Life With Beat

About the Book

Beatense wants a beach odyssey. Her father hears that once she gets herself a final black-out tan she will settle down and act normal. He finally agrees, and following her long train trip to fabulous Xanthallado the girl meets new friends, who get her even more addicted. The only person disinclined is a fellow she met on the train, and her crazed sun worship and eager courage actually scare him. Indeed, Beat's difficult quirks would certainly guarantee a lonely vacation, but somehow everyone is devoted to her, and she ends up galloping bareback along the pile-driving surf and she's even taken on a ski trip. But it's her pestering friendship with a sadly troubled boy that makes this story compelling.

About the Author

In the winter of 63-64 James Jingo (yes, not his real name) dreamt that he took off his shirt and ran across the fields to the Haunted Hill woods. He awoke with heart pounding. When spring came he made that run, and in summer he rode his paper route shirtless. But it was in his college years that he really got obnoxious; he would have worked his summer surveying jobs just in jean cut-offs but there were too many thorny weeds. Then came the real world of work, when most summer days were spent trapped inside. To help him get through to the weekends he began to write. "If I can't get sun at least I can pretend." At the present he is living by Mission Bay, not pretending.