Beam, J. Stephen: - J. Stephen Beam, a resident of Sumrall, Mississippi, is a retired physician who has taken up his passion for writing fiction. The Bondage of Innocents is his second published novel, although he has also authored or coauthored articles for the Journal of the Mississippi State Medical Association and has contributed a chapter for a textbook focused on the field of athletic training. He has appeared on local TV many times, most recently to discuss his first novel, The Death Letter, a work that was well received and sold out its first printing. He has dreamed of writing novels since his sixth-grade year when he began to read voraciously.