The Events at Vista Bay is a sobering, sometimes amusing look at intergenerational and class conflict. Peopled with rich characters, this vivid story is seen through the keen eye of an inveterate outsider - one who finds himself drawn into drama he never sought, with his life changed in the telling.

Roy Turner, former teacher, retires to a gated adult community, eager to spend leisurely days in the sunshine, painting nature scenes from his deck. What he finds instead is a pitched battle between his affluent neighbors and the young and poor from across the bay. A charismatic firebrand who whips the residents of Vista Bay into a defense force, a nude decorator, and a group of divergent personalities trouble his search for peace and quiet. Written in the form of Roy Turner's journal, The Events at Vista Bay takes a compelling, sometimes serious, sometimes comic look at retirement, aging and class conflict.

"The elderly poor of the 1960's have been replaced by today's affluent retirees. Generation X can't help but notice how the respective roles and situations have reversed. Gus Franza spotted it early on, in this foreboding view of the intergenerational conflict whose present manifestation is the debate on Social Security reform. Written in 1989, this insightful novel portends the class conflicts we are now seeing, both domestically and internationally, in the widening gulf between the few rich and the many poor. That he could deliver this warning in the context of such a readable story makes Franza's book all the more significant."

Donard Pranzo, publisher of Academic Sportfolio

It is our distinct pleasure to publish this work by a very skilled and prolific writer and sharp thinker --

The cover design is by Jerry Kelly.