Garden Bay Stories — Richard Behrens

These stories, vignettes and poetry influenced by his early years, demonstrate Richard Behrens' talents as a writer and observer. He starts with personal experiences as a young participant in a small-town culture in the middle of New York's most populated borough. These specific memories are woven into larger tales recognized by anyone from any American “manor” in the latter part of the 20th century, recognized and yet revealed for the first time. Richard makes us look back and reinterpret what we thought we knew. Go back to your old Polaroid snapshots, your vinyl 45s, that high school year book. Richard takes each item from his childhood and adolescence and, in a sense, rips up the pages so he can rewrite the tale to speak to each one of us.