George Salis is the author of the novel Sea Above, Sun Below, which was praised by Alexander Theroux and Rikki Ducornet. He’s also the editor of The Collidescope, an online publication that celebrates innovative and neglected literature. His fiction is featured in The Dark, Black Dandy, Sci Phi Journal, Three Crows Magazine, and elsewhere. His criticism has appeared in Isacoustic, Atticus Review, and The Tishman Review, and his science article on the mechanics of natural evil was featured in Skeptic. For the past seven years, he has been working on a maximalist novel titled Morphological Echoes. He has taught in Bulgaria, China, and Poland. He’s the winner of the Tom La Farge Award for Innovative Writing. Find him on Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, and Instagram.
Praise
“I have read Sea Above, Sun Below with great delight, find it ‘a cacophony of jubilation,’ and I love the boldness of Salis’ characters, his wit, and the dash of his writing. There is electricity on every page, reminding me of what Dr. Sam Johnson said of Dr. Birch, ‘As soon as he takes up his pen, it turns into a tornado.’”
– Alexander Theroux, author of Darconville’s Cat and Laura Warholic
“George Salis has an exhilarating gift. The overall breadth of the book, the cinematic quality, and the ease with which he juggles all the voices are terrific. It’s masterfully orchestrated, vast in scope, and fearless.”
– Rikki Ducornet, author of the Tetralogy of Elements
“Sea Above, Sun Below is dazzling, so imaginative, original, and fierce. I took great pleasure in it.”
– Lee Siegel, author of Love in a Dead Language
“The prose is delightfully various in its effects and the humor has propulsive force. I was really impressed with Salis’ ability to move between styles and genre riffs with such elan. Sea Above, Sun Below is quite distinctive—an adventurous read.”
– Alan Singer, author of The Inquisitor’s Tongue
“In ‘The Second Skein,’ Salis retells the moment when airplanes collided with the twin towers, but he’s chosen a perspective that I’ve never seen before. Rooted in surrealism, in an impressionist accounting of those planes as well-organised flocks of birds. It’s a terrifying use of beautiful objects in nature to embody the horrific manipulation of engineering to destroy human life. But he roots it all in three distinct characters with outrageous qualities, drawing them so convincingly that the entire experience is a bit like drinking too much. Dizzying. His story is at times hilarious and shocking, a beautifully dense celebration of the senses, history, and obsession. It evokes fond memories of the intoxicating cadence of Pynchon in his prime.”
– H. Andrew Lynch, editor of Black Dandy
“‘The Second Skein’ is incredibly strange…It’s also purposefully herky-jerky, in a life-flashing-before-your-eyes sort of way, where one moment you’re following the reaction of a character to the scene as it unfolds, then next you’re in their childhood, reading about a terrible nail-biting habit…but there’s also a Rube Goldberg machine aficionado who designs overly complex contraptions and a Russian bodybuilder cum immigrant haunted by his rival’s ghost, each with their own important role to play. Salis’s passages provide some of the most vivid and beautiful writing in Black Dandy….”
– Derek Thomas Conrad of Out of that World: Science Fiction & Fantasy Reviews
‘George Salis’ “In Communion with the Invisible Flock: Erasmus Karl and the Nidificant Manuscript” is so bizarre and out there that it’s just plain refreshing. The way the author plays with academic language to tell the story of an unknown Human-Bird species is both beautiful and hilarious.’
– Lucy Peckford, Goodreads review
“Salis writes beautifully for such a dark subject. There’s color in his language, but it’s all maintained with a stern sense of control. The theological angle layers in another level of apprehension (due to the practitioners’ fanaticism), and contrasts nicely with the gruesome whole. Speaking of, the details of sickly, rotted, and festering bodies—while disturbing—are expertly illustrated…. Gross! And yet engrossing. The end is a real treat, a total culmination of the foreboding dread that is resurrection.”
– Derek Thomas Conrad of Out of that World: Science Fiction & Fantasy Reviews on “The Thinker” (starred review)
“The story looks at what this faith has done to this man’s children, how it has shaped them and warped them. And how, when all is revealed, there are some things that do not transubstantiate. That belief alone is not always enough, especially when that belief is selfishly motivated and ignorantly maintained. It’s an interesting story that manages to maintain a mood of rot and faith, and is certainly worth checking out.”
– Charles Payseur of Quick Sip Reviews on “The Thinker”
“‘[The Lightning Conductor]’ is magical and tear-inducing.”
– Will Byrnes, Goodreads review
“It was lovely to see my daughter savour the stories like she did, particularly ‘The Lightning Conductor’ by George Salis, which filled my own mind with wonder and brought a lump to my throat.”
– Robin Bree, Goodreads review
“Salis’s writing is mature, analytical, thorough. What I appreciated the most is the author’s ability to talk about complex topics in a manner that is comprehensible to a wide audience.”
– One of the judges of the Davidson Award for Integrity in Journalism
George Salis 