For Home and Hearth by Ethan Warrener

Ella Holland wanted a simple life, but she would have settled for survival. Neither come easy in the slowly rewilding hills of West Virginia. A genocidal purge and fifty years of twisted chimeras gnawing at the bones of civilization have left humans—natural-bred or genetically modified—few and far between. Those who are left cling to whatever settlement, clan, or town that will provide shelter from unbred monsters and vicious marauders alike. Ella’s world is a small one: small comforts, small communities, small questions, small hopes and ambitions. But when a wandering drifter turns up with an army of ravenous pigmen at his heels, Ella Holland and the rest of her clan will have to confront all the harsh realities they've kept sealed outside their walls, the lies they've told themselves, and even the specter of their own extinction. Will there be room at the end of all this for small things? For tenderness? For compassion? For home and hearth?

Adult • Science Fiction/Post-Apocalyptic