Edge of Light

Three teenagers take a road trip through a California devastated by drought, disease, corporate malevolence, and subatomic particles in this arresting near-future sci-fi novel from Antani (The Leaving of Things). Antani builds his dystopian vision of the year 2030 through a series of apparently unrelated incidents: meteors strike the West Coast; power outages hit the East Coast; a rabieslike pathogen spreads from the desert; people riot over water; and the Triton conglomerate builds work zones in the Midwest, encouraging people to move there. Against this backdrop, 17-year-old Dev Harrison mourns his scientist father, presumed dead in an explosion as he was examining one of the meteorites, which turned out to be older than the solar system and too heavy for its size. Persistent dreams of his father telling Dev to find his co-worker Bollinger near Lake Tahoe prompt Dev and his friends Connor and Abby to drive north from Los Angeles in search of answers. It’s a dangerous trek as they dodge gun-toting militia and regressed humanoid creatures. With skill and precision, Antani cleverly maneuvers his diverse cast and disparate disasters into a rollicking interplay of adventure, science, and terror. Readers will be hooked. (Self-published)