Baby Be-Bop

A tender Los Angeles boy hides his heart behind a spiked Mohawk until ancestral spirits arrive to teach him the saving power of stories.

Dirk MacDonald, a sixteen-year-old boy living in Los Angeles, comes to terms with being gay after he receives surreal storytelling visitations from his dead father and great-grandmother.

He shelters his secret in his grandmother Fifi's cottage, nursing a quiet devotion to his best friend Pup Lambert. When unspoken feelings push them apart, Dirk arms himself in heavy boots and a defensive punk disguise.

Seeking escape in loud Hollywood clubs, he finds only danger. Beaten and isolated, he turns to an heirloom golden lamp whose ghostly visitors reveal that every family carries stories waiting to set them free.

• First Love: Dirk navigates his unspoken longing for Pup Lambert through summer days spent waxing surfboards, jumping fences, and drawing superhero comics on his bedroom floor.


• Magical Realism: Family history comes alive through a spirit-summoning lamp, from great-grandmother Gazelle dancing in crystal-beaded satin to beat-poet father Dirby whose verses set wineglasses spinning.


• Urban Fantasy: A vintage red-and-white 1955 Pontiac convertible and an heirloom hood ornament bridge the everyday streets of Los Angeles with a surreal realm of memory and music.


• Also by This Author: Weetzie Bat, The Rose and the Beast and Pink Smog.