Bruce Rettig is the author of Refraction: An Arctic Memoir and a forthcoming novel set in 1950s Nevada during the era of atomic testing. He writes literary short stories, essays, creative nonfiction, and flash fiction/nonfiction, with work recognized by the Peralta Press YK3 Contest for Best in Fiction and Glimmer Train’s Very Short Fiction Award. Refraction draws on his years as a merchant marine and laborer in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska—the heart of North America’s largest oilfield—and was described at the Community of Writers workshop as “a cross between Heart of Darkness and Into the Wild.” The book examines the power of Big Oil, the lingering tensions of the Cold War, the hazards of industrial labor, and the growing realities of climate change. His forthcoming novel draws on extensive travel across Nevada’s high desert, weaving stories shaped by the stark landscapes and cultural currents of the atomic age.

Rettig holds a B.A. in Fine Arts and Art History from the University of Colorado. He is a founding member of Tahoe Writers Works and served for ten years as publisher of EDGE, the group’s award-winning literary journal. He has long supported regional arts organizations, including more than a decade on the board of Valhalla Tahoe, where he served as treasurer and vice president.

Professionally, Rettig is president of Charter Advertising/Design, Inc., serving rural Nevada communities, and Research and Outreach Manager for the American Indigenous Tourism Association, where he has also contributed as a travel writer, photographer, and content developer for DestinationNativeAmerica.com. He lives in South Lake Tahoe, California, where the high Sierra, Nevada’s mountain desert, and the vast Great Basin continue to inform and inspire his work.