“Romance on the Offbeat”

In anticipation of Valentine’s Day, “Story Time for Grownups” presents hilarious

tales of love gone wrong, read by David Loftus at Rose City Book Pub, 1329 NE

Fremont, at 8:00 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. No cover charge.

In “The Love-Philtre of Ikey Shoenstein,” by O. Henry, a dorky drugstore clerk

tries to outsmart a hunky rival by offering him a can’t-miss love potion to win the

girl they both desire. A woman has unexpected romance delivered to her door in a

packing crate in Robert Sheckley’s “Can You Feel Anything When I Do This?” In

“All at One Point,” Italo Calvino explains how love worked before the Big Bang—

when all the matter in the universe occupied a singularity. Shirley Jackson’s

“About Two Nice People” describes how a pair of harmless, well-mannered

neighbors can easily descend into a white-hot fury with each other.

Founder of “Story Time for Grownups,” David Loftus has read to audiences in

libraries, coffee shops, bookstores, and even banks. He has recorded and performed

live with the Willamette Radio Workshop, and appeared in an episode “Grimm” as

a French-speaking Reaper. You may have seen him recently in ads for SELCO

Community Credit Union. A native Oregonian, he is the author of three books.