A new novel, available now!
After a dysfunctional government gives way to rioting and blackouts, teenage Rosa Calder’s group takes shelter deep beneath an Ohio airbase, and when they finally emerge, nothing works and everyone is gone. Elsewhere, her father has disappeared on a classified mission, a nihilistic biochemical researcher roams the countryside incinerating the victims of a weaponized psychedelic neurotoxin, and gritty runaway Julia discovers a grisly antidote to the epidemic as messianic survivors work to end humanity on the Earth. Rosa and her snarky BFF Hannah, along with her obnoxious little brother and some idiot jocks from the football team, are left to rebuild society and find out what went wrong in a coming-of-age story for the end of the world.
Read excerpts here:
- “Introduction”
- “Foxhounds”
- “Last Day of School”
- “Julia”
- and “Rosa and Hannah Take Off,” in Cable Street
Some fiction feels so real it is astonishing. This book is like that. It took a long time for this project to come together and by the time it was completed it almost felt like it could have been tracking real events. This story drew me right in. I loved the concept. When the world seems to be spinning out of control some of us burrow into books to escape the reality around us. When you tunnel in to this one you might discover that it was actually bringing you right back to where you began.
—Vick Mickunas, host of Book Nook on WYSO radio
A polyphonic novel with a kaleidoscopic cast—army brats, soldiers, engineers, doomsday preppers, cult leaders, and a teenage runaway—This World and the Next is a chronicle of the end of the world that feels less farfetched every day. Think The Walking Dead meets The Leftovers in Ohio. Smart, fierce, and wonderfully weird, this story will stay with you, so read it already!
—David James Poissant, author of The Heaven of Animals and Lake Life
It’s the end of the world as we know it—and in a way we’ve never experienced it. Dave Essinger takes on a familiar subject—the apocalypse—in a distinct, unsettling, surprising, and riveting way. There’s horror here, of course. But there’s also humor. And a feisty young female pilot. And…maybe…hope.
—Mark Brazaitis, author of American Seasons and The Incurables: Stories
A snapshot of a family under post-apocalyptic threats in an Ohio-based political thriller that thrills and chills all throughout.
—Tobias S. Buckell, author of Arctic Rising
Available now!
https://mainstreetragbookstore.com/product/this-world-and-the-next-dave-essinger/
Dave Essinger 