The Iron Grains by Jess Zepeda

Set in the 1970s San Joaquin Valley, The Iron Grains unfolds across a landscape split between industrial agribusiness and the rigid reach of the Fort Ord military base. Against the backdrop of the Vietnam War and red-flag vineyard strikes, young artist Julian Solbriozo struggles to build a life on his own terms.

Marked as an outcast in his hometown, Julian faces pressure from all sides: a family that demands conformity, the shadow of his late father, and the harsh reality of the military draft. His desperate struggle to sever ties with his past becomes a sharp reflection on isolation and identity-only to realize that his hardest fight is not against the world around him, but within himself.