BUZZ Fact Sheet [ download .pdf ]
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Title: BUZZ
Author: Robert Zverina​
Published: 10/28/2012
BISAC: FIC019000
Genres: Literary fiction, Coming of age, Ethnic interest
Formats/length/catalog#:
paperback - 116 pages, ISBN 1480045608
ebook - approx. 33K words, ISBN 9781476483764
Kindle - approx. 33K words, ASIN B0096H96F8​
Synopsis:
Born in 1969 on the day of the first moon landing, Buzz Polštař is the only American-born child in a Czech political refugee immigrant family. Adrift between Old World and New, feeling alienated by so-called progress, Buzz struggles to find connection in New York City’s stultifying Long Island suburbs. When saying goodbye to his step-father for the last time, Buzz inherits his childhood home along with a closetful of shameful secrets. Buzz’s bizarre family saga and his earnest quest for friendship present a darkly comic yet touching portrait of the Cold War immigrant experience. With understated wit and a photographic eye for detail, Zverina zooms out to scope large events—the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, Apollo 11 moon landing, and, yes, even Y2K—then zooms back in to examine the ramifications on the tiny individual lives History leaves bobbing in its wake.
About the Author:
Robert Zverina grew up on Long Island, NY among three generations of Czech ex-pats. He received an MFA in Poetry from Brooklyn College under the mentorship of Allen Ginsberg, whose meticulously captioned photographs and lessons in empathy were an inspiration. Initially skeptical about computers and the internet, in 1997 he launched his ongoing Picture of the Day website (www.zverina.com), paving the way for future bloggers with an autobiographical mix of creative nonfiction, photography, and multimedia elements. He lives in Seattle, visits Prague often, and dreams of green oceans. He’d love to hear from you.
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Contact: buzz@zverina.com
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