Showing results by author "Mary Shelley" in All Categories

An ancient alchemist drags out his weary life in search of the elixir of immortality. But, when his vengeful assistant quaffs the mixture, he discovers that the effects of the draft of immortality may never wear off. Mary Shelley explores the concept of immortality, following a character that never ages through a ponderous and thought provoking life.

In the summer of 1816, Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley - the two great poets of their age - and a lovely 17-year-old named Mary Shelley were partying and reading ghost stories on the shores of Lake Geneva. They dared each other to come up with the scariest story. Young Mary was the only one to rise to the challenge, and she gave birth to the entire horror and science fiction genres by crafting a brilliant and chilling account of what it means to be human, what responsibilities we have to each other, and how far we can go in tampering with nature.

In our own time, when the dark threat of a dystopian world is not an alien or avoidable concept, The Last Man (1826) is revealed as a trailblazing novel. With a truly global view, Mary Shelley’s futuristic romain à clef–containing portraits of her husband Percy (Adrian), Lord Byron (Raymond) and several others–spearheaded the apocalyptic genre for an intimidated 19th-century readership that rejected her ‘diseased imagination’ and ‘polluted taste’.

What begins as a desperate act of heartbreak turns into an eternal sentence in this haunting short tale by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the famed author of Frankenstein. When young Winzy drinks a mysterious elixir meant to cure the torment of love, he unwittingly trades fleeting pain for everlasting regret. Blessed—or cursed—with youth that never fades, Winzy watches the world age around him. Love, joy, grief, and time twist into a tragic knot of memories as centuries slip by and those he cherishes wither and pass.

The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. These facts few psychologists will dispute, and their admitted truth must establish for all time the genuineness and dignity of the weirdly horrible tale as a literary form... As may naturally be expected of a form so closely connected with primal emotion, the horror-tale is as old as human thought and speech themselves.

Frankenstein is a dark and brooding dramatisation of Mary Shelley's famous novel, and stars Michael Maloney as the scientist who makes a creature in his own name.

Denied a female counterpart, the creature turns on his creator, then murders Frankenstein's brother. In an attempt to destroy his creation, the scientist tracks him to the Arctic.

Obsessed with the secret of creation, Swiss scientist Dr. Victor Frankenstein cobbles together a body he's determined to bring to life. And one fateful night, he does. When the creature opens his eyes, the doctor is repulsed: his vision of perfection is, in fact, a hideous monster. Dr. Frankenstein abandons his creation, but the monster won't be ignored, setting in motion a chain of violence and terror that shadows Victor to his death.

Contents: Edgar Allan Poe - The Murders in the Rue Morgue - The Gold Bug - The Black Cat - The Pit and the Pendulum - The Tell-Tale Heart - The Fall of the House of Usher - The Masque of the Red Death - The Cask of Amontillado - The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar - Hop-Frog - The RavenBram Stoker - DraculaMary Shelley - FrankensteinJoseph Sheridan Le Fanu - CarmillaRobert Louis Stevenson - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. HydeH.P. Lovecraft - The Alchemist - At the Mountains of Madness - Azathoth - The Beast in the Cave.

Three works of fiction, two by Mary Wollstonecraft, and one by her daughter Mary Shelley, creator of Frankenstein. In Mary Wollstonecraft's Mary, the heroine flees her young husband in order to nurse her dearest friend, Ann, and finds genuine love, while Maria tells of a desperate young woman who seeks consolation in the arms of another man after the loss of her child. And Mary Shelley's Matilda - suppressed for more than a century - tells the story of a woman alienated from society by the incestuous passion of her father.

Writing to her only friend from her deathbed, Mathilda finally reveals the history that led to her isolated life of despairing melancholy. Of her mother dying in childbirth, her father's confession of his incestuous desire and subsequent suicide, and her relationship with a handsome young poet that fails to reverse Matilda's emotional withdrawal or prevent her lonely death. The haunting and relentlessly self-examining voice of Mary Shelley's protagonist is a bare narrative of trauma of a brave woman's failed search for love, atonement, and redemption.

Mary Shelley’s poignant exploration of the true depths of human ambition has had a profound effect on readers since its conception in 1816. When scientist Victor Frankenstein forms a creature from the body parts of corpses, thus shattering the perceived limits of scientific understanding, the consequences are devastating.

En el laboratorio que tenía en el sótano de su casa, este doctor armó un cuerpo humano completo al que, sin embargo, no encontraba cómo darle vida. Una noche de tormenta y viendo que el cielo se iluminaba por infinidad de relámpagos, Frankenstein colocó el cuerpo bajo la fuerte lluvia y vio fascinado cómo la criatura cobraba vida gracias a la electricidad de un rayo que le había atravesado el cuerpo y de esto y más te enterarás al acercarte a esta intrigante y ya muy famosa historia.

Dr. Victor Frankenstein, an ambitious young scientist, is consumed by a fanatic desire to create a living being. He fashions an eight-foot-tall creature and succeeds in animating him, but, horrified by his visage, perceives his creation to be a monster and frightens him away. The monster, wandering in search of human companionship, is spurned and repulsed by all he approaches and learns to hate and to kill.

Although the story of Frankenstein is well known and commonly referenced, experiencing the original novel is well worth the endeavor and illuminates the true depth and complexity that is often missed in modern references. A tale not just of monsters and dark shadows, but of hubris, romance, regret, loss, adventure, morality, isolation, and much more.

Three of the top horror novels of all time have been newly adapted into novellas, and are now side by side in this one audiobook. These world-famous monsters are familiar household names. These are the monsters that authors and filmmakers continue to draw from again and again. And these are stories that introduced them to the world over a century ago. So turn down the lights, and experience triple the action, suspense, chills, and thrills, as you listen to all three classic tales.

Unabridged readings of four spine-tingling stories. This suspenseful anthology collects together four gripping tales of gruesome scientific experiments and chilling supernatural events - all read in full by some of the very best voice actors. With over 18 hours of electrifying listening, tracked by chapter, these classic tales will have you on the edge of your seat.

The Last Man is Mary Shelley's apocalyptic fantasy of the end of human civilisation. Set in the late 21st century, the novel unfolds a sombre and pessimistic vision of mankind confronting inevitable destruction. Interwoven with her futuristic theme, Mary Shelley incorporates idealised portraits of Shelley and Byron, yet rejects Romanticism and its faith in art and nature.

The Essential Classics: Volume 7 brings together 5 of the greatest classics ever written, perfectly read by an esteemed cast including Jonathan Keeble, Kristin Atherton, Emma Gregory, and Matt Bates. From the charming and compassionate world of Cranford to the ambitious and tragic tale of Jude the Obscure, this volume is a rich tapestry of human experience. Daniel Deronda challenges notions of identity, morality, and destiny, while Evelina offers a sharp yet humorous commentary on social class and manners.

At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, Frankenstein tells the story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein. Obsessed with discovering "the cause of generation and life" and "bestowing animation upon lifeless matter", Frankenstein assembles a human being from stolen body parts. However, upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature's hideousness.

This chilling tale of a gruesome monster unleashed into the world by an unthinking scientist was first conceived by 19-year-old Mary Shelley on a dark, rainy night on Lake Geneva. Lord Byron and Percy Shelley challenged their friends to see who could come up with the most horrifying story imaginable. Mary Shelley did, terrifying them all with her nightmare-inspired tale. It is followed by "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Coleridge which was an early haunting influence on the young Mary Shelley.