“Cryptopia Book 1: Z, Tipping Point” is the first of a projected five-novella series about the end of our way of life.

“It is about the collapse of society,” says Paul Heller, author of “Cryptopia Book 1: Z, Tipping Point” (108 pages; Blue Heron Book Works; paperback $15; 2024).

“Imagine if you were one of the Top 10 percent and when you wake up, all of your wealth is gone,” Heller continues.

“Young people called the Ultras have taken over. They want to make a Utopia. And when you turn 50, you are ‘vanished,’” says Heller during an interview in a west Allentown coffee shop.

In “Cryptopia Book 1: Z, Tipping Point,” Z is a Special Op, fighting those calling themselves the new rulers of the Cryptopia city-state.

“Each book will have the same characters, but will focus on and be narrated by different ones,” Heller says.

“The next story will feature the kids at the end of the first book. It will be their world, so it will be about them,” says Heller.

He compares the books to “Game of Thrones,” with its many personal interactions and dramatic points.

Heller says that the events in the “Cryptopia” series seem plausible. He references “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” by Edward Gibbon (1737 -1794).

“It reflects today’s stronger military and the loss of faith in government. ‘Cryptopia’ just takes things one step further, showing the collapse of our country,” Heller says.

“The characters are based on real people. I don’t think any authors make up characters out of their imagination.”

To create Z, he says, “I knew a guy who was a Special Operations Navy Seal. I picked his brain.

“‘Cryptopia’ is an action-adventure story, but also a morality tale,” according to Heller.

In the book, as in the real world, there are those who see the catastrophes as a financial opportunity, he says:

“There are businessmen and women who learn to adapt to make money. I don’t know how some people can do the things they do, how they can look at themselves in the mirror and do the same things and think it is OK.”

Heller has led an adventurous life. Born in Camden, N.J., he grew up in Manhattan. He graduated from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, training for a diplomatic career.

He chose a life of travel instead, working on oil rigs, owning shrimp boats, and living in Cajun country, the mountains of Spain, and remote areas of Maine.

“I was always moving around. Everywhere I went I started a business except Spain, where I had to learn the language. I like going out on the edge of things,” Heller says.

Now living in west Allentown, Heller moved to the Lehigh Valley in the late 1980s. He had an antique store in Manhattan, and had been visiting the area to sell and re-purpose furniture left behind by Bethlehem Steel Corp. when it closed. He is editor-in-chief of Blue Heron Book Works, founded by his wife, author-editor-publisher Bathsheba Monk.

Heller has also written “Last Call (Memoir): My Mother’s Descent Into Darkness” (51 pages; Blue Heron Book Works; paperback $7.99; audiobook $2.99; 2021), about his mother’s decline with dementia.

“I took care of her as she descended into darkness,” he says. “I didn’t want to put her in a home. I went to see a facility, and it seemed that people were warehousing their parents.

“My mother didn’t know who I was. She said, ‘You are so nice to me. Who are you?’ ‘I’m your son,’ I said. ‘No, you’re not. My son has abandoned me.’ I was outraged, but then I accepted it. It was revelatory about my own character. It took a while to recover from it.”

He has plans for two new novels. One is an adult work about animals coming together. “They see drones and think people are preparing to leave the planet. Some animals want to kill them, while others want to negotiate.”

Another is based on the life of Ole Bull, a Norwegian virtuoso violinist and composer who established a colony, New Norway, in Potter County. Ole Bull State Park, Stewardson Township, Potter County, is named in the musician’s honor.

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