In the not too distant future, Noa and Nicole escape their home in Ecuador for the Solar Noise Festival. This week-long, retro-futuristic gathering occurs at the foot of an active volcano. Noa completely embraces the haze of drugs and hedonism to hide her true reason for attending.
Sensing something darker happening behind-the-scenes at the festival’s “celebration of life”, Nicole digs into the collective hallucinations, ritual dances, and techno-shamanic poetry to the heart of the gathering. Both Noa and Nicole must navigate their own path to leave the past behind and reclaim their futures.
Why we’re excited about this book:
Ecuadorian writer Mónica Ojeda continues to light the horror fiction world ablaze with her own personal brand of nightmarish fiction. Ojeda is the author of La desfiguración Silva, Nefando, Mandíbula (translated as Jawbone), and the poetry collections El ciclo de las piedras and Historia de la leche, and the short story collection Las voladoras. Ojeda also coined the term Andean Gothic, establishing a connection to much of her fiction to her home land, incorporating myth and folklore with socio-political issues. With her latest, Ojeda blends ritualistic magic with a modern music festival setting to a nightmarish psychedelic frenzy. Fernanda Melchor (Paradais) says: Mónica Ojeda is a dazzling black sun in the astral chart of contemporary horror.” Samanta Schweblin (Little Eyes, Fever Dream) says: “With fear and fascination, that’s how I read Mónica Ojeda. As if reading a spell, as if biting into flesh, fearing to find something sharp inside. So poetic, so disturbing, and brutal.”, and Mariana Enríquez (Our Share of Night) says: “Psychedelia, volcanoes, disintegration. Following Ojeda on this journey is, without a doubt, an intense experience.”
Releasing from Coffee House Press 12 May 2026, Electric Shaman at the Festival of the Sun by Mónica Ojeda (translated Sarah Booker) is available for pre-order now.
BOB PASTORELLA