Cutting-edge fiction that breathes life into unlikely charactersIn these unforgettable stories, William Luvaas depicts the struggles of everyday people facing situations far from the ordinary. Through tales set largely in Southern California’s Inland Empire, Luvaas weaves magic and absurdity around characters caught between apocalypse and heartbreak. Deftly spinning haunting plots, he conveys the joys and misfortunes of folks who confront trauma or loss and find unexpected opportunities for survival.

Here is nature run amok: A tornado whirls away a man’s wife and daughter, but they return midway into his ensuing romantic affair. Flood survivors in California’s coastal range build makeshift arks in anticipation of the world’s watery end. Other stories fathom relationships, as a diabetic’s suicide in the title story renews a cycle of unrequited love, or aging twins reconcile with the loss of their childhood intimacy. All come to grips with contemporary problems: poverty, disease, or powerlessness in the face of economic inequality, religious fanaticism, and corporate greed.

Whether writing from the point of view of a semiliterate handyman or an elderly woman facing death on a cold night, Luvaas delivers stories, characters, and voices that are the stuff of cutting-edge fiction. A Working Man’s Apocrypha is masterful storytelling that will leave readers breathless.