San Andreas: Short Fiction on Shaky Ground

by Ericka Lutz

“These stories move me. I’ve never read better writing about Northern California—the nature and its people.”
Norma Watkins, The Last Resort

In the fictional Northern California city of San Andreas de Pacifico, the ground is unstable. In these twelve unexpected love stories, so are many of the people. A woman hears the elephants speak, but only before earthquakes. A long-married couple scales a cemetery wall to regain their passion. A young mother dreams of planting a poison garden. An old man, losing himself to dementia, finds an abandoned baby. Strangers meet on an overnight bus and alter each other’s lives. A struggling writer gains freedom in her effort to rescue a beached whale.

San Andreas evokes the beauties and vulnerabilities of the human condition and explores life’s shaky ground—physical, emotional, and psychological. Award-winning author Ericka Lutz (The Edge of Maybe) brings her distinctive, unflinching, lyrical voice to these unforgettable characters who yearn for connection—with each other and the natural world.


“In Ericka Lutz’s precise and intuitive hands, these diverse characters tackle the tasks before them—both ordinary and gigantic—with nuance, grit, and often breathtaking complexity.”
Elizabeth Stix, Things I Want Back From You

“This collection traces the primal, often inarticulate forces that fracture us—and the fragile, fleeting moments that bind us together.”
David Holper, City of Eureka Poet Laureate Emeritus

168 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 6, 2026

About the author

Ericka Lutz is the author of San Andreas: Short Fiction on Shaky Ground, The Edge of Maybe and seven nonfiction books. A veteran writing coach and solo storyteller, her award-winning prose and poetry have appeared in numerous literary journals. She is a former fellow at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts and a Pushcart nominee. She lives in Northern California.

Reviews

[Ellen A. Buechner · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoy slice of life and the mysterious power of metaphor, you will love this collection of extremely well-written and subtly interconnected visits to the innermost thoughts of characters we meet at deep inflection points in their lives. Several of the vignettes left me wondering, days later, how some of them might be doing. I live in northern California and find the sense of place absolutely authentic in the stories. The audio version is read by the author, which contributes to the spell-binding power of the intimate stories of her women (did I mention it's mostly heroines here? And all of them deeply three-dimensional). Ericka Lutz shows a mastery of character development and dialogue between and within her characters that create a deeply absorbing and compelling experience.

[Catherine Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Looking for spectacular short fiction? Ericka Lutz’s “San Andreas—Short Fiction on Shaky Ground” will satisfy you. Each story is a standalone gem with unique characters ranging from quirky to heartbreaking to memorable. Everybody resides in San Andreas, a town “on the edge” on California’s North Coast. The town itself is a haunting character that seems familiar yet just enough “off” to leave you a little uneasy. San Andreas lingered in my brain for days. I’ll be reading it again and again.