In the novel “Warped World” (123 pp., $15, paperback, Blue Heron Book Works, 2023), Marvin Jacobson is a 17-year-old high school senior whose world may come crashing down.

His only friends are the fictional ones on the soap opera “As the World Turns,” and there are rumors that the show is being canceled.

Marvin begins fighting to save the TV show, joining Facebook and starting a petition. He addresses a student assembly and the Blubberville City Council. He protests in front of the Philadelphia KYW-TV studio and the station covers the story.

Things get more surrealistic as Marvin runs into former “As the World Turns” cast members and others, including then President Obama and then Vice President Biden.

“I was a big fan of ‘As the World Turns,’ and I was upset when it was canceled,” says “Warped World” author Billy Ehrlacher in a phone interview from his Allentown home.

“As the World Turns,” often abbreviated as “ATWT,” is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to Sept. 17, 2010.

Ehrlacher did not get involved with the more outlandish efforts of his book’s character Marvin, although Marvin is a spoof of himself.

“ATWT” was an important part of Ehrlacher’s life. It even helped inspire his move into cabaret performing with the help of Eileen Fulton, who played Lisa on the TV soap for 50 years.

After seeing Fulton’s cabaret performance at what is now The River House at Odette’s, New Hope, Ehrlacher says, “She very much inspired me. We became great friends and she was a great supporter of me.”

Fulton recommended Ehrlacher to a show business agent, who arranged for him to present his act in New York City. In September, Ehrlacher participated in a Zoom celebration of Fulton’s 90th birthday.

Marvin, and Ehrlacher’s, love of “ATWT” dominates “Warped World.”

Ehrlacher praises the show for what he says was its realism and family characterization.

Unlike many other soaps, he says, “ATWT” never became salacious or incorporated gimmicks like science-fiction plot lines. It also did not push aside its veteran actors for an appeal to youthful viewers, he says.

“There were seven cast members who appeared for over 20 years,” says Ehrlacher. Fulton was the second longest-running one. The first, Helen Wagner, is in the Guinness Book of World Records for playing the same television role, Nancy Hughes McClosky, for the longest amount of time at 54 years.

Many actors, singers and celebrities appeared on “As the World Turns,” including Courteney Cox, Farley Granger, Lauryn Hill, James Earl Jones, Julianne Moore, Jane Powell, Meg Ryan, Marisa Tomei, Robert Vaughn and Allentown’s Amanda Seyfried.

“Ratings were increasing when they decided to cancel the show,” says Ehrlacher. “But CBS thought soaps were a thing of the past, and they were more expensive than game and reality shows to produce. Also, Procter & Gamble, which owned the show, wanted to get out of the soap opera business.”

Ehrlacher did his first cabaret show as a student project while receiving a degree from DeSales University. He has done a one-man show yearly since 2008, combining singing and stories. He has appeared at venues in New York City and the Lehigh Valley, and has appeared in Lehigh Valley community theater shows.

His first book was “Tales From the Hot Dog Grill: The Uncensored Memoirs of a Food Service Engineer,” published in September 2017. His next book, “The Best of Everything,” is to be a novel set at the former Hess’s department store, Allentown, which he says will be less humorous and more sentimental than “Warped World.”

Ehrlacher is a lifelong resident of Allentown, having attended Union Terrace Elementary School, Raub Middle School and William Allen High School. He considers himself an ambassador for the city.

A song he sings in his cabaret shows is “Downtown,” written by Tony Hatch and a 1964 hit sung by British singer Petula Clark, as a tribute to his hometown.

“Literary Scene” is a column about authors, books and publishing. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com