Chaucer’s Books in Santa Barbara will host writer Kevin Chong, author of “The Double Life of Benson Yu,” for a virtual event, 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 30.

To watch the event via Zoom link, click here. To view on YouTube Live!, click here.

Chong’s work of metafiction follows Benson Yu, a writer, who loses control of his own narrative when he attempts to write the story of his fraught upbringing in 1980s Chinatown.

In a Chinatown housing project lives 12-year-old Benny, his ailing grandmother, and his strange neighbor Constantine, a man who believes he’s a reincarnated medieval samurai.

When his grandmother is hospitalized, Benny manages to survive on his own until a social worker comes snooping. With no other family, he is reluctantly taken in by Constantine and soon, an unlikely bond forms between the two.

At least, that’s what Yu, the narrator of the story, wants to write.

The creator of a bestselling comic book, Yu is struggling with continuing the poignant tale of Benny and Constantine and can’t help but interject from the present day, slowly revealing a darker backstory.

Can Yu confront the demons he’s spent his adult life avoiding or risk his own life — and Benny’s?

Chong is the award-winning author of several books of fiction and nonfiction. His work has appeared in The Guardian, and The Rumpus. He currently lives in Vancouver, Canada, and is an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia.