At long last, my thriller, horror, science fiction mystery ATACAMA is available everywhere!
ATACAMA is my horror/thriller/science fiction novel available now via Sley House Publishing.
From the Book Jacket
Researcher Fiona Hawthorne reels from the death of her best friend, Alva, among the Atacama team. When Fiona’s university professor Dr. Bingham is visited by members of a shadowy corporation, she begins to suspect not everything is as it seems. Enlisting her intense coworker Lafe Lambert, the two dig deep looking for answers around Alva’s death…too deep. Fiona soon realizes that she not only faces sinister corporate agents, but also a monster hiding in plain sight.
ATACAMA marks my first official foray into thriller writing, and there are speculative elements of horror and science fiction. This book takes place in a real-world setting in the near future.
Genres for ATACAMA
This book spans multiple genres. These include airport thriller, horror, women’s fiction, psychological thriller, science fiction, sci-fi horror, mystery, academic fiction, science horror, and Appalachian fiction.
Cover Art by Chris Panatier
Read more about the stunning book cover on the blog.
With 36 Illustrations by Jendia Gammon
For the first time, I will have illustrations by me in a published book. I made 36 pieces of black and white art using marker and watercolor and ink, and those will be in each chapter header. I’m very pleased that Sley House Publishing let me do this. Some of the pieces are abstract, others more realistic. Each is themed to the individual chapter without spoiling the contents.
Praise for ATACAMA
“Jendia Gammon’s Atacama masterfully weaves a gripping sci-fi mystery that blurs the line between reality and nightmare. With lyrical prose, Gammon builds an atmosphere thick with tension and dread as she takes you on a heart-pounding race for answers. What begins as a twisted mystery quickly spirals into a cosmic nightmare, unearthing surreal horrors lurking beneath the surface that will haunt you long after the final page. A mind-bending exploration of grief, love, and the unknown, Atacama is as unnerving as it is hopeful, and left me clawing for more as it pulled me deeper into its eerie world.”
— Mallory Pearson, author of Voice Like a Hyacinth and We Ate the Dark
“Jendia Gammon weaves lush description with ratcheting tension to deliver a story that is both chilling and compelling. Atacama is a book that will stay with the reader long after the last page.”
— Helen Glynn Jones, Author of The Last Raven
“Gripping and fast paced, Jendia Gammon’s ATACAMA blends the horror elements of THE THING with the nightmarish complexity of Stephen King’s THE OUTSIDER. Sharp prose, flawed characters, and a complex plot will appeal to horror and thriller readers alike. Highly recommended!”
— D.K. Stone, author of the Edge of Wild trilogy, and Inescapable: A Ghost Story
“ATACAMA is a devious blend of mystery and horror set against the unforgiving background of a remote and brutal desert. Chockful of relatable characters and unexpected twists. Jendia Gammon brings real game to this cross-genre thriller!”
— Jonathan Maberry, NY Times bestselling author of NecroTek and the Joe ledger Thrillers
“Gammon’s ATACAMA is a fast-paced thriller that showcases her strengths of strong heroines and divine prose. Whether transporting us to a lab full of chaos or the dry flats of the desert, when Gammon turns to the stars and the mysteries of the universe, that is when she shines and I’m in love.”
— Rowan Hill, author of Foxfire and No Fair Maidens From Earth to Mars
“A pulse-pounding SF/Thriller hybrid that feels like a modern day episode of The X-Files.”
— Paul Weimer, of Hugo Award winning site Nerds of a Feather, Flock Together
Where To Buy ATACAMA
Order ATACAMA from your favorite bookseller! Or choose from these below:
Sley House Publishing (publisher direct)
Mysterious Galaxy (in-store event June 7)
Amazon US (hardback)
Amazon US (kindle eBook)
Amazon US (paperback)
Amazon UK (hardback)
Amazon UK (kindle eBook)
Amazon UK (paperback)
Apple (eBook)
Barnes & Noble (paperback)
Barnes & Noble (hardback)
Barnes & Noble Nook (eBook)
Blackwell’s (paperback)
Bookshop.org US (paperback)
Bookshop.org US (hardback)
Bookshop.org (eBook)
Booktopia (Australia, hardback)
Indigo (Canada, hardback)
Indigo (Canada, ebook)
Kobo (eBook)
Waterstones (paperback)
Thank You
I really hope you enjoy ATACAMA, whose prologue originates from the short story “The Scaffold” in my award-nominated short story collection THE SHADOW GALAXY. This is an unsettling mystery that’s deeply personal, but expansive.
Many thanks to wonderful fellow author Tej Turner for letting me base some of my illustrations on his photos from the Atacama Desert.
Special thanks to researchers Dr. Benito Gómez-Silva of Universidad de Antofagasta and Dr. Alfonso F. Davila of NASA for answering my questions about the Atacama Desert in Chile. This desert holds more fascination and discovery than one could ever imagine; and while I delve into science fiction in this novel, the real science is worth learning more about.