Lloyd Lofthouse served as a US Marine in the Vietnam War in 1966, and lives near San Francisco. With help from the GI Bill, Lloyd earned a BA in Journalism and an MFA in writing.
To discover more of Lloyd, join him in Vietnam (1966) or discover the classroom where he taught until 2005, in Southern California. He wrote about teaching in Crazy is Normal, a classroom expose.
Lloyd’s first novel (1st edition), My Splendid Concubine, was self-published December 2007 and earned honorable mentions in general fiction from the 2008 London Book Festival, the 2009 Hollywood Book Festival and the 2009 San Francisco Book Festival.
His short story, A Night at the ‘Well of Purity’, was a finalist in the 2007 Chicago Literary Awards.
The Midwest Book Review said (July 2012), “Drawing on heavily researched passages with great dramatization, My Splendid Concubine is a strong pick for historical fiction collections, highly recommended.”
My Splendid Concubine has sold more than twenty thousand copies.
His second novel was Running with the Enemy, a suspense-thriller set in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. It was released January 21, 2013, and was awarded runner-up in general fiction at the 2013 Beach Book Festival and honorable mentions in general fiction at the 2013 San Francisco Book Festival; Hollywood Book Festival, and New York Book Festival.
Crazy is Normal, a classroom expose, a memoir, is his third book and is based on a daily journal he kept while teaching in the 1994-95 school year. This Amazon reader review from Tim M. describes the book: “Lloyd has written an honest and fascinating story of a year in the working life of a dedicated California public school teacher. This is a must read for those thinking of becoming a teacher, is a public school teacher or administrator, or has children in the public school system. What works most effectively is how Lloyd shows the contrast between the two student extremes – the top achievers who take what Lloyd offers and learns how to conquer the world, and the many slackers who appear determine to sabotage their teacher’s best efforts to teach them the skills they need for a successful future.”
When I was a child, I thought my ancestry might have been German since other children thought Lofthouse sounded German. Spelling variations of this family name include: Loftus, Lofthouse, Loftis, Loftiss, Loftos…
In fact, many that read or hear the surname Lofthouse often think the origins are German, but they’re not. The name Lofthouse originated with the Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain and comes from having lived in the village of Lofthouse about the time of the reign of King Alfred the Great (871 – 899 AD).
Lofthouse was originally from the Old Norse words lopt and hus meaning house. Therefore the bearers of the Lofthouse surname were dwellers of the loft house.
The Lofthouse family was first found in Yorkshire where they held a family seat from very ancient times. Some of my ancestors moved to Ireland and a few immigrated to the United States.
Then there is Lofthouse’s Fisherman’s Friend, a cough drop—the original extra strong, which is so powerful that after putting one in your mouth there is a good chance you’ll forget about your sore throat for a half hour or more.
Fisherman’s Friend was originally developed by pharmacist James Lofthouse in 1865 to relieve various respiratory problems suffered by fishermen working in the extreme conditions of the Icelandic deep-sea fishing grounds. As nasty as this cough drop tastes, it’s still my favorite, because it works better than any other cough drop I’ve tried. In recent years, the cough drop company was bought by a larger corporation and dropped Lofthouse from the product’s name.
Lloyd Lofthouse 