Welcome to my blog. I live in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. For a number of years I taught school, raised three children, and sailed the Pacific Northwest waters. I’ve always loved stories where kids are creative and figure out ways to survive in strange new worlds. I now write a series of novels that combine my joy of sailing with my love of dystopian young adult novels.
In my first novel, “Knockdown,” a group of kids survives a world disaster on a sailboat. In “Beached,” the second novel, the kids have arrived at a safe island. Or so they think.
Here’s an excerpt from the first pages of “Beached.”
When the rowboat was about a hundred feet away, the scruffy guy rowing bellowed, “Get your captain. We need to speak to him.”
Dylan and I locked eyes. He was eighteen. I was sixteen. We’d survived a tsunami and a thousand miles of rough seas. We’d been threatened by the Coast Guard, a motorcycle gang, and an Ice Age.
Dylan and I were the captains.
It was so fun writing about these two characters. In the first novel, “Knockdown,” they siblings lost a loved one. Dylan response was to get drunk for days. Toni, who is only sixteen years old and Dylan’s little sister, had to step up and take over the boat during a storm.
Here is later scene from “Beached,” most of the kids are camping on the shore of an island. Toni hears voices coming up the trial. Her boyfriend, Takumi, is walking with a girl they just met, a beautiful Goth girl.
The important thing was that the danger to us was over. I was being silly. Takumi
had the right to laugh with Kat. I wanted him to laugh.
I just wanted him to laugh with me.
And lastly, here are a couple of lines near the end of the novel. The youngest member of the crew has been held for ransom. One of the islanders is demanding the sailboat. Takumi, Toni’s boyfriend comes to the rescue.
Takumi hurried over to the tree and returned, seconds later, with a spear gun.
Kat raised her eyebrows. “Umm. Hate to tell you, but pistol beats spear gun.”
I hope these few lines give you a taste of what you will find in my novels. I’ve tried to balance the life and death drama of the story, with a dash of humor, and a pinch of romance.
I’m working hard to finish up my third novel, “Anchored.” It takes place a month after the original world disaster. The stakes for the crew of Whistler and humanity are greater than ever before.
It is very exciting. Can’t wait to share it with you.
Brenda Beem
