Goodbye Bolinas We'll See You Again

Book excerpt: It's a summer in the sixties near a small coast side town in California. A man who has taken on the name of Shiva is driving north on Highway 1 when he picks up two young women hitchhikers in his VW van. They stop and hike to an overlook of the Pacific Ocean where they are enveloped in fog and one of the women disappears. In an incredulous daze they travel on until they reach Bolinas. The town already has an influx of bohemians and bikers and has a colorful past. After a concert in the local community center Shiva reluctantly takes on the mantel of the next enlightened master. The word spreads and Bolinas becomes a turbulent, fantastic and ecstatic place. Unfortunately Shiva cannot escape his past and in a number of hallucinations he struggles with his inner doubts and the world's problems. Eventually a man comes into Bolinas looking for his lost wife. The situation that arises requires Shiva, as well as his followers, to confront themselves and behold unforeseen consequences.