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In this young adult thriller for fans of Lost and The Twilight Zone, a group of teens are saved when they come across a mysterious oasis. But who will save them from the oasis? Alif had exciting summer plans: working on her father's archeological dig site in the desert with four close friends ... and a very cute research assistant. Then the sandstorm hit. Their camp wiped away, Alif and the others find themselves lost on the sands, seemingly doomed ... until they find the oasis. It has everything they need: food, water, and shade—and mysterious ruins that hide a deadly secret. As reality begins to shift around them, they question what's real and what's a mirage. The answers turn Alif and her friends against each other, and they begin to wonder if they've truly been saved. And while it was easy to walk into the oasis, it may be impossible to leave ... An Imprint Book "Will stick to readers' skin long after the final page is turned." —Booklist (starred review) "de Becerra successfully builds a fraught tension throughout the book that mirrors the characters' feelings as reality leaves them behind . . . well worth the payoff." —The Bulletin
Katya de Becerra
Katya de Becerra writes atmospheric horror and mystery featuring determined characters, complicated families and enigmatic places. Critics called her debut What the Woods Keep "a thoughtful and compelling horror fantasy" (The Bulletin) and "a narrative that will keep readers enthralled" (Booklist), while her second novel Oasis earned a starred review from Booklist and was selected as a Book-of-the-Month Club January 2020 pick. Katya regularly publishes short fiction in anthologies and literary magazines. Her third novel, When Ghosts Call Us Home, received two starred reviews, Kirkus Reviews calling it "haunting, intense, and eerily spooky". When Ghosts Call Us Home was a Best of 2023 Book as named by Kirkus Reviews, a Top 10 Horror for Youth Book from Booklist, as well as the 2023 Aurealis Awards winner for Best Young Adult Novel and a Finalist for Best Horror Novel. When Ghosts Call Us Home also won the Shadows Awards in the Novel category in 2023 and has been shortlisted for a Trinity Schools Book Award (TSBA) 2026. Katya's novel They Watch from Below was an Aurealis Finalist for Best Young Adult Novel in 2024. She is also co-editor of This Fresh Hell, an anthology which reimagines and subverts horror tropes in new and unexpected ways. This Fresh Hell was an Australian Science Fiction ("Ditmar") Awards 2024 finalist in the "Best Collected Work" category. As a child, Katya wanted to be an Egyptologist, but instead she earned a PhD in Cultural Anthropology and now is a tenured university academic. Katya is a short version of her real name, which is very long and gets mispronounced a lot.
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