AFTERLIGHT

Afterlight explores survival, guilt, and what it means to be seen when civilization disappears beneath the ice.
When a chartered amphibious plane crashes through the frozen surface of Lake Baikal, eleven strangers are stranded in one of the most unforgiving places on Earth. Photographer Dominic Hale promised his daughter he'd bring back something beautiful; instead, he and a handful of survivors are scavenging warmth from wreckage and trying not to die before morning.

But the frozen wilderness isn't empty. Traps wait in the snow. Drones hum above the treeline. Bodies lie bound beneath the ice. As Dominic and the others push toward a derelict research outpost, they begin to realize their fight isn't just against nature, it's against an unseen intelligence that may have engineered their suffering.

Afterlight is a literary survival thriller about endurance, observation, and the thin line between documenting horror and becoming part of it. It will appeal to readers of Cormac McCarthy, Peter Heller, and Jeff Vander Meer, those who appreciate tense, atmospheric storytelling that marries poetic prose with visceral suspense.