New Mexico Author

Horacio Chávez Storyteller of the Land & Spirit

Weaving Diné cosmology, science, and the ancient question of balance — what happens when the Earth itself decides to intervene?

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That Which Dwells — Níhíni'á: Awakening book cover

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Debut Novel · May 2026

That Which Dwells—
Níhíni'á

Awakening

"What happens when the Earth itself decides it can no longer trust humans with its future?"

Long before humans named constellations or split the atom, something ancient stirred within the Earth's dark energy fields. Among the Diné it is called Níhíni'á — That Which Dwells: a sentient presence bound to the land, awakened when imbalance becomes too great to ignore.

Set across the Navajo Nation, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Wuhan in the early days of COVID, this sweeping speculative drama follows Jimmie Tsosie — a traditional Diné healer — and his nephew Dr. Connor Chee, a neurochemist walking between two worlds. Both are tracking the same intelligence. Neither yet understands that a stray dog named Rez has become its living vessel.

Rich with Navajo language, ceremony, and cosmology, That Which Dwells is an invitation — especially to younger generations — to imagine a future where the Earth is treated as a living relative, not a resource.

Diné Cosmology Speculative Fiction Climate Justice Indigenous Sovereignty Spiritual Ecology Science Fiction New Mexico

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The Author

About Horacio

Horacio Chávez is a native New Mexican with roots deep in the soil of the Rio Grande valley. Born and raised in Belén, he graduated from Belén High School in 1965 — and for the six decades since, he has never stopped listening to the stories the land tells.

He has been writing for over thirty years, shaped by a life lived close to the landscapes, cultures, and communities that define New Mexico: the high desert mesas, the sacred traditions of the Navajo Nation, the peculiar intensity of Los Alamos, and the quiet resilience of small-town New Mexico.

His debut novel, That Which Dwells — Níhíni'á: Awakening, took over six years to complete. It was never written for the bestseller list. It was written because the message needed to be told — in a way that was honest, imaginative, and true to the land and the people it honors.

"It is simply a message that needed to be told in an interesting way."