James Sallis, the novelist behind the fan-favorite neo-noir novel Drive that was adapted into the 2011 cult classic film starring Ryan Gosling, has died.
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The Arkansas native passed away on Jan. 27 after a long illness, according to his online obituary. Sallis was 81.
"Every time we think we have it, it shifts and turns in our hands, changes shape, becomes something else. That's the grace and beauty of this weirdness we call art. That's why, as readers, as writers, we go on."
— Jason P. Woodbury (@jasonpwoodbury) January 30, 2026
RIP Phoenix's own, noir & sci-fi author James Sallis (Drive). pic.twitter.com/VuOKjTNWsH
After living with his family in cities like New Orleans and London, he attended Tulane University and later the University of Texas.
Sallis’s career spanned multiple genres, including science fiction, poetry, essays, and criticism. He ultimately reinvented crime fiction with his own compressed, jazz-inflected style. In 1992, he published his first novel, The Long-Legged Fly, which introduced Lew Griffin, a Black private investigator in New Orleans. The series grew to six novels and helped establish Sallis as a distinctive voice in modern noir.
Sallis gained wider recognition with Drive (2005), which was adapted into the 2011 film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and starring Ryan Gosling. The sequel novel, Driven, was released in 2012.
Sorry to see that James Sallis has died. Sallis was a formative writer for me & modeled an outlaw career, as he phrased it, that was inspiring in its freedom. He’s best known for his tight little crime novel, Drive, that later became an even better movie—1/ pic.twitter.com/UchdO2sKBn
— Morris Collins (@MorrisACollins) February 1, 2026
Throughout his career, he won major crime-writing awards, including the Hammett Prize, the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, and Bouchercon’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
James Sallis Also Enjoyed a Career Writing Science Fiction
Sallis also enjoyed a successful career as a science fiction writer. He was published in over 100 pieces of speculative short fiction, per Locus. He began with “Kazoo” (1967) in New Worlds, a magazine he later briefly co-edited. His work appeared in various publications, including Analog, Asimov’s, F&SF, Interzone, Lady Churchill’s, and Orbit. Notably, his story “The Creation of Bennie Good” (1970) earned a Nebula Award nomination.
My James Sallis collection. His Lew Griffin detective series are truly fantastic, and yes, not nearly well-known as he should be in North America. Start with The Long-legged Fly, the first in the series. Incredibly unique take on the American detective.
— Paul MacDougall (@franeymountain) January 29, 2026
RIP. https://t.co/uQqTlJWsyp pic.twitter.com/7ppSDCAz7n
Beyond writing, he also taught at Phoenix College, Otis College, and the Piper Center.
He is survived by his wife of 35 years, Karyn. He was predeceased by his parents, his brother John Sallis, a philosopher, and his son Dylan.