Growing up in Redlands in the 1960s and ’70s had its highs and lows -- highs
especially, perhaps — for Jon Flick, a former sportswriter who tells the story of his youth in “The Bogus Buzz,” a fictionalized memoir about friends who “trade marbles for marijuana and Johnny Western for Led Zeppelin.”
He looks back on five boys who throw off many of the constraints of religion and Irish-American family life, and pay the price in a variety of ways. “We definitely partook of the forbidden fruit of the ’70s,” he said. “We went a little nuts.” Flick writes under the pen name Glen Keough, a variation on the name of one of Gen. George Armstrong Custer’s sergeants. He changes names of people and places in the book, and alters some events — mostly, he said, to avoid embarrassing people.
“I was afraid of hurting people who didn’t see the past in the same way I did,” he said. Flick published “The Bogus Buzz” through Abbot Press — www.abbotpress.com —
in hardcover and paperback editions, and as an e-book. The e-book is also available from Amazon.com and from Barnes & Noble at barnesandnoble.com.
The two print editions occupy second and third places on Abbott’s best-seller list. Sales rankings are not yet available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, Flick said, because those are calculated according to quarterly sales, and his book “went live” a month and a half ago, on Jan. 28.
Flick said “The Bogus Buzz” is an emotionally honest look at his childhood and coming of age, sometimes funny and sometimes tragic, and it also seems to resonate with others who were around at the time. An anonymous reviewer on Amazon.com writes: “This book was written by a man that grew up in Redlands, went to school with the same people that I did (yes, I recognized quite a few) . . . and the downward spiral that drugs can play all too well . . .”
"The Bogus Buzz” is not all about teenage drug use: Friendship is a major theme alongside the effects of divorce on his family, youthful romance, sports experiences and overcoming emotional obstacles. “It takes you back to Grandma’s table with the aunts and uncles around you,” he said. “There’s a retro feeling to it, and nostalgia for what was also a very good time.”
Flick said he has been writing the book for 20 years, sometimes in short bursts while working for newspapers or selling cars. Other times he was able to devote himself to writing full-time, which during one three-month period led him into a very dark place.
“The book nearly swallowed my soul,” he said. “I lost 30 pounds and spiraled into a deep depression.” He pulled out of it with some therapy, and through a personal literary insight. Experiencing powerful emotions while reading about the death of the
title character’s wife in Charles Dickens’ “David Copperfield,” Flick realized that he had been walking with shadows — reuniting with loved ones who had died — in writing his book.
“But when I tried to close the laptop, they clutched at my coattails as I returned to the present,” he said.
Redland Daily Facts
By Laurie Williams, Correspondent
especially, perhaps — for Jon Flick, a former sportswriter who tells the story of his youth in “The Bogus Buzz,” a fictionalized memoir about friends who “trade marbles for marijuana and Johnny Western for Led Zeppelin.”
He looks back on five boys who throw off many of the constraints of religion and Irish-American family life, and pay the price in a variety of ways. “We definitely partook of the forbidden fruit of the ’70s,” he said. “We went a little nuts.” Flick writes under the pen name Glen Keough, a variation on the name of one of Gen. George Armstrong Custer’s sergeants. He changes names of people and places in the book, and alters some events — mostly, he said, to avoid embarrassing people.
“I was afraid of hurting people who didn’t see the past in the same way I did,” he said. Flick published “The Bogus Buzz” through Abbot Press — www.abbotpress.com —
in hardcover and paperback editions, and as an e-book. The e-book is also available from Amazon.com and from Barnes & Noble at barnesandnoble.com.
The two print editions occupy second and third places on Abbott’s best-seller list. Sales rankings are not yet available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, Flick said, because those are calculated according to quarterly sales, and his book “went live” a month and a half ago, on Jan. 28.
Flick said “The Bogus Buzz” is an emotionally honest look at his childhood and coming of age, sometimes funny and sometimes tragic, and it also seems to resonate with others who were around at the time. An anonymous reviewer on Amazon.com writes: “This book was written by a man that grew up in Redlands, went to school with the same people that I did (yes, I recognized quite a few) . . . and the downward spiral that drugs can play all too well . . .”
"The Bogus Buzz” is not all about teenage drug use: Friendship is a major theme alongside the effects of divorce on his family, youthful romance, sports experiences and overcoming emotional obstacles. “It takes you back to Grandma’s table with the aunts and uncles around you,” he said. “There’s a retro feeling to it, and nostalgia for what was also a very good time.”
Flick said he has been writing the book for 20 years, sometimes in short bursts while working for newspapers or selling cars. Other times he was able to devote himself to writing full-time, which during one three-month period led him into a very dark place.
“The book nearly swallowed my soul,” he said. “I lost 30 pounds and spiraled into a deep depression.” He pulled out of it with some therapy, and through a personal literary insight. Experiencing powerful emotions while reading about the death of the
title character’s wife in Charles Dickens’ “David Copperfield,” Flick realized that he had been walking with shadows — reuniting with loved ones who had died — in writing his book.
“But when I tried to close the laptop, they clutched at my coattails as I returned to the present,” he said.
Redland Daily Facts
By Laurie Williams, Correspondent