Written by Dek S., Foster City Library
On a stormy, cold night in 1816, a teenager named Mary Shelley wrote a horror story that hit the world like lightning. It was more than lightning on the page, it was the birth of a whole new genre. From science fiction to today’s techno-thrillers, they all carry Ms. Shelley’s fingerprints.
Two centuries later, the creature refuses to rest. Stage, screen, streaming—Frankenstein’s monster rises again and again and again. Most recently, Guillermo del Toro’s anticipated version was brought to life on Netflix. It’s a reminder that the monster Mary Shelley formed in the candlelit castle in a tempestuous Geneva, stalks our imaginations as it stalked its creator. It is stitched fresh for every generation.
What people don’t usually know is the fact that it has multiplied—the story of the monster—not the monster itself (that would be terrifying). Books, films and stories of every kind keep asking the same questions she raised: What happens when ambition runs faster than ethics? What responsibility do creators bear towards their creation? Who is really the monster—the creature or the creator?
These are Frankenstein’s children. Stories inspired, reimagined or stalked by Mary Shelley’s invention.
The Direct Descendants
What if the creature was made from body parts collected from U.S.-occupied Iraq? What if the patchwork body came alive and stalked the streets of Baghdad?
What if the scientist was a grieving mother of an African American boy taken by gun violence? What if this mother resurrected her son with futuristic tech?
The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein
What if Victor Frankenstein was friends with Percy Bysshe Shelley?
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein
What if you could read Elizabeth’s side of the story? What if she wasn’t as helpless as we presumed her to be?
The Spiritual Heirs
What if children raised in a special boarding school found out their true purpose: clones bred to be harvested? Heartbreaking proof that Frankenstein’s questions are still being asked.
What if a mad scientist reshaped animals into human hybrids? A classic in its own right, it echoes Shelleyan themes—cruelty, morality and the consequence of unchecked science.
What if the creature was born into modern-day New Orleans and Victor was a biotech tycoon?
The Modern Offspring
Could Mary have seen herself as the creature of Frankenstein? Her life stitched with tragedy and rebellion?
Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match
What if Victor Frankenstein’s sister assembled her dream man—quite literally?
What if, in the near future, the creature was an AI? Or a cryogenically preserved corpse for reanimation?
Beyond the Books: The Monster Lives On
Every time a film or story explores an invention rebelling against its inventor, we are in Shelley’s shadow. Androids, clones and rogue AIs can trace their lineage back to that stormy night in 1816.
Mary Shelley was only 18 when she wrote Frankenstein. During a slumber party. As a dare.
Would you dare make your own creature to live beyond your years? Or would you just dare to read Frankenstein’s children by candlelight on a stormy cold night?
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