A local author borrows from his life to get at truths in a work of fiction.

Fifteen years after the idea first occurred to him, Jeff McKown has published his first novel. It’s called Solid Ground, and he says its theme is how we are the sum of all that has come before, for better or worse.

The story follows a period in the life of Conor, a man trying to reconcile issues from his past, in the confusing hubbub of the present, for sake of a meaningful future.

“I was partly inspired by growing up gay in the South in the ’80s,” McKown says. “The story evolved so much over time that it became more about the damage that all of us bring into middle age.”

Conor the protagonist is a gay man who grew up in Flordia, who works a day job at a corporate book retailer, has published a first novel in middle age, and has an affinity for whiskey. McKown says the book is not really about him, but there are elements that are inspired by his real life.

He lives in Prunedale but grew up in Pensacola, Florida, which he says is nicknamed the “Redneck Riviera.” He likes whiskey. He worked at Borders Books in Michigan, then in California where he was regional manager for 20 stores from Eureka to San Francisco to Sand City.

He says that experience lent itself more to understanding retail than understanding publishing, which he describes as “an incredibly complicated adventure.”

He quit his beloved job at Borders months before it went bankrupt and spent much of his 401(k) in order to commit to writing. When his published book first arrived in the mail – a momentous occasion for him – there was also a bill from the IRS for $12,000. (See the Weekly’s Arts & Culture blog for more of McKown’s interview.)

“Life is a mixed bag,” he says. He wishes he could report that writing has afforded him enough income to do it exclusively but it hasn’t. He works for a Monterey psychologist.

“They say, keep your day job until your third book.” He’s working on his second.

At least in Solid Ground, he mixes life’s bitter or sour moments with humor and snark, like when Conor describes his boyfriend Will’s attempts to console his work frustration: “Will’s brand of ‘Successories’ poster wisdom hardly came in handy when I was dealing with asshole customers at the cash register every day. ‘Yes, ma’am, the lines are long. It’s fucking Christmas.’”

But as in life, sometimes the wheel of fate takes a forgiving spin. That IRS bill turned out later to be an error; his book, however, is very much a reality.

JEFF MCKOWN reads and signs 1pm Saturday, Jan. 27, at Old Capitol Books, 559 Tyler St., Monterey. Free. 333-0383, oldcapitolbooks.com