Alma Mendoza

A Novella

It’s salmon season, the summer of 2022, in Sitka, Alaska. Emily Morrison is a seasonal office intern. Jasper Patchett is a seafood processor at the bayside plant, along with his friends Mason and Luis. And Alma Mendoza, Jasper’s cousin, is a social media influencer—beautiful, charming, and manipulative—and she’s tagging along for the ride. Jasper has fallen obsessively under his cousin’s spell, but he doesn’t know that Alma and Emily are lovers. As the days pass, as the absurd love triangle rattles out of control, Alma Mendoza, the ringleader of this dark comedy, gradually pulls back her cloak. Alma Mendoza—deranged, unhinged, psychotic. Sweet Alma—the wildcard among a group of five friends traveling north over the summer.

©2025 Stephen Zappa (P)2026 Stephen Zappa