My Books
Dr. Lucas G. “Luke” Boyd was born in a three-room shotgun house on Jabe Dunaway’s place near Anguilla, Mississippi in the depths of the Depression. His father managed one of those sprawling cotton plantations the Delta was known for, and it is this plantation culture that left an indelible mark on young Luke. After a stint in the Army and then earning a Ph.D. in English History at the University of Tennessee, he began a career in education that spanned 48 years both at the secondary and c
Dr. Lucas G. “Luke” Boyd was born in a three-room shotgun house on Jabe Dunaway’s place near Anguilla, Mississippi in the depths of the Depression. His father managed one of those sprawling cotton plantations the Delta was known for, and it is this plantation culture that left an indelible mark on young Luke. After a stint in the Army and then earning a Ph.D. in English History at the University of Tennessee, he began a career in education that spanned 48 years both at the secondary and college levels. He retired after serving for 19 years as Principal of Battle Ground Academy, a private college preparatory school in Franklin, Tennessee.
“Sometimes I stop and try to figure out where the stories come from and why I write the way I do. I’m sure much of it is a result of the land I grew up on and the people who were trying to scratch
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“Sometimes I stop and try to figure out where the stories come from and why I write the way I do. I’m sure much of it is a result of the land I grew up on and the people who were trying to scratch a living from it. If he stays in contact with it long enough, the land will brand a man as surely as the red-hot iron brands a Western calf. I’m sure the flat, almost treeless, bayou studded Delta of my early years, which later was replaced by Mississippi’s rolling, red clay hills, both left their marks on me….My father was a good storyteller and I suppose I picked up some of his talents. There is much satisfaction in telling a good story…” Luke Boyd’s first collection of 25 short stories reflects the folk humor and local color that are hallmarks of Southern writing. His story telling is part remembrance of a culture that is gradually fading, part recollection of lessons learned over a lifetime. His matter- of-fact style and clarity of detail are cut from the cloth of the oral tradition that flourished in the rural South of his upbringing. He deftly places the hilarious story of chain saw-toting Phinos Ledbetter and his botched baptism at the East Fork Southern Missionary Baptist Church alongside the powerful memory of an uncle known by the poor tenant farmhands he served only as “The Jesus Doctor.” These unforgettable characters are depicted so clearly and accurately as to leave the reader guessing which stories are fact and which are imagined. And whether the teachers in these ta
It was the Depression and very few areas were as economically depressed as the rural South. The road in front of our house was dirt (mud when it rained) and with no electric lights and no plumbing, we lived a bare and stark existence. There was no money to purchase entertainment so we made our own. Whether rocking on the front porch before bedtime
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It was the Depression and very few areas were as economically depressed as the rural South. The road in front of our house was dirt (mud when it rained) and with no electric lights and no plumbing, we lived a bare and stark existence. There was no money to purchase entertainment so we made our own. Whether rocking on the front porch before bedtime or sitting around the kitchen table after supper, it was story time. Daddy was a storyteller and had a number of tales he told on a regular basis. Stories flew thick and fast when visitors were in the house. With my uncles it was tales about the family or about people they grew up with. With neighbors I learned who had been caught making moonshine and who was stepping out on his wife. Much of my early education came from sitting on the floor off to the side during these sessions. I not only learned the stories, I also learned how to tell one. This Coon Dogs Volume 2 is a little different than Coon Dogs Volume 1 Tall Tales From The Old South. Most of these pieces are short stories but many of them came from some of these early tales. Most contain some element of truth although sometime that element is pretty small. Some are almost totally true. Hopefully, the reader will have a difficult time distinguishing between what is fact and what is fiction. Just where the reader draws the line is immaterial. The important question is: “Do they entertain?” I hope I have extended the front porch or added chairs around the kitch
