Jack Beach Without a Net

Annotation

Willing to take a risk? These arerisky tales that celebrate the fragile, stubborn human animal: no matter whatshape he takes, relationships he forms--the color of his mind. He is oncontradictory flights towards love (wherever he may find it), confrontationswith loss, and his search for home. He must also be packed for sudden stopoversin North Africa or "Big Easy" to check out thescenes there. Don't expect consistency. Thesestories leap like fleas from slapstick-farce in "The Five DancingBrothers" through horror in "Neighboring" and "TheRats," past a Saroyanesque caper ("NoSabbaticals in Tinseltown") and gay-world hustle("Close Shave.") to end in the dream-reality of "House ofChildren." You will meet some unusual folks: Big Tex from Peoria,Branka the Gypsy, the BrainertBoys, the Can Man, and Azzi's Wife. Maybe they willremind you of someone--maybe you.Two volumes of Jack Beach'spoetry have been published by 1 at Books Library: THE THREE MILE BRIDGE: AcrossPensacola Bay on a Span of Poems, and THE GRAND TOUR: A Steamer Trunk of TravelPoems. WITHOUT A NET is his first prose work in print.