The Road is Open
In 1978, Jimmy and Michael, two long time friends from Buffalo, NY, engage in a cross-country hitch-hiking adventure throughout The United States to look for George, Michael’s brother, who mysteriously deserted his family years earlier. Along their journey the pair gains a vivid truth and a wisdom that only the road can provide. They encounter extraordinary landscapes and meet a series of remarkable characters that represent a truthful, gritty and heat-warming portrait of America.
Sweet Cheeks and More Stories from the Nickel City is a poignant and vibrant collection of short fiction from author Michael Burns Haggerty whose characters have deep roots in Buffalo and Western New York. In Sweet Cheeks, a down and out carpet cleaner masters the art of blackjack so he can earn enough money to move himself and his prostitute girlfriend to Costa Rica. In Coming
Home, a young man returns home to learn the mysteries of his mother’s suicide, and in Pedro on the Street Corner, a young thief tries to break free from a life of crime. These comically dark and
frighteningly real stories give the reader an uncompromising understanding of the hard-hitting,determined, and flawed characters that live and die in Buffalo and Western New York.
About Michael Burns Haggerty
Michael Burns Haggerty is an novelist and short story writer who currently lives with his wife in downtown Buffalo, NY and in Wilson, NY located on the shores of Lake Ontario. Mr. Haggerty recently had “Sweet Cheeks and More Stories from the Nickel City” (2017) published. These comically dark and frighteningly real stories present the hard-hitting, determined, and flawed characters that live and die in Buffalo and Western New York. He is also the author of “The Road is Open” (2015). Set in 1978, it is the story of two longtime friends from Buffalo, NY who engage in a cross-country hitch-hiking adventure looking for a brother who mysteriously disappeared a few years earlier. Along the way they encounter extraordinary landscapes and meet a series of remarkable characters who represent a truthful, gritty and heart-warming portrait of America.
The Center’s book club takes place on the First Thursday of the month and features books written by WNY authors. Whenever possible, the author will attend the meeting!
For more information, please contact Mary Kozub at 716-878-3156 or email kozubmm@buffalostate.edu.
View the 2017/18 schedule at www.BurchfieldPenney.org.