His Unburned Heart tells the story of Mary Shelley’s quest to retrieve her husband’s heart from his publisher. History tells us that Percy Shelley was cremated, though his heart failed to burn, but the rest of the details are lost to time. Sandner has channeled Mary Shelley herself to share the story with us. That story is paired here with a second, related, piece. The Journal of Sorrow is named after Mary Shelley’s personal journal, and imagines Percy Shelley’s demise.

“Sandner presents a tender examination on the nature of grief as a literary icon speculates on her lover’s demise and the strange effort to recover the last physical remnant of her dead poet. Compelling and very moving prose.” —Tim McGregor, author of Wasps in the Ice Cream and Eynhallow

“A valentine’s gift of the most morbid kind, Sandner’s electric imagination shockingly brings back to life the woman who many would say founded science fiction and fantasy with her Frankenstein. Here we find the author turned main character, haunted by the love of her life in the most artfully gothic of ways. Sandner has crafted a terrific tribute, capturing the voice of not only young Mary but the whole period in which she lived, artfully winking with references to the literary history of the time, all while building on the sublime and terrifying concepts that underpin this artful tale.”—Michael Arnzen, Bram Stoker Award winning author of Grave Markings and 100 Jolts

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