Diasporama

"An ambitious sociopolitical epic." — Rudy Ruiz, award-winning author of The Border Between Us

Welcome to very-near-future Los Angeles, where the economic divide and culture wars have reached the tipping point. As neighborhood crime and homeless encampments infiltrate the fabric of idyllic suburbs, residents respond with fear and anger, vowing to do whatever it takes to hold on to their hard-earned American Dream, no matter the human cost.

The societal rift is embodied in the fraying dynamic between interior designer Wendy Forman and her husband, Brad, a physician who heads an exclusive concierge practice. In response to a local break-in, Wendy starts her own neighborhood watch group. Brad, meanwhile, runs into an injured man behind a dumpster at the local shopping center and tends to his wounds, a life-changing interaction that propels the doctor to moonlight outside his comfort zone. He enters the world of street medicine, where he combs campsites and freeway underpasses to treat the underserved. There, bonding with the lost, the drug-addled, and the discards, he forms a unique connection with Laila, a woman determined to rise above what seems like an endless series of bad breaks.

Diasporama is where the well-heeled meet the shoeless. Where the unhinged bully the unhoused. Where every scrap of real estate is gold in somebody's pocket. As the efforts of street docs and the plight of the have-nots are pitted against the political and corporate “haves,” conflicting passions lead to a fierce battle for what kind of society we want to be and how we choose to define wealth. The results are as surprising as they are profound.