Get the latest scoop on Buzz Anderson and his books, Five Hundred Moons, and recently published A Jar of Water!

A Jar of Water - New and Selected Poems by Buzz Anderson

Available now in paperback and Kindle editions.

A Jar of Water, the latest book by Buzz Anderson, is a collection of poems inspired by nature and living near the sea.


REVIEWS AND MORE: FIVE HUNDRED MOONS

His slow and simmering sensuality between principal characters Drina and Francois reads like feeling silk.

Lisa Crawford Watson | Monterey Herald 

From Nick Sestanovich | Santa Cruz Sentinel:

“Anderson has two goals with the book: to entertain readers and provide a voice for the Ohlone people.

“‘I wanted them to not come across as just a simple people,’ he said, ‘I decided…to put their dialogue, their conversation, on equal footing with other groups in the book.’

“Anderson also wanted to provide a balanced portrayal of Serra, who has been remembered as a controversial figure for many reasons, portray(ing) Serra and the Franciscans in a more nuanced way. ‘I wanted to treat him fairly, but at the same time, acknowledge that his behavior led to the deaths of thousands and thousands of local people and that was a real tragedy,’ he said. ‘It would have happened regardless of whatever European people came to California, and he gets a lot of blame for that because he was the one who led the charge into California with the Spanish and the Franciscans, but if it wasn’t him, it would have been someone else.’

“Anderson hopes readers will come away with an appreciation for history, the characters, story, and the different tribes that once inhabited the Santa Cruz region. ‘(I hope) they learn about how they treated the land and how they were able to live here for a long time basically unchanged,’ he said.

Anderson also hopes to instill a sense of consciousness in the reader about these tribes. ‘I’d like to hope there’s some of that consciousness that’s still in us that can bubble to the surface sometimes and give us an appreciation for what we are as humans on this earth and in this special place here.’”

READ MORE HERE: Author pens novel on Indigenous history

From Lisa Crawford Watson | Monterey Herald:

“Anderson’s depth of research, paired with a natural proclivity for vivid descriptive detail, yielded a work of historical fiction, in 39 chapters, that’s hard to put down. Part of the authenticity of Anderson’s story came from paying attention to his characters—who they are, what they represent in the story, and what they could possibly be feeling. His slow and simmering sensuality between principal characters Drina and Francois reads like feeling silk.”

From Johanna Miller | Arts & Culture | Local News | The Pajaronian:

“Author Buzz Anderson always dreamed of writing the great American novel.

“Born in San Jose and then moving with his family to Capitola, Anderson has remained in Santa Cruz County for most of his life, attending local public schools, Cabrillo College and UC Santa Cruz.

“After studying journalism and literature, he shifted focus, getting into the auto parts business with his brother and then receiving a teaching credential. He published a book of poetry, A Jar of Water, and continued to write on the side. All the while, a much bigger story was forming…”

READ MORE HERE: Local author pens debut history novel

From Lisa Crawford Watson | newsroom | Monterey Herald:

“Forty-five pages into the story, a principal character gives birth to her baby boy, and the chapter ends with her hoping he survives his first year. We read on, just to see if he does. The book begins in Alta California circa 1793 and continues, for nearly 800 pages, through the trials, torment, and triumph of humanity, moving both forward and backward through the late 18th century. Despite gains and losses throughout the story, its readers never get lost.

“Author Buzz Anderson sat in his Santa Cruz home, researching, writing, and revising the story that had been simmering in his mind until it began to take shape. 

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Buzz Anderson

“The more he studied the genealogy of the people who saw California as a landscape, the more complex became the story, and the more confident he became that this was something he felt compelled to write….”

READ MORE HERE:
Local author spins a story with the weight of religion…

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Thank you,
Bookshop Santa Cruz
for featuring

Five Hundred Moons

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Thanks to Zoom Forward! for the opportunity to give an online reading of

Five Hundred Moons

Excerpt from Zoom Forward! hosted by Hannah Hutton featuring a reading from Five Hundred Moons by Buzz Anderson, January 14, 2022

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Many thanks to Jondi Gumz for the interview, featured in the
Capitola Soquel Times, February 2022 edition.

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Book signing, January 2022.
Thank you, Downtown Book & Sound!

Photo courtesy of Downtown Book & Sound

Five Hundred Moons is available in paperback and Kindle editions.

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