MOTHER'S DAY SPECIALS! SHOW ME MORE
MARY SHELLEY (1797-1851) experienced the kind of childhood that sounds like a dark fairy tale. Her mother, an early feminist, died giving birth to her; she was brought up by a remote father (the philosopher William Godwin) and a stepmother who hated her. Her step-sister was a depressive, who would later commit suicide; and there were also a step-brother and a half-brother in the family. The young Mary escaped from her surroundings into reading, and would often read by the side of her mother's tomb.In 1813, she met Percy Bysshe Shelley. He was only twenty-one years old, but was already married-and unhappy in his marriage. And it was already clear that he was destined to be one of the geniuses of English poetry. Despite Mary's age, the two fell in love and eloped in 1816. Because of this, her father disowned her.The young couple decided to live abroad, and settled in Italy. It was Byron who suggested, in 1817, that they each write a horror story of some kind. The result, in Mary's case, was Frankenstein. A young girl of twenty wrote the book whose name has become synonymous with horror.Tragedy followed them: of their four children, only one lived very long. Then in 1822, aged just thirty, Percy Shelley was drowned.Mary's life was effectively over: even though she lived for another thirty years, her flame never again burned as brightly as it had in the company of her brilliant husband and their friends such as the poet Lord Byron; and although she wrote more, the single book which is her lasting legacy belonged to the time in Italy. GARY REED was the publisher of Caliber Press, a specialty publisher of comics and books that released over 1500 issues in the 1990s. In addition to serving as president of Caliber, he was also publisher of Stabur Graphics and vice president of McFarlane Toys during their inaugural launch. Gary has written over 200 comics and books including Baker Street, Renfield, Saint Germaine, and Raven Chronicles. FRAZER IRVING was born and raised in the town of Ilford, on the edge of London. He's been reading comics since he was old enough to turn pages. He's done work for DC Comics (The Authority: Scorched Earth) and Dark Horse Comics (Fort: Prophet of the Unexplained) as well as the magazine 2000AD (""The Necronauts,""""Judge Dredd,"" ""Judge Death""), the BBC, and Wizards of the Coast. More information about Frazer's upcoming projects can be found at his web site www.frazerirving.com.
