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A Working Man's Apocrypha: Short Stories — William Luvaas
Cutting-edge fiction that breathes life into unlikely characters
In these 14 stories, William Luvaas weaves magic and absurdity around characters caught between apocalypse and heartbreak. A Working Man's Apocrypha conveys the joys and misfortunes of characters tested by trauma or loss, who regularly find unexpected opportunities for survival.
Nature has gone mad in stories like "Yesterday After the Storm," wherein a tornado whirls away a man's wife and daughter, Big and Little Lilly, and all hell breaks loose when they return midway into his ensuing love affair with Little Lilly's former schoolteacher. "Season of Limb Fall" "rides the whirlwind," as Blackbird editor Mary Flynn suggests. Odd and ominous windfalls remain in the wake of a malevolent storm, and survivors are left to puzzle out what they mean to their lives. Flood waters cover all but the tops of the California Coast Range in "Rain." Survivors huddle about black bones of their fires, fearing ravenous wild pigs in surrounding redwoods. Some build makeshift arks, anticipating the world's watery end, hoping to follow "The Messenger" to some new Ararat. After her diabetic handyman's suicide in the collection's title story, "A Working Man's Apocrypha," Louise finds John Sylvio's haunting, nearly illiterate diary which documents his unrequited love for her, and she is ambushed by love and loss. A son reconciles with his disapproving father who is fading into Alzheimer's in "To The Death." Lizzie, in "The Woman Who Was Allergic To Herself," confronts the death of her self-esteem and her marriage and heals herself from the ravages of an auto-immune disorder by writing a fairy tale. Twins Holly and Howard are surprised by the demise of their childhood intimacy in "The Sexual Revolution," after adolescent hormones kick in and they can no longer read each others' thoughts.
Common to all of these tales is a sense of something longed for...just out of reach. Inexplicable and wondrous forces are at work behind human fate. Characters are tested, often in unexpected ways, and generally arrive at some epiphany about themselves and the world they inhabit.
In these 14 stories, William Luvaas weaves magic and absurdity around characters caught between apocalypse and heartbreak. A Working Man's Apocrypha conveys the joys and misfortunes of characters tested by trauma or loss, who regularly find unexpected opportunities for survival.
Nature has gone mad in stories like "Yesterday After the Storm," wherein a tornado whirls away a man's wife and daughter, Big and Little Lilly, and all hell breaks loose when they return midway into his ensuing love affair with Little Lilly's former schoolteacher. "Season of Limb Fall" "rides the whirlwind," as Blackbird editor Mary Flynn suggests. Odd and ominous windfalls remain in the wake of a malevolent storm, and survivors are left to puzzle out what they mean to their lives. Flood waters cover all but the tops of the California Coast Range in "Rain." Survivors huddle about black bones of their fires, fearing ravenous wild pigs in surrounding redwoods. Some build makeshift arks, anticipating the world's watery end, hoping to follow "The Messenger" to some new Ararat. After her diabetic handyman's suicide in the collection's title story, "A Working Man's Apocrypha," Louise finds John Sylvio's haunting, nearly illiterate diary which documents his unrequited love for her, and she is ambushed by love and loss. A son reconciles with his disapproving father who is fading into Alzheimer's in "To The Death." Lizzie, in "The Woman Who Was Allergic To Herself," confronts the death of her self-esteem and her marriage and heals herself from the ravages of an auto-immune disorder by writing a fairy tale. Twins Holly and Howard are surprised by the demise of their childhood intimacy in "The Sexual Revolution," after adolescent hormones kick in and they can no longer read each others' thoughts.
Common to all of these tales is a sense of something longed for...just out of reach. Inexplicable and wondrous forces are at work behind human fate. Characters are tested, often in unexpected ways, and generally arrive at some epiphany about themselves and the world they inhabit.
PRIZES WON:
- Awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction based on the Title story
"A Working Man's Apocrypha"
- Nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
- A film of Luvaas' story "A Working Man's Apocrypha," directed and produced by Lucinda
Luvaas, was awarded Best Short Feature at Delta International Film Festival (spring 2006)
- Season of Limb Fall" and "To The Death" were nominated for the Pushcart Prize
"A Working Man's Apocrypha"
- Nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize
- A film of Luvaas' story "A Working Man's Apocrypha," directed and produced by Lucinda
Luvaas, was awarded Best Short Feature at Delta International Film Festival (spring 2006)
- Season of Limb Fall" and "To The Death" were nominated for the Pushcart Prize
"Luvaas's poetic prose is magic, his story "Rain" drew me immediately in, before the first drop fell, and then it held me captive to the chilling end. This is writing at its best!"
- Virginia Howard, Editor of Thema
"Luvaas manages to make such swerving and impossible lives feel utterly true and real and maybe-incredibly-even normal.
- Linda Swanson-Davies, Co-Editor Glimmer Train
"William Luvaas shows a sophistication and honesty in his writing that is both rare and engaging. His work tracks beneath the glamour and the grit of his characters' lives to arrive at fresh destinations of perception."
- Martin Tucker, Editor of Confrontation
"The Story's power comes from the rigor of the incisive images and the powerful braided structure of two voices overlapping one another...You are gripped by the searing journey through human minds and hearts."
- Meredith Sue Wills, Author and Editor of Epiphany (commenting on "To The Death")
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