Haslam's stories are of the quintessential California of working people who struggle to make a living. He is their spokesperson-no matter what their color or language-because he, too, has chopped cotton under the searing sun, has toiled on drilling rigs in fog thick as oatmeal, has lived in a house where Spanish and English mingled. His writing marks a boundary between the Golden State's stereotypes and the real people who persevere in seeking the California dream.