Helium, by Dave Kenney

Will wonders never cease?

Joan has a gravity problem—and she’s desperate to keep it hidden. Haunted by a loss too heavy to bear, she drifts to Palomar Gardens, a tiny Southern California commune where hope hovers and teases. Here she encounters George, a charismatic mystic whose lofty visions will soon captivate the world.

Drawn into George’s orbit, Joan finds her footing. But the line between wonder and deception is thin, and her hold on reality slips. Improbable machines appear in the sky, only to vanish without explanation. Beautiful lies masquerade as truth. Her secret unmoors with consequences she cannot foresee.

Helium is a story of faith, folly, and the fragile human longing to touch the stars—of searching for a place in the cosmos where the possible and the impossible carry equal weight.