Sun Salt Stone—Book I in the Echoes of Former Things series—is a neo-biblical story set in a post-apocalyptic future. Noah is a twelve-year-old slave struggling to survive in a nightmarish world ruled by a depraved king. The king’s guards afflict and starve the slaves. They torment Noah and his family, and they defile the girl he hopes to one day marry. Noah is sustained by his mother’s absolute love. She is compassionate and courageous, a prophet with unshakable faith. She foretells that the slaves will escape across the wasteland to a mountain paradise, but most people believe she’s gone mad. The guards’ escalating violence against her provokes Noah to acts of defiance and revenge.
Subverting the conventions of contemporary fiction, Sun Salt Stone is character-driven and literary, but it reads like a free fall, with acts of violence or love flying past at a glimpse. The story hurtles toward a tragic ending, yet hope endures due to the profound resilience of the human spirit.
