About ELEGY BEACH
The Story
Fred lives in the fishing village of Del Mar north of what's left of San Diego nearly three decades after the Change. Fred has never seen a movie, heard recorded music, traveled faster than his rollerblades will move him. Like his peers he takes certain miracles for granted—blazing salamanders, mating sea serpents, the ability to affect reality with a rightly chosen word—but regards the claims of pre-Changers with outright skepticism. How else could he react to people who claim they landed on the moon?
Despite his father's objections Fred is working to discover the underlying order to the principles by which the world now works. Fred and his friend Yan Ramchandani experiment to learn the laws of magic—to become the New Scientists.
But where Fred is filled with scientific curiosity, Yan is ambitious and impatient. Obsessed with the technology of the world before the Change, Yan feels that since those who understood the old laws ruled the old world, those who understand the new laws will rule this one.
When Fred and Yan's inevitable break occurs, its repercussions are unexpected, dangerous, and global. Fred has no choice but to leave behind the idyll of his village and set out after his old friend—an act that also puts his father back upon the road he thought he'd long abandoned, in the company of a past he thought he'd long escaped.
Fred's journey up the west coast of California puts him in the company of fellow travelers human and otherwise, in a world in which a halted civilization's impact is eroding and its very builders have become marginalized and even hunted. On the way he'll learn about the heavy price of obligation and the fearful acceptance of the old as it yields to the new.
About the Author
Steven R. Boyett has written novels, short stories, comic books, feature films, essays, and reviews. As a DJ he has played clubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Reno, as well as at Burning Man. He produces three of the world's most popular music podcasts (Podrunner, Podrunner: Intervals, and Groovelectric), and was among the first people to make a living in that medium.
As owner of Sneaker Press Boyett published poetry chapbooks by Carrie Etter and the late Nancy Lambert. He has also been a martial-arts instructor, paper marbler, advertising copywriter, editor, typesetter, and proofreader. He designs websites, plays the didgeridoo, and composes electronic music. He recently moved from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay area.
Reviews for ELEGY BEACH
“When I grow up, I want to write half as well as Steven Boyett. ELEGY BEACH made me green with envy. An incredible book, an engrossing, utterly original post-apocalyptic world populated with captivating people.Boyett’s writing is magic.”
—New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews
"Stunning. Soul-satisfying. Steven Boyett knows people and he knows
how to tell a story."
—#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs
“A worthy successor to one of my favorite adventure novels of all time: ELEGY BEACH was worth the wait."
—Cory Doctorow, author of LITTLE BROTHER, co-editor of BoingBoing
