Maurice Gandy

The Calpocalypse: an Allegory in Verse Maurice Gandy

Maurice Gandy creates a looping, feverish narrative in this collection of riveting rhyme about sun, sand, and the search for the perfect wave. The Calpocalypse 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.

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.

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 The Calpocalypse.