On the first day of spring in theInland Empire of Southern California, our narrator Joe inadvertently rams hiscar into Ronnie, a homeless man riding a bicycle. The bike is crushed, aluminumcans are scattered, but a new relationship is formed. Joe encounters Ronnie andhis dog Henry at the local dog park, at their campsite by the Santa Ana River,and in other, unexpected locations.

Seemingly content working in a caféand leading an aimless life, Joe is twenty-eight and has started writing prosepoems and short stories. He walks the streets at night, rides buses to nowherein particular, swims in the ocean on a whim—sometimes naked, sometimes fullyclothed. He is dating Ashley, a transplant from the Midwest who shares hisbirthday and birthyear and is a poetry professor at a small Christian college.Joe talks to himself, he talks to God, he talks to the dog he acquires. He isin love with Ashley yet longs for his ex, Cora, too.

Reminiscentof John Fante’s Ask the Dust, Flannery O’Connor’s The Violent Bear ItAway, and Denis Johnson’s Train Dreams, this novel explores themesof solitude, companionship, and personal fulfillment. As the oppressive heat of summer creeps closer to theInland Empire, Joe acts with a surprising ferocity that will leave him andthose around him forever changed.