HEARTLESS

In this modern-day take on the classic Frankenstein tale, as told from the monster's perspective, Jolene Hall is dead – sort of.

She can walk, think and talk, but her heart doesn't beat and her lungs stopped breathing ages ago. Her body’s a mosaic of jagged wounds and stapled flesh. Jolene Hall has a choice: turn herself in to the authorities, led by a suspiciously handsome police officer, or team up with her roommate Lucy and her boyfriend Eli to find a way to save herself. To Jo, the choice is clear. She’d like to know who turned her into a monster, and she’d like to live to see another sunrise. But that choice has drastic repercussions. On a trip deep into the snowy White Mountains, to a hidden laboratory filled with danger and cadavers, Jo and Lucy find more reanimated girls. Part body, part machine, run by batteries and electricity, these girls are killers, created by a shadowy Order with a penchant for chaos…and murder. To make matters worse, a photo on a wall of victims reveals Lucy is next in line to be "recruited” into this army of beautiful, walking corpses. When Jo’s physical condition takes a turn for the irreparable, and the Order kidnaps those she loves most, she must sacrifice herself to save them all. Leah Rhyne is a Jersey girl who's lived in the South so long she's lost her accent. Leah spends her days writing tales of horror and science fiction. Her short fiction has appeared in such publications as Abyss and Apex Magazine and Revolt Daily; she also writes for LitReactor.com. She lives with her husband, daughter, and a small menagerie of pets in Charleston, SC. In her barely-there spare time, she loves running.