World’s Edge: A Mosaic Novel by James Sallis. Soho, 2026. 9781641298261. 225pp.
Sallis is one of my favorite novelists because he’s a poet who doesn’t waste words. His books circle ideas and moments and people that are often full of sadness, but somehow the totality of his stories feels honest and even a little hopeful. Part of that hope is that words, stories, and people matter in the end.
This book is a group of stories set in the future, in a broken, post-war U.S. made of ditches, towns, and even cities sometimes, or whatever is left of them. They’re places where survival isn’t guaranteed, where technology and a decent diet are as fragmentary as the idea of freedom, where different factions fight for control despite having little idea what they’ll do to make the world better.
It was a tough, dark read, but it somehow offered me that bit of hope I needed.