Subgenre: Gothic horror
About Bride:
The year is 1795. Frankenstein’s monster has given his creator an
ultimatum: Victor must build the creature a mate, or watch as the
monster destroys everything and everyone he has ever loved.
You know their story.
You don’t know hers.
She is born into darkness, her destiny entwined with an unspeakable evil. Her sole companion is her creator, the inscrutable Victor Frankenstein, gatekeeper to a life she has never experienced. As her understanding of humanity takes shape, she must contend with the horrific nature of her intended mate and conflicting feelings for her creator.
She wants more from life than to be the bride of Frankenstein’s monster, but will she seek freedom, vengeance, or something else entirely?
You know their story.
You don’t know hers.
She is born into darkness, her destiny entwined with an unspeakable evil. Her sole companion is her creator, the inscrutable Victor Frankenstein, gatekeeper to a life she has never experienced. As her understanding of humanity takes shape, she must contend with the horrific nature of her intended mate and conflicting feelings for her creator.
She wants more from life than to be the bride of Frankenstein’s monster, but will she seek freedom, vengeance, or something else entirely?
Excerpt:
I was born of a storm, among the dead.
The hour was late. Darkness embraced me as I stirred, like a lover
unwilling to relinquish its grasp. I do not remember the moment
when I first awoke, or how long those first clumsy, fleeting
movements took. There is no recollection of being strapped to the
table, of freeing myself of my restraints, or learning to stand for
myself.
A thousand new sensations flooded through me at once. At
first, there was only sound—the howling of the wind outside and the
symphonic dissonance of machines that remained invisible to me.
Bright sparks burst to life behind me, traveling along the wires
that ran the length of the table before dying away just as quickly,
and I saw light, which then took on lines to become shapes. In my
surprise, I bumped into a table, knocking over flasks and test
tubes. The glass shattered as it hit the floor.
Somehow I wandered to the center of the chamber, soaking wet. Rain
poured into the room through an open set of trapdoors that let in
the storm and sky. Thunder crackled overhead, and I looked up just
in time to catch a flash of lightning as it washed the room in gray
light, revealing peculiar machines and scientific equipment
scattered about the laboratory.
The light quickly faded, and again I was thrust into the world of
night. A chill hung about the attic. The floor was cold against my
bare feet. Little by little, I became aware of myself. When the
lightning flashed again, I noticed one of my hands, and held it as
if it was foreign to me, astonished as each finger wriggled in
response to my will.
None of this had any meaning to me at the time of my birth. I was
like an infant, with no real thoughts of any kind, only emotion. I
felt adrift—utterly alone in the world. Just as I tasted fear for
the first time, I saw him.
At first there was only a faint glow some distance away. Unlike the
lightning, it was small but bright. I wandered across the vast
darkness, drawn by the source of the illumination. My steps were
short and awkward, the fleeting remnants of rigor mortis. I reached
for the light like a child stretching out her hand to catch a
firefly, my muscles twitching, my movements tremulous. In my haste,
I stumbled and fell, landing on my knees in a puddle.
Out of the darkness came a voice. “You’re alive.”
There, above me, was a man holding a torch. My attention was torn
away from him to the flame he carried, and I recoiled, frightened
by the fire. I shrank away but remained fixed in place, my gaze set
on the first new occupant encountered in this strange new world.
Amazon
About Kyle Alexander Romines:
Kyle Alexander Romines is a teller of tales from the hills of Kentucky. He enjoys good reads, thunderstorms, and anything edible. His writing interests include fantasy, science fiction, horror, and western.
Kyle's debut horror novel, The Keeper of the Crows, appeared on the Preliminary Ballot of the 2015 Bram Stoker Awards in the category of Superior Achievement in a First Novel. He obtained his M.D. from the University of Louisville School of Medicine.
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Chrononaut.
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