A Black Man's Search for Love

In his first novel in 20 years, critically acclaimed African-American writer Barry Beckham set out to write a love novel that would sparkle with erotic fire and passion. He wanted to endow the 50-year-old main character of Will You Be Mine? with tender, passionate sentiments as he searches for his soul mate.

But the unnamed main character is a black male, and his quest for his earth angel gets tangled up with what Beckham sees as a world pretty much hostile to the black man’s survival. How can you pursue successfully a loving relationship when the society seems to be focused on annihilating you?

There are no simple answers. And this is no simple novel. What begins as a narrative about a 50-year-old African-American photographer describing how he finally finds his soul mate merges into something else. It’s another rumination on the complex position of the black man who treads on various landscapes—a theme that infuses all of Barry Beckham’s novels. But in Will You Be Mine? the stakes are higher than ever. The very nature of the republic itself suddenly becomes a theme that explodes unexpectedly out of the narrative that started out exploring the spirit of romantic love.

And like each of his book-length creative works, this novel is a result of a masterful control and exploration of fictional form. Each of Beckham’s books stretches the form—thematically, stylistically, and structurally—moving it beyond the norms of realism and the boundaries of common points of view.

Like many modernist writers, he portrays a world that is filled with absurdity. And who is more bizarre and out of place in today’s society than the black man? Stylistically, for Beckham the modernist, our fleeting thoughts, dreams, and remembrances of things past are all fertile opportunities for creative development. Puns, allusions, metaphor, poetic passages and other stylistic devices demonstrate his commitment to language. And his characters stand out because of their memorable idiosyncrasies—comic, positive and negative.

In the world of Will You Be Mine?, we encounter a college basketball player revered because he never makes a shot. In college, the narrator discovers, each time that he appears at a girl’s dormitory for a date, that the coed no longer lives there. The narrator’s baby son disappears after crawling back into history. Employed as a photographer at a major news magazine, he never sees any of his photos published. His father-in-law is swept up by a tornado and thrown into a black sky to vanish. The narrator’s name? We never learn. How do we follow the story line? He is talking to his Teddy bear.

Will You Be Mine? is the work of an elegant imagination, brilliantly fusing fantasy and reality with a poet's touch for language and a novelist's gift for narrative. It is a love story and a spiritual journey that is as thought provoking as it is touching"

--Sidney Offit, President, Authors Guild Foundation

What did you expect? Beckham has consistently explored the complex and perplexing situation of the black man in America. At the same time, he infuses his prose with a wealth of stylistic and imaginative leaps. Look at the review of his second novel, Runner Mack (1972) posted on www.amazon.com

"Beckham is fully the equal of writers like Thomas Pynchon or Ralph Ellison, and stepping
into his world you go breathless with speed, dexterity, and a midblowing use of
adjectives and verbs."

--Kevin Killian

First Novel Dazzles Reviewers

In My Main Mother (1969), Beckham’s first novel about a young black man’s coming of age, he deftly counterbalances that age-old search with the struggles of a black youngster in a predominantly white college.

What the critics said:

“A novel of penetrating personal insight…”
–ALA Booklist

“A novel that will haunt the reader long after he has finished it.”
–Nashville Tennessean

“A fresh and original talent…”
—Washington Star

Wait...there's more...

In his second novel, Runner Mack (1972), Beckham directs a compelling story of Henry Adams’s road to self-discovery through his friendship with the black militant, Runner Mack. Rich with metaphor and symbolism, Runner Mack’s world is filled with chaos, pain and frustration in its depiction of the black man’s attempt to participate with dignity in mainstream American society.

What the critics said:

“Jarring, bizarre, freaky, absolutely compelling”
–Kirkus Service

“Beckham is a masterful writer, and his novel is an emblem of contemporary black frustration”
–Library Journal

“This story of an aspiring black baseball player is skillfully written and richly imaginative”
–The New York Times

“In Runner Mack, Barry Beckham plays handball with the heart, a savagely controlled game … Beckham is already a most valuable player”
–John Leonard, The New York Times Book Review

Wait...there's still more...

On another landscape, Beckham novelizes the life of a famed Harlem basketball player’s bout with heroin in Double Dunk.

Earl “The Goat” Manigault had what it takes to become a superstar: incredible leaping ability, great timing, and unstoppable moves. He set a New York City junior high school record by scoring 52 points in one game.

In high school and on the playgrounds of Harlem, he astonished opponents with his acrobatic shots, including the patented double dunk. But lack of discipline and bad breaks sent Manigault stumbling into a world of heroin addiction and petty crimes. He succumbed to the fast lane life that sapped the lives of so many of his friends in the 1960s.

The Goat kicked the habit, however, and then returned to Harlem to start his own summer basketball league for black youth. This inspiring story of how one man rebuilt his life is told with vivid, no-holds-barred descriptions of the harshness, humor and love in today's inner city.

His story is the subject of the HBO biopic, Rebound,
starring Eriq La Salle and James Earl Jones.

What the critics said:

"This is a book which every high school and perhaps junior high school student should read."
—Jerry Izenberg Newark Star Ledger

"A tough, streetwise novel packed with an important message for young readers, Double Dunk is both a harsh look at the drug problem in the United States and an inspiring story of one man's ability to overcome the problem."
—Ambassador Andrew Young Atlanta, GA

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Great reading for less than you ever expected

Beckham Publications Group, Inc.
13619 Cedar Creek Lane
PO Box 4066
Silver Spring, MD 20914
phone: 301-384-7995
email: editor@beckhamhouse.com