Our Hideous Progeny

“A gripping Gothic tale of grief and ambition, passion and intrigue.” — Jess Kidd, author of The Night Ship “An immersive blend of historical and science fiction brims with surprises and dark delights. . . . An incisive exploration of women’s rights within the field of science. . . . Readers will revel in Mary’s personal and scientific discoveries and root for her to succeed in an unfair world.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) As featured in Lit Hub, Lambda Literary Review, Book Riot and CrimeReads It is not the monster you must fear, but the monster it makes of men . . . Mary is the great-niece of Victor Frankenstein. She knows her great uncle disappeared under mysterious circumstances in the Arctic, but she doesn’t know why or how. . . . The 1850s are a time of discovery, and London is ablaze with the latest scientific theories and debates, especially when a spectacular new exhibition of dinosaur sculptures opens at the Crystal Palace. Mary is keen to make her name in this world of science alongside her geologist husband, Henry—but despite her sharp mind and sharper tongue, without wealth and connections their options are limited. When Mary discovers some old family papers that allude to the shocking truth behind her great-uncle’s past, she thinks she may have found the key to securing her and Henry’s professional and financial future. Their quest takes them to the wilds of Scotland; to Henry’s intriguing but reclusive sister, Maisie; and to a deadly chase with a rival who is out to steal their secret. A queer, feminist masterpiece inspired by Mary Shelley’s classic, Our Hideous Progeny is a sumptuous tale of ambition and obsession, of forbidden love and sabotage and a twisty Gothic adventure that may forever change your view of human nature.

'Compelling and utterly absorbing ... an artfully crafted debut that echoes the dark essence of Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN while maintaining a fascinating originality all of its own' Susan Stokes-Chapman, author of PANDORA 'A gripping Gothic tale of grief and ambition, passion and intrigue' Jess Kidd, author of THE NIGHT SHIP Mary is the great-niece of Victor Frankenstein. She knows her great uncle disappeared in mysterious circumstances in the Arctic but she doesn't know why or how... The 1850s is a time of discovery and London is ablaze with the latest scientific theories and debates, especially when a spectacular new exhibition of dinosaur sculptures opens at the Crystal Palace. Mary, with a sharp mind and a sharper tongue, is keen to make her name in this world of science, alongside her geologist husband Henry, but without wealth and connections, their options are limited. But when Mary discovers some old family papers that allude to the shocking truth behind her great-uncle's past, she thinks she may have found the key to securing their future... Their quest takes them to the wilds of Scotland, to Henry's intriguing but reclusive sister Maisie, and to a deadly chase with a rival who is out to steal their secret... _______ 'A wonderful book; dark, passionate, multi-layered' Joanne Harris, author of CHOCOLAT & THE STRAWBERRY THIEF 'Exquisitely written... a story worthy of Mary Shelley' Sean Lusk, author of THE SECOND SIGHT OF ZACHARY CLOUDESLEY 'Sumptuously gothic, this atmospheric debut left me reeling' C.J. COOKE, author of THE LIGHTHOUSE WITCHES '

'Compelling and utterly absorbing ... an artfully crafted debut that echoes the dark essence of Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN while maintaining a fascinating originality all of its own' Susan Stokes-Chapman, author of PANDORA 'A gripping Gothic tale of grief and ambition, passion and intrigue' Jess Kidd, author of THE NIGHT SHIP Mary is the great-niece of Victor Frankenstein. She knows her great uncle disappeared in mysterious circumstances in the Arctic but she doesn't know why or how... The 1850s is a time of discovery and London is ablaze with the latest scientific theories and debates, especially when a spectacular new exhibition of dinosaur sculptures opens at the Crystal Palace. Mary, with a sharp mind and a sharper tongue, is keen to make her name in this world of science, alongside her geologist husband Henry, but without wealth and connections, their options are limited. But when Mary discovers some old family papers that allude to the shocking truth behind her great-uncle's past, she thinks she may have found the key to securing their future... Their quest takes them to the wilds of Scotland, to Henry's intriguing but reclusive sister Maisie, and to a deadly chase with a rival who is out to steal their secret... _______ 'A wonderful book; dark, passionate, multi-layered' Joanne Harris, author of CHOCOLAT & THE STRAWBERRY THIEF 'Exquisitely written... a story worthy of Mary Shelley' Sean Lusk, author of THE SECOND SIGHT OF ZACHARY CLOUDESLEY 'Sumptuously gothic, this atmospheric debut left me reeling' C.J. COOKE, author of THE LIGHTHOUSE WITCHES '

This book posits adaptations as 'hideous progeny,' Mary Shelley's term for her novel, Frankenstein . Like Shelley's novel and her fictional Creature, adaptations that may first be seen as monstrous in fact compel us to shift our perspective on known literary or film works and the cultures that gave rise to them.

"My Hideous Progeny" : Mary Shelley, William Godwin, and the Father-Daughter Relationship is a study of the influence of William Godwin on his daughter, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. "My Hideous Progeny" explores Godwin's unsettling psychological legacy - and his generous intellectual gifts - to his daughter. The relationship between Mary Shelley and her father illustrates a typical pattern of female development and a typical course of father-daughter relationships over a lifetime. Mary Shelley's response to her father's influence is unforgettably portrayed in the figure of the father in the pages of her novels.

"A brilliant, original, and powerful book. . . . This is the most skillful integration of feminism and Marxist literary criticism that I know of." So writes critic Stephen Greenblatt about The Proper Lady and the Woman Writer, Mary Poovey's study of the struggle of three prominent writers to accommodate the artist's genius to the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century ideal of the modest, self-effacing "proper lady." Interpreting novels, letters, journals, and political tracts in the context of cultural strictures, Poovey makes an important contribution to English social and literary history and to feminist theory. "The proper lady was a handy concept for a developing bourgeois patriarchy, since it deprived women of worldly power, relegating them to a sanctified domestic sphere that, in complex ways, nourished and sustained the harsh 'real' world of men. With care and subtle intelligence, Poovey examines this 'guardian and nemesis of the female self' through the ways it is implicated in the style and strategies of three very different writers."—Rachel M. Brownstein, The Nation "The Proper Lady and the Woman Writer is a model of . . . creative discovery, providing a well-researched, illuminating history of women writers at the turn of the nineteenth century. [Poovey] creates sociologically and psychologically persuasive accounts of the writers: Wollstonecraft, who could never fully transcend the ideology of propriety she attacked; Shelley, who gradually assumed a mask of feminine propriety in her social and literary styles; and Austen, who was neither as critical of propriety as Wollstonecraft nor as accepting as Shelley ultimately became."—Deborah Kaplan, Novel

Twisted bodies, deformed faces, aberrant behavior, and abnormal desires characterized the hideous creatures of classic Hollywood horror, which thrilled audiences with their sheer grotesqueness. Most critics have interpreted these traits as symptoms of sexual repression or as metaphors for other kinds of marginalized identities, yet Angela M. Smith conducts a richer investigation into the period's social and cultural preoccupations. She finds instead a fascination with eugenics and physical and cognitive debility in the narrative and spectacle of classic 1930s horror, heightened by the viewer's desire for visions of vulnerability and transformation. Reading such films as Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), Freaks (1932), and Mad Love (1935) against early-twentieth-century disability discourse and propaganda on racial and biological purity, Smith showcases classic horror's dependence on the narratives of eugenics and physiognomics. She also notes the genre's conflicted and often contradictory visualizations. Smith ultimately locates an indictment of biological determinism in filmmakers' visceral treatments, which take the impossibility of racial improvement and bodily perfection to sensationalistic heights. Playing up the artifice and conventions of disabled monsters, filmmakers exploited the fears and yearnings of their audience, accentuating both the perversity of the medical and scientific gaze and the debilitating experience of watching horror. Classic horror films therefore encourage empathy with the disabled monster, offering captive viewers an unsettling encounter with their own impairment. Smith's work profoundly advances cinema and disability studies, in addition to general histories concerning the construction of social and political attitudes toward the Other.

Eleven stories and one chilling poem, inspired by classic tales of terror and suspense. Can Tesla's invention animate the creature in the Wild West in time to save the girl? What destroyed the cyber-greenhouses-was it the meteor from out of space? How will the radiation affect her-and will love survive the transformation? Hideous Progeny: Classic Horror Goes Punk is the fifth charity anthology from Writerpunk Press, with steampunk, cyberpunk, carniepunk, clockpunk, atompunk, and biopunk stories inspired by tales such as Dracula, Carmilla, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and Frankenstein (twice!). Other inspirations include Gaston LeRoux, Ambrose Bierce, Oscar Wilde, Franz Kafka, Lord Tennyson, and H. P. Lovecraft. Profits are to be donated to PAWS Lynnwood, an animal shelter and wildlife rescue located in the Pacific Northwest. If you like to shiver as you read and want a new look at your favorites, take home Hideous Progeny: Classic Horror Goes Punk and join in as our authors view the world of horror through the lens of 'punk stories.