beach City College, on the G.I. Bill, taking Mechanical Engineering, and then he switched to journalism. After about a year and a half at City College he quit.
Mr. Warner had always been interested in writing, but he had huge handicaps to overcome: he couldn't spell (he still can't); and grammar was then and is now a mystery to him.
Mr. Warner first began to write when he was about 20.
During the next few years he wrote some songs, some poetry, and some short stories; but his output was quite low.
From 1947, after Mr. Warner left City College, to 1950, he had a number of different inconsequential jobs, the longest at Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach where he worked in the blueprint department for eight months, and then he quit and loafed awhile.
In 1950 he enlisted in the Active Naval Reserve as a Weekend Warrior, so he could learn seamanship and get paid doing it. He has had a life long love affair with boats (building his own) and fishing.
About three months later, the Korean War started and Mr. Warner was called back to active duty in the Navy Aircorp for a year. He was discharged in August 1951. During his duty, he served on three aircraft carriers operating off of Korea in the China Sea, bombing and strafing the communists!
After Korea, Mr. Warner went back to City College for awhile, then he got a job on a freighter as a deckhand, and made two trips to the Hawaiian Islands, about 30 days round trip, hauling bulk sugar for C&H Sugar in Crocket California on the Sacramento River.
Leaving the ship in Crocket he went to Santa Rosa, California, where he washed dishes in some restaurants and got a poem published in the local newspaper, a big day in his life.
Next, he went to Yosemite, and washed some more dishes then he went home.
Mr. Warner has cleaned chicken dung from under the pens; he owned and operated his own auto wrecking yard; owned his own 2nd Store; was half owner of a Yacht Landing; speculated in Real Estate, and worked at some other odd jobs. He went to work for the Long Beach Fire Department in 1953, stayed there for the next 26 years, and retired in October 1979.
Mr. Warner got married in 1961, had his son in 1963, then got divorced in 1973.
In 1974, Mr. Warner and his son, Jeff, drove to Alaska during the summer. On his return, Mr. Warner wrote his first novel.
Since 1974, Mr. Warner has written 31 novels, about 125 short stories, two Civil War books, and two poetry collections.