The Birthday of Mary Shelley

Today is a  big day for any fan of classic horror stories and Halloween lovers: it is the birthday of Mary Shelley. She is of course the author of Frankenstein. I pay homage to her every year on this blog and I always make her birthday one of the benchmarks of my countdown to Halloween. Her most famous novel is one of the happy discoveries of my early teenage and I go back to it from time to time. I have been trying to find the cover of the first version I read, no luck yet. So to accompany this post, here is a portrait of her. Happy birthday Mary!

"New" Frankenstein from Marlow

We went to Marlow a few days ago and, like last time, we stopped at the Marlow Museum, which is tiny, but always a pleasure to go to. And, like last time, I bought another copy of Frankenstein.Well, not the original, but another adaptation for children. At £7.99, it is borderline a bargain. Almost. I<m sure I could have found a cheaper price, but it makes it special that I bought it in the town where Mary Shelley lived and finished writing her famous novel. And as May has been rather dark and gloomy these days, so I am already getting into a Halloween mood.

A portrait of Frankenstein's Monster

Here's a bit of literary horror news: the first ever image of Frankenstein's Monster in print is going to auction. You can see the image in the article and, well, it's not the one you are used to and, to be honest, is not very impressive, as in not very scary. Let's be honest: it's not the unnatural abomination that the creature was meant to be. Only the long black hair is truly faithful to the source material (although I don't think they were meant to be curly). In fact, I thought the monster looks more pathetic, even a tad comical than anything else. But people at the time might have had different standards, and it is easier to describe terror than give it a face for all to see. Anyway, that was the piece of Gothic horror news I wanted to share and there's only seven months until Halloween... Yes, I'm already thinking about it.

Frankenstein, the Classic Illustrated

We went to Marlow fairly recently, as a family outing. Marlow is known for a number of things, among them it is where Mary Shelley briefly lived and this is where she finished writing Frankenstein. We briefly stopped at the Marlow Museum as it was about to close down and saw that there were some book adaptations of the original novel. Among them, this Classics Illustrated comic book edition. At only £7.99, I thought it was a bargain and I had to buy it, even though I already have the original novel. Of course, I already read it and, while it's not perfect, I really enjoyed it. Mainly for the gory images, which give a nice visual accompaniement to the original story. Which is surprisingly faithfully rendered here, minus a weaker text. I think I will read it again in the weeks leading to Halloween. Because yes, I am already thinking about it.

About Mary Shelley and her offspring

Well, with all the excitement of being home in Montreal for the holidays, I forgot that the 30th of August was the birthday of Mary Shelley. She is of course the author of Frankenstein. I was reminded of this by by Mary Does Marlow.I went to one of her special activities in Marlow,where the original Mary Shelley finished writing her famous novel. I got this sticker. I know it is a bit late, however I find it important to commemorate her birthday, as it marks my countdown to Halloween, which pretty much started now.

Ingolstadt

For today's third(!) countdown to Halloween post, I am revisiting another horror classic, or rather one of its setting. We all know of Transylvania and at least one of its eerie castles, but there is another horror classic which settings have been far less featured and celebrated. I am talking of the German city of Ingolstadt. Never heard of it? You probably did, or the name must ring bells. In Mary Shelley's  Frankenstein, it is where the titular character goes to study medicine, makes his famous discovery and creates the monster. So it should be on every horror afficionado on their list holiday destinations. Or macabre pilgrimage. You can find its tourist webpage here. In any case, when people think of old Gothic horror stories, they should remember that they're not all in castle ruins, they also take places in the students' laboratories in old Germanic cities. So Ingolstadt, birthplace of the Creature, this is my homage to you.

A portrait of Mary Shelley

At one of our latest family evenings out, we saw this portrait of Mary Shelley. The author of Frankenstein. I love these portraits made of words associated with the author. Not sure why. I hesitated before sharing it, as this would have been a fine post for this year's countdown to Halloween. But then decided that I could not wait, that I am already counting the days to Halloween anyway, so here it is.

Celebrating Mary Shelley

Today is the birthday of Mary Shelley. The author of Frankenstein and the famous monster's true mother. During my personal countdown to Halloween, which I start in August, I always observe her birthday as if it was the one of a saint, a saint of horror literature, if you will. I also try to write at least one post per year about her creation during the proper, official countdown to Halloween. Last year, I even went to a special event, "Mrs Shelley in the Library, with a Candlestick" organised by Mary Does Marlow. It was done in the Marlow Library, which was very fitting: Mary Shelley finished writing her most famous novel in the town of Marlow, where she lived for a year. I didn't have time to blog about it, but I intend to this year. I hope the modern Mary will organise something similar round Halloween which I can attend. Anyway until then, happy birthday Mary, wherever you are, you made me a horror fan and send my regards to your monstrous offspring and his daddy.

The Frankenstein Game

I already blogged today, but all the same, let's have another countdown to Halloween post. And another nostalgic post. You may remember that I blogged before about the "Dracula Game", in 2011 and in 2021. Well, a year before we played that game, my brothers and I had started another game based on a horror classic. Author J.H. Brennan had written another gamebook called The Curse of Frankenstein, based on, well, Frankenstein. Neither the gamebook nor the game we played based on it were as good as the other. The premisse was simple, even simplistic: the Monster of Frankenstein had escaped to the Arctic, his creator is in pursuit, you either play the Monster or Frankenstein himself. The setting was far less interesting: it had less atmosphere and the horror tropes less frequent. In our make-belief game,we played a team of scientists trying to capture or kill both the monster and put a stop to Frankenstein's activities. I knew nothing of the tragic story of the source material see, so our characters just fought a mad scientist and an ugly brute.As for the Dracula Game, we never finished it. I think we lost interest,partially because the North Pole has far less possibilities than a Carpathian castle. That said, Brennan's got me curious about the original story and it played a role in my discovery of gothic horror. And for all its flaws, what a cover!

A portrait for Mary Shelley's birthday

Today is the birthday of Mary Shelley. I try to celebrate it every year, as she wrote the classic horror (and proto scifi) novel Frankenstein. Her birthday is one of the stepping stones in my countdown to Halloween. So this year, I am sharing this picture of a bust of her. I found it on the Facebook page of the Shelley Trust, a total random. I find it absolutely beautiful. A sculpture is kind of fitting, as in the novel the Creature was a sculpture of sorts, one made of flesh (but not human limbs, that is an inaccuracy brought by the movies).

To rediscover Mary Shelley

Today is the birthday of Mary Shelley. SO happy birthday Mary Shelley! She is of course the author of the classic horror slash tragedy slash crypto scifi novel Frankenstein, which I reread last year during my Halloween's literary countdown. As always, this was a great read. Now, I mention her birthday every year (or at least try to) on this blog. But I have been wanting to know more about her. I recently discovered, thanks to my wife, that there is a tour about Mary Shelley given in the nearby town of Marlow where she lived while working on Frankenstein. It is aptly called Mary Does Marlow. I don't know if I will be able to attend one of the tours before it stops for this year, but if I do I will blog about the experience in the countdown to Halloween. until then, happy birthday again Mary Shelley! A few centuries ago we might have been neighbours.

Frankenstein

For today's countdown to Halloween post, I want to make a reading suggestion. I am talking of course of Frankenstein, where Mary Shelley. It has been one of the very first horror novel I discovered when I was twelve or so and have been wanting to come back to it for a while. Well, I bought it a few weeks ago, read it within a week and decided that it would be my first reading suggestion for the countdown. So here it is. I might be one of the few people who first read Frankenstein before seeing any of its numerous adaptation, so maybe I have a different appreciation of it. I never took the novel as pure horror, for me it is more a tragedy with macabre elements. A tragedy in the right sense of the word: with the two main protagonists never completely innocent, nor completely guilty. It is a far more intimist story than most of its adaptation, both the creator and the creature spend a lot of time in solitude and most their interaction are far from human eyes. Some people say it is one of the first science-fiction novels, but I do think the science is more a mean to an end: it is barely mentioned and the method to create the monster is never explained, nor dwelled upon. The imagery and the inspiration is pure Gothic supernatural. Anyway, you know at least some of the plot to a degree, so I will just point out a few misconceptions about the story: Frankenstein is not a doctor, in fact he is still a student when he creates the monster, and the creature is not made of pieces of corpses. Although we know Frankenstein uses something of human corpses, it is not specified that he uses full limbs and sewed them back. In fact, Frankenstein implies that he shaped the body himself, almost ex nihilo, something of corpses as a sculptor would use marble. A lot more could be said about this classic, let's just say that you should read it and forget about what you think you know.

Happy Birthday Mary Shelley!

I took this picture in Totnes in Devon. It was during their carnival and I know it might be a rather cheap way to illustrate today'stopic, but here it is anyway: today is the birthday of Mary Shelley.The genius author of Frankenstein and thus the accidental mother (or grandmother?) of one of Halloween's and horror's most iconic monsters. Which in his original incarnatios has nothing to do with the popular image of its Hollywood adaptations. In other words: read the novel. On a side note, it will be my wife and my wedding anniversary very soon, so this picture is kind of fitting for that too.

Dr Frank N. Stein?

I took this picture in Totnes in Devon, during the procession of their carnival, a few years ago. I had wanted to share it one day and I thought that it would fit perfectly for today's countdown to Halloween post. I may be one of the few people who experienced Frankenstein first and foremost in the original work of Mary Shelley. Of course, I knew of the images that have been famous by the old Universal movies, but I discovered them years later. This allegorical car is of course heavily influenced by The Bride of Frankenstein, which is an amazing film in its own right. Just because it is a horror related allegorical car, and classic horror at that, because it looks nicely vintage in so many ways, because it also displays a bit of affectionate humour, I wanted to share the photo today.

Frankenstein: the beer and the errors

As we are getting closer and closer to Halloween, pubs here offer as guest ales spooky themed beers. Two years ago, I had that one from Greene King in a local pub (our favorite local pub, that looks eerie any time of year, but especially when Halloween is near). The beer was a disappointing blonde. I find it more fitting to drink a darker ale when Halloween comes. It generally tastes better too. So this seasonal ale was named Frankenstein, just like the famous novel, which I must revisit one day. I am sure you can find at least one mistake with the label. I can find two. The first is that the image is one of the creature, which in Mary Shelley's novel is nameless. Frankenstein is the name of the creator. The beer should be named The Monster of Frankenstein or the Creature of Frankenstein. Or something of the sort. The other mistake is more subtle: the creature on the label has the look of the popularized cinematic monster, which is allegedly made of chopped up parts of corpses. In the novel, it is never explicitly stated how the creature is made and what substance exactly from human body Victor Frankenstein uses. He remains willingly vague about it. It is a bit of an academic distinction, but I used to be an academic in a part life, so I do enjoy to point out such mistakes.

Mary Shelley and her monstrous offspring

I had to mention this important birthday: today is the birthday of Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. She would have been 220 today. I need to re-read her most famous novel one day, maybe in my list of works for my countdown to Halloween. For now, I wanted first to celebrate a great British mind, daughter of a great British mind, mother of a great myth. At 19, this was no small feat. I took a picture of this book last year at the local bookshop, but did not buy it, although I considered it, as a gift to one of the Ticklers or my son. That her monstrous offspring, as she called the monster, and his creator have been so popular through two centuries to be nowadays central to the imagery of Halloween and that children book adaptations of the original work are published today shows how much she accomplished in a single novel. So happy birthday Mary Shelley.

Rediscovering Frankenstein

So this is today's countdown to Halloween post. I don't know if it is because I discovered last summer in the town of Marlow the home of the Shelleys, where Mary Shelley completed the writing of Frankenstein, but it seems that this year's countdown to Halloween is marked by a rediscovery of the novel. I haven't re-read it yet, but when I was in Montreal, I stumbled in a second hand bookshop upon a book of essays about the myth of Frankenstein: Frankenstein (Figures mythiques). It has become part of my Halloween reading list. And it is a fascinating rediscovery. I am maybe one of the few people who first discovered the story not through its many loosely based adaptations, but directly from the original novel, when I was a young teenager. Like I mentioned here, I don't consider Mary Shelley's most famous to be pure horror story. In fact, I think it is more supernatural tragedy with a hint of what would later be called science fiction (although I'd argue that the scifi elements are completely involuntary). Still, because of the icon that the creature and his creator has become, because it is an essential part of Halloween imagery, it deserved to be mentioned here. Still, I recommend to everyone to discover the novel in its own terms, forgetting the many adaptations.

I'm a cryptkeeper

As the official countdown to Halloween starts tomorrow (even though I did if you noticed started mine a few weeks earlier), I have again decided to become a cryptkeeper, at the invitation of the Countdown to Halloween website. For this year's countdown, I chose the patch representing the monster of Frankenstein, as popularized with Boris Karloff. No particular reason for it, albeit I hope I can write a few posts about Mary Shelley's offspring. But there will be plenty of other monsters and critters. Today is a fitting day to create a monster, all gloomy and dark. A time to read horror stories, which I encourage you to do.

The home of the Shelleys

This is Albion House, in the town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire. The town has many charming old buildings like this one, but this is a very special house: it was the home of Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley for a year or so, between 1817-1818. This is where Mary Shelley completed the writing of Frankenstein. So this is a sacred place of pilgrimage for all aficionados of the horror genre. I will try to go back there around Halloween to take a picture, see if the circumstances bring extra atmosphere. Until then, behold the sacred place that saw the birth of a monster.

Creature of Havoc

In my attempt to calm my longing for playing a good game of D&Dr and in the meantime reconnect with old childhood memories (as I am naturally a nostalgic person) I have started reading a new Fighting Fantasy Gamebook, another classis of the genre: Creature of Havoc. This one is all new to me, I never played it as a child. That said, I was always very curious about it. You can see on the left-hand side the cover of one the early editions, which is not the edition I have. But this is the cover that got me curious about it as a child. This is a medieval fantasy adventure mixed with elements of Frankenstein, where you played a mindless monster who does not know who or what it is, where it is or what is the meaning its existence. It is supposed to be one of the most complex ones, and one of the most difficult.

It is also one with the longest introductions, with a story that belongs as much in a medieval fantasy novel than a mere gamebook, worth in itself the purchase. I play these books not merely to win, but also and especially for the atmosphere, the settings, the naive history. Creature of Havoc has plenty of everything. So far anyway. I absolutely loved the backstory of the introduction, with many characters and places developed and explained. I compared this to a novel, in a way the could easily become a novel, and an epic one at that. So far, so good, in sum. I intend to blog more about it. Until then, you have this creepy cover to enjoy.