Never Unalive: Regina v Death (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798282535419)

Regina Ferrous, a woman defined by her iron will and obsessive need for control, is shattered by the sudden biological failure that claims her husband, Joy. Confronted by the stark reality of decay and her own deep-seated fear of vulnerability - a fear instilled by her father and amplified by loss - she rejects the perceived weakness of the flesh. Grief twists into a cold rage against ageing itself, driving her to seek a radical, technological solution.

Ignoring the warnings of her concerned children, Ashwin and Zoe, Regina engages the services of the enigmatic Leisel Wei to access Aethelred BioGenesis - a clandestine clinic operating outside ethical boundaries, promising absolute biological control and an escape from mortality through experimental nanobotics and genetic re-engineering. The initial results are intoxicating, a seeming victory over the flaws of nature.

But the technological salvation soon reveals its horrifying price. Minor anomalies - a metallic taste, unsettling skin sensations, cognitive flickers - escalate into a full-blown techno-organic nightmare. Regina's body becomes a battleground where malfunctioning technology wages war against her biology. Flesh fuses with circuitry, senses deliver corrupted data, grotesque growths erupt, and her mind begins to fracture under the strain of invasive implants and rogue nanites. The very control she craved is lost to a terrifying, unpredictable technological chaos.

Confined to her high-tech estate, now a gilded prison, Regina becomes a prisoner of her own body and the failing systems keeping her alive. Ashwin and Zoe can only watch in horror as their formidable mother transforms into a monstrous synthesis of flesh and machine, her consciousness trapped within, surfacing only in fleeting, terrifying moments of lucidity. Leisel and the faceless Aethelred observe with chilling detachment, gathering data from their failing experiment.

Never Unalive plunges readers into a visceral, claustrophobic spiral of body horror and psychological dread. It explores the terrifying consequences of seeking absolute control through technology, the seductive allure of immortality, and the profound cost of sacrificing humanity in the desperate flight from our own biology.