The Calpocalypse

Maurice Gandy creates a looping feverish narrative in this collection of riveting rhyme about sun sand and the search for the perfect wave. <I>The Calpocalypse</I> describes the wanderings of a group of itinerant California surfers on the beaches of San Francisco and Mexico in the 1960s. A far cry from Funicello and Avalon characters like Macho Peaches The Duke of Tan and Coyote Conquistador introduce us to the real psycho-spiritual world of the surfers' esoteric lifestyle.<P>The action begins when a riot on the beach triggers an escape to the Ultimate Toolies in the mountains. An unfortunate encounter with a mountain cat causes another sudden flight this time to Mexico where even the unwritten laws of the surfing gods don't apply. Things get wilder when a few of the surfers join the religious cult of the Reverend Cosmo Tease while others are challenged to daring feats at the mysterious San Andreas Fault.<P>In a climactic finale we learn who defied the limits who bailed and who got axed. Whatever happens to them each one of Gandy's funny engrossing characters is altered forever-as is the reader-by the experience of <I>The Calpocalypse</I>.