Synopsis
Editorial Review - Kirkus Reviews A hard-working but indecisive and only intermittently intriguing reality-puzzler that displays flaws typical of collaborative efforts: a nebulous main theme, a confusion of purposes, and a general lack of finn control. Shaun Reed wakes up one morning at Freedom Beach, an escape-proof tropical resort run by mysterious machines representing the ""dreamers""; they say Shaun is there voluntarily for a psychiatric cure but, with no recollection of his previous life, Shaun isn't convinced. During real-seeming dreams, Shaun is given back selected memories--or is fed plausible inventions; Shaun isn't sure which. Also, in a literary-games vein, he becomes a character in various dream-parodies (of Marlowe, Aristophanes, Raymond Chandler), during which he must confront the suicide of girlfriend/wife Myrna. Although Shaun has never written anything, he calls himself a writer; Freedom Beachers are forbidden to write--but Myrna leaves him a poem as a sort of suicide note. Eventually, Shaun escapes from Freedom Beach back to the reality of 1986--where, suddenly, the ubiquitous ""dreamers"" (in the utopian sense) are in control of the world, apparently doing good deeds. Shaun remains unpersuaded, though the dreamers tell him he can change things if he doesn't like them; and finally he starts to write. The main problem is just what all this adds up to, or indeed whether it adds up at all. So, what with the vague psychologizing (self-help, 1980's style) and the parable-like feel (unconvincing utopian leanings), the upshot is a tangled but lightweight and fugitive drama.
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About the Author
* ?The best time-travel novel ever written? Kim Stanley Robinson * ?Lucid, humane and mercilessly funny. If there could be great date books like there are great date movies, this would be one? Jonathan Lethem * John Kessel has won the Nebula and Sturgeon Memorial Awards for short stories, as well as a Paul Green Playwright?s Prize
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Freedom Beach
Published by
Bluejay Books, Chappaqua, New York, U.S.A., 1985
ISBN 10: 0312941676
ISBN 13: 9780312941673
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Seller: Caerwen Books, Forrestfield, WA, Australia
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Good. First Edition. Book has been rebound and dustjacket bound to boards. Tidy reading copy. Seller Inventory # 005178
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Freedom Beach
Published by
Bluejay Books, New York, 1985
ISBN 10: 0312941676
ISBN 13: 9780312941673
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Signed
Seller: Row By Row Bookshop, Sugar Grove, NC, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. Signed. A Good copy (owner's name embossure) in black cloth, in a lightly edge-rubbed Near Fine dust jacket (not price-clipped). Tanning at the outer edges of the text block, sound binding, clean/unmarked within (and not ex-library). Nicely inscribed and signed by John Kessel (as "John") at the front endpaper, and signed in full by him at the title page. Inscribed by Author(s). Book. Seller Inventory # 059748
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Freedom Beach [SIGNED]
Published by
Bluejay Books, New York, NY, 1985
ISBN 10: 0312941676
ISBN 13: 9780312941673
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Signed
Seller: Space Age Books LLC, Conroe, TX, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. "FIrst Bluejay printing: September, 1985" and no other statement of edition or printing on its copyright page, so a first edition. Its title page is signed by BOTH James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel, AND it has an additional gift inscription by James Patrick Kelly signed, simply, "Jim". [This inscription was to me, and I will share the story behind it with whoever buys this book.] This book and its dust jacket (now protected by a removable mylar cover) are in fine condition. Binding is sound and square. Covers are unworn and unmarked. Pages are unworn and otherwise unmarked. (Not a remainder.) Jacket is whole, bright, unworn and unmarked. I will ship this book in a moisture proof zip-loc bag, padded in bubble wrap, inside a sturdy box to assure it reaches its proud new owner in the same condition as my description. Signed by Author(s). Seller Inventory # 002790