Weekend Update - May 23, 2025
Catching my breath, upcoming event, and what's new!
Hi everyone! It's been a wild set of weeks, in which several things have happened, and I'm finally catching my breath.
Atacama is now out! You can order my speculative thriller from your favorite bookseller in paperback, hardcover, or ebook.
I'm absolutely loving seeing reader copies of Atacama out in the wild. Thank you so much! (As you can see, someone ordered two hardcover copies. Champion. I really appreciate all the support!)
If you'd like to learn more about the book, please visit my blog post all about it:
Jendia Gammon
As you can see from the header of this post, now both Doomflower and Atacama are out in the world. Read more about my campy YA horror novel, Doomflower:
Jendia Gammon
Book Signing in San Diego
I'm delighted to have a duo signing at Mysterious Galaxy Books in just 2 weeks, on June 7, alongside KC Grifant!
Details and registration/ordering are here:
Kc Grifant
Bay Area Reader Alert!
I'm stoked that Word Horde Emporium of the Weird and Fantastic, an excellent Petaluma, California bookstore, now has copies of Atacama, Doomflower, and the anthology I co-edited with Gareth L. Powell, Of Shadows, Stars, and Sabers! I have sent signed bookplates for my two novels, along with bookmarks, so if you are in the area, grab a copy!
You can also order from them online:
https://www.weirdandfantastic.com/s/search?q=gammon
For UK Readers!
Fox Lane Books in the UK has copies of Doomflower with signed bookplates and book swag in stock! Support an independent bookstore:
Writing and Art Updates
It's been absolute chaos for some time here. Four books submitted in four months is a lot, and I will not repeat the experience! (Even if that happened in a vacuum, it would have been honestly too much.) Meanwhile, because nothing pauses, I also had edits coming in for other books.
Now, I am just not the kind of person who sits on edits long. I find it unbearable, so I tend to dive in and work on them so I get them "off my desk" in a quite timely manner. I recently did this for my upcoming collection, To Wonder and Starshine (out this July!), and for my first dragon fantasy in a trilogy, The Vale of Seven Dragons (out April 2026). I am extremely pleased that Scarlett R. Algee edited both of these books, by two different publishers. She's the best!! (She also edits for Stars and Sabers!) The cover for To Wonder and Starshine is nearly finished. Preorders should roll out very soon; this is a fast mover! It's a charming collection, out via Trepdiatio/JournalStone July 25.
I have also just received the initial edits for my Choose Your Own Adventure book, Dungeon Crawl at the Haunted Mall. My edits are due in July, but I aim to get them in much sooner. The editor is just terrific, and is very excited about this book, as are the other folks at Chooseco. This one is so interesting to work on, being my first game book. I could see writing more such books in the future, maybe. My goal now is to flesh out some more "choices," and expand a bit on some of the details of the once-abandoned mall. Such a fun book! And guess what?? I have seen the cover!!! It's coming out April 2026 (yep, same month as Vale, mentioned above), but they've got the cover ready. I have been told that preorders could start as soon as July. Wow! Of course, I'll share that info when I get it. Let me tell you, they NAILED this cover. It's an absolute delight. I think if you like Stranger Things, Goonies, and some sly and ridiculous nods to Army of Darkness, Alien, and Poltergeist, you're going to have fun with this book. It's for middle grade to infinity! While Chooseco is not a Big 5 publisher, they now partner with Penguin, so that this book will be distributed in many stores around the world...a first for me. Really cool.
I'm now able to take an extended break from novel writing; my next deadline is this December, and then deadlines in March 2026 and 2027, respectively. Nothing else is contracted beyond those 3 books. I do have short stories in some upcoming anthologies, which I'll talk more about in the near future. I'll be writing short fiction this summer and autumn, and non-fiction as well. I'm returning to travel and food writing, since my science writing job is winding down. However, I will still write about science. In fact, I have some upcoming lectures I'm attending about some really cool science happening.
I'm also returning to making art in earnest, and will begin selling both original works and prints of my art at some point. I've put this off long enough. It's time! I also want to take some courses for printmaking and pottery, expanding away from my usual media of watercolor, pen and ink, and pencil art.
And that's all for now! I'll chime in soon with more news. Wishing you all a pleasant weekend.
Ad astra,
Jendia
