I wrote this little story as an homage to Mary Shelley. As I noted in my post of Nov 1, this year marks the 200th anniversary of science fiction, a genre that she kicked off in spectacular style when Frankenstein was published anonymously in London in 1818.
In a spirit of fun, I tried to work lots of SciFi subgenres into the story, while employing a vaguely gothic style reminiscent of Shelley’s masterpiece, or Polidori’s The Vampyre, or pretty much anything by Poe.
I managed to cram quite a few science fiction themes into one little story. There are elements in there of time travel, telepathy and mind melds, alien visitors, robots, alternate realities and several others besides.
In keeping with my long-running White Mirror theme, I even threw in a happy ending. In these dark times we need as many happy endings as we can get.
For those of you who celebrate it, Happy Thanksgiving!
The Morgan Library and Museum has an awesome exhibit on Mary Shelley’s creation of FRANKENSTEIN — exhibit open until January 27th, 2019:
https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/frankenstein
“Commemorating the two hundredth anniversary of Frankenstein—a classic of world literature and a masterpiece of horror—a new exhibition at the Morgan shows how Mary Shelley created a monster.
It traces the origins and impact of her novel, which has been constantly reinterpreted in spinoffs, sequels, mashups, tributes and parodies. Shelley conceived the archetype of the mad scientist, who dares to flout the laws of nature, and devised a creature torn between good and evil. Her monster spoke out against injustice and begged for sympathy while performing acts of shocking violence. In the movies, the monster can be a brute pure and simple, yet he is still an object of compassion and remains a favorite on stage and screen.
For the first time it will be possible to view art and artifacts (including comic books, film posters, publicity stills, and movie memorabilia) that explain how Frankenstein caught the popular imagination in the course of two hundred years.
Portions of the original manuscript will be on display along with historic scientific instruments and iconic artwork such as Henry Fuseli’s Nightmare, a six-sheet poster advertising the Boris Karloff movie in 1931, and the definitive portrait of the author.
The modern myth of Frankenstein is based on a long cultural tradition, also recounted in the exhibition with a vivid display of books, manuscripts, posters, prints, and paintings.”
And explore the Mary Shelley exhibit online with the museum’s annotated FRANKENSTEIN:
https://www.themorgan.org/collection/frankenstein
Yes, it’s a spectacular show. Thanks for sharing that info with everyone.
I saw the show at the Morgan soon after it first came out, and it definitely helped to inspire this story!