December Newsletter
The holidays are here, and there are many updates!
Welcome to the now-monthly edition of my newsletter! Except for big news, I am no longer sharing weekly updates. More frequent, personal, and behind-the-scenes posts and exclusive news can be followed via my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/jendiagammon
November was a roller coaster ride, beginning with being under the weather, and having a challenging set of deadlines. But having my teens out of school during Thanksgiving week made for the perfect remedy. We had good food, watched shows and movies, played games, and got the Christmas tree, which is now trimmed and glorious. I'm feeling thankful indeed.
My Current Books for Gifts!
Speaking of the holidays, I have my six current books available now that make great gifts! The Questrison Saga is a space opera series perfect for fans of Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, The Fifth Element, Farscape, and Foundation. This is a science fiction and fantasy series featuring found family, aliens, telepaths, superheroes, hideous malevolent entities, galactic war, and even a bit of romance. Find them under either my Dotson pen name or my Jendia Gammon one from your favorite booksellers online.
My two 2023 traditional debuts, which have received several award nominations, are also great gifts. The Shadow Galaxy (Trepidatio/JournalStone Publishing) is a perfect stocking stuffer collection of fantasy, horror, science fiction, and Appalachian tales and poetry. The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern (Android Press) is just the hopeful read for this moment. Set in a night-living future after an apocalypse, both magic and science coexist, and teens learn to become leaders when faced with a villain from our time. Think Stranger Things meets Studio Ghibli. This book was a Nebula Award finalist this year, as well as a BSFA Award finalist, and was longlisted for the Lodestar Award and the British Fantasy Award.
New Atacama Quote and Preorders!
Preorders are live for Atacama, my speculative thriller (with horror and sci-fi elements) coming out in May, 2025 via Sley House Publishing! You can preorder from Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Amazon, and other bookstores of your choosing.
I was thrilled to receive the review blurb from D.K. Stone above. Being compared to Stephen King is tremendous! And having Atacama compared to The Thing, one of my all-time favorite movies, was amazing.
Interview by The Rookery
If you missed it, I was recently interviewed by the folks at Inside the Rookery about writing thrillers like Atacama. Always a great time chatting with these folks!
Now Available: Western North Carolina Charity Anthology
To help my fellow Appalachians, I donated a science fiction and fantasy short story full of Appalachian beauty, warmth, and charm. It's called "The Dewdrop Bot and the Honey Fae." This is now available in the anthology To Appalachia with Love: Sci-Fi Anthology which released in November.
Here's info on the charity anthology. Donations go directly to aid organizations helping Appalachians affected by Hurricane Helene. The recovery is going to take a long time, and they need our help.
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Awards Eligibility Post for 2024
It's once again time for me to showcase my fiction published in the past year, for awards consideration for science fiction, fantasy, horror, and fiction generally. This year, everything is short fiction. You can see it all listed in my dedicated blog post below. There might be some stories you missed, so do take a look! Thank you.
Jendia Gammon
Social Media Update
The landscape for social media has changed rapidly, and so I've updated my links accordingly. The most commonly used platforms I favor right now are listed above. None of them is perfect, and they are all evolving quickly. My best advice as a social media manager (one of my many hats): do NOT put all your eggs in one basket with any one platform. We did that already with Twitter, and that didn't work out so well.
Here's a dedicated blog post for my socials, but of course everything is also linked on the homepage of my website https://jendiagammon.com.
Jendia Gammon
Writing Update
Briefly, on the editing front, I've been working constantly behind the scenes on the Stars and Sabers Publishing debut anthology, Of Shadows, Stars, and Sabers. This has involved getting the final proof edits from our editor, Scarlett R. Algee, who also formatted the interior of the book (she did the same work for The Shadow Galaxy, mentioned above). Next up: my design team makes the final paperback and hardcover full cover formats that I'll upload to the distributor. As a reminder, we have a stellar roster of authors. Learn more about the book on our website. Universal preorders start very soon for this February release, and I'll alert everyone when they're live. I've also begun amassing the crowdfunding packaging and swag for those who supported making this book. Very exciting!
As for what I've written, I've seen the finished cover art for Doomflower, my April 2025 campy horror novel! It is hand-painted and gorgeous. A vivid cover, for sure, meaning my Spring 2025 horror debuts of this and Atacama will look stunning next to each other. I can't wait to see the final cover with my name on it, and for preorders to start! I'll share them when they're live.
This month, I'm working on finishing The Secret of the Sapphire Sentinel (autumn 2025 release), the sequel to The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern mentioned above. After that is submitted to the publisher, I pivot to finish the Appalachian weird horror novella, Godfestation (2026) with a different publisher. And I'm pretty sure I'll have edits for my first dragon fantasy novel in a trilogy, The Vale of Seven Dragons (2026) sometime in the new year.
There's a whole lot I've not talked about in this post, including many stressful things, but I'm managing well. And after all, I got to have pie for breakfast for a few days. That makes just about everything better. Wishing you and yours a wonderful December.
Write on!
Jendia
