The Upper Tentacle - (Singularity) by Amanda Helms (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The admin for a corporate retreat and a body-splitting alien team up to solve the murder of the company's president before their alien overlords inflict dire consequences for humanity's collective insubordination.

"The Upper Tentacle takes a delightfully bonkers premise--the subordinate of our new alien overlord must solve a murder mystery at a corporate team-building retreat--and turns it into a surprisingly sweet and eminently funny reflection on empathy, humanity, and our dire need to eat the rich. You will be consumed! And you will be honored by the consumption!" --Samantha Mills, Nebula Award-winning author of The Wings Upon Her Back

Nia would probably rather be anywhere than a closed ski resort, supporting Hugh Callahan, the president of Crestone Learning, at a company retreat. As the only admin, she is responsible for pretty much everything, from making sure that meals are on time, to preparing speeches--and also apparently solving the murder of the aforementioned and newly deceased Hugh Callahan, who was found murdered in a resort hot tub.

Meanwhile, Khearozoth, a 4th level subordinate class of shelgol'gah--the dimension-traversing, body-splitting, entity-eating alien species that has been taking over Earth, one megacorporation at a time--had one job at the retreat: to make sure that Hugh appropriately honored their master, the prodigiously hungry Greatest Supreme.

When the Greatest Supreme learns about Hugh's death, they task Khearozoth and Nia with finding the killer. Now this unlikely pairing must work together to solve the murder--because there is a killer on the loose, and the Greatest Supreme does not brook disappointments ...

Review Quotes

"I fell in love with this book immediately. Cosmic horror and educational publishing, plus a cozy murder? Yes, please. Fiercely weird, funny, and oddly specific in the best possible way."--Annalee Newitz, bestselling author of Automatic Noodle and A Wall Is Also a Road

"Never have I met an alien narrator so hilarious, endearing, and viscerally repulsive as Khearozoth. I'll definitely be reading this one again."--Rachael Kuintzle, author of The Ghosts of Gadolin

"With its delightful duo and imaginative premise, The Upper Tentacle consumed me from page one. Helms' writing is sharp, memorable, and just plain hilarious. The Awesome and Terrible Ak-Gorug might come for your brain--but not before the assistants steal your heart."--Samantha Bansil, author of Black Salt Queen

"A brilliant cosmic twist on that most relatable and anxiety-inducing aspect of everyday life: office politics. What if you went on an office retreat when Cthulhu is your boss? And what if Cthulhu's favorite acolyte was killed on the retreat? You've never had this much fun trying to prevent a multidimensional god from eating your entire company, and the rest of the world with it. I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful novella."--R.S.A. Garcia, Sturgeon and Nebula award-winning author of The Nightward

"The Upper Tentacle takes a delightfully bonkers premise--the subordinate of our new alien overlord must solve a murder mystery at a corporate team-building retreat-- and turns it into a surprisingly sweet and eminently funny reflection on empathy, humanity, and our dire need to eat the rich. You will be consumed! And you will be honored by the consumption!"--Samantha Mills, Nebula Award-winning author of The Wings Upon Her Back

"Every locked room mystery needs an eldrich hampster detective. Helms delivers one, and so much more, in this delightfully dark and cleverly comedic tour de force."--Alex Shvartsman, author of The Best of All Possible Planets

"Helms deftly intersects the casual horrors we accept as banal in corporate culture with new, eldritch ones, using a cast of characters you simultaneously want to laugh at and root for. The Upper Tentacle is entertaining, hilarious, and witty, in the same vein as Knives Out and The Sheep Detectives, all while illuminating things about being human that only extraplanar entities could."--Craig Lincoln, co-author of The Formation Saga

"The Upper Tentacle engrossed me from the very first page. From the delightful narration by my new favorite alien to the visceral world-building to the anti-capitalist horror-comedy mash up, I consumed this novella in one sitting. Helms' debut is sure to burrow into your brain and make itself a home inside."--S. Hati, author of And the Sky Bled

"The Upper Tentacle is short enough to consume in one sitting, and funny enough to linger over. It's an original and satisfying look at what can happen after the rich have been eaten. Murder mystery, corporate espionage, wit, wisdom, and Ak-Gorug, Wondrous and Terrible Greatest Supreme Level Five of the shelogol'gah; The Upper Tentacle has everything you need. All hail the shelogol'gah!"--Tanya Huff, Aurora Award-winning author of Direct Descendant and Saved by the Spell

"A terrific debut novel. Helms takes the amateur detective story, adds a side of alien post-invasion, and spices it up with an engaging duo of protagonists. A story worthy of consumption by the Wondrous and Terrible Greatest Supreme Ak-Gorug themselves. So you'll probably like it too."--A. Lee Martinez, Alex Award-winning author of Gil's All Fright Diner and Unbearable

"The more you think about this book, the worse it gets (complimentary)! If you like your horror layered, funny, and anti-capitalist, with a central murder mystery, this is for you! Miss Marple with tentacles, 10/10."--Eli Snow, author of The Divine Gardener's Handbook

About the Author

Amanda Helms is a biracial writer and editor who formerly worked in educational publishing, starting out as an editorial assistant and eventually climbing the corporate ladder to content editor. Now, she spends her time envisioning alternate worlds and creating characters to populate them, while keeping her editorial skills honed at Diabolical Plots magazine. Her short fiction has appeared in FIYAH, Uncanny, and Lightspeed, among other fine venues. The Upper Tentacle is her debut book.