Frankenstein Unbound

From the inside flapBrian W. Aldiss is one of the greatest science fiction writes of our day. Now he has broken away from his traditional style to produce a stunning blend of horror, excitement, suspense and love, throwing a unique, contemporary slant on the great gothic tradition.When Joe Bodenland is suddenly transported back in time to the year 1816, his first reaction is of eager curiosity rather than distress. Certainly the Switzerland in which he finds himself, with its charming country inns, breathtaking landscapes and gentle, unmechanized pace of life, is infinitely preferable to the America of 2020 where the games of politicians threaten total annihilation. But after meeting the brooding young Victor Frankenstein, Joe realized that this world is more complex than the one he lift behind. Is Frankenstein real, or are both Joe and he living out fictional lives? And if he is caught inside the gothic drama, how is it that he meets Frankenstein's creator, the slim, enchanting Mary Shelley, whose book lies half written, gathering dust in the attic of the villa on the shores of Lake Geneva.Curiosity and a half-forgotten sense of history lead Joe to the villa, where he is eventually welcomed by Lord Byron—even more devastating than his legend—and delicate Percy Shelley, who has taken refuge with Byron and his mistress. But it is with Mary, Shelley's future wife, that Joe's destiny lies, and somehow also with Frankenstein. For even while Mary and Joe enjoy their idyll, Frankenstein wreaks havoc in the town of Geneva with his nameless monster built from corpses. Joe, caught between the romantic trio by the lake and the nightmare couple, cannot decide whether he has been sent as Mary's muse or Frankenstein's conscience, but with the grim climax in the frozen wastes of time he finally understands and fulfills his mission."Aldiss's tale is hair-raising... yet, at the same time, serious, He is saying that the true purpose of the Gothic novel is a sensational awakening of conscience."—Ronald Blythe, The Listener"Frankenstein Unbound is a literary piece of science fiction of a high order... Brian Aldiss is our ablest science fiction writer..."—Robert Nye, The Guardian"The mating dance of the two monsters has a macabre beauty quite new to me. And the implication for our own day, that the modern world is a Frankenstein's monster, a body without a spirit, is clear without being insistent."—Kingsley Amis, The Daily Mail"Audacious of Mr. Aldiss to carry through the original idea in this way; splendid to realise that it comes off so well."—Tom Hutchinson, The Times (London)"With Frankensteing Unbound, Brian Aldiss has taken more risks than he has ever taken before; and this is saying quite a lot... This is surely Mr. Aldiss's finest achievement in the non-realistic field yet; it is original and carefully done."—Martin Seymour-Smith, Oxford Mail"Mr. Aldiss's monster is a beaut. The eerie, icy, last confrontation between it (and its mate) and Joe Bodenland with his Felder car and swivel-gun is intense and vivid."—Edmund Cooper, The London Sunday TimesJoe Bodenland, a 21st century American, passes through a timeslip and finds himself with Byron and Shelley in the famous villa on the shore of Lake Geneva. More fantastically, he finds himself face to face with a real Frankenstein, a doppelganger inhabiting a complex world where fact and fiction may as easily have congress as Bodenland himself manages to make love to Mary Shelley. This title was made into a film, starring John Hurt, Raul Julia, Bridget Fonda, Jason Patric and Michael Hutchence.About the AuthorBrian Wilson Aldiss was born in East Dareham, Norfolk, in 1925 and has written over 40 novels and over 300 short stories, making him one of the most important voices in science fiction writing today. He worked as a Bookseller in Oxford between 1947 and 1956 during which he wrote his first novel The Brightfount Diaries. His first work of science fiction was Non-Stop (1958) and he won the Most Promising New Author award at the SF convention the following year. At this time his work was characterised by innovative literary techniques and a high sexual content. In 1962 Hothouse won a Hugo award given by the World Science Fiction Society and in the seventies he explored the experiences of a young soldier in The Horatio Stubbs Saga novels. With Frankenstein Unbound and Moreau’s Other Island he paid tribute to two founders of SF - Mary Shelley and H.G. Wells. By the time of the release of the well received Hellinconia sequence he had become one of the most prominent British SF writers rivalling such fellow authors as J.G.Ballard and Michael Moorcock Since 1961 Aldiss has edited anthologies including SF Horizons and has regularly reviewed for the TLS as well as numerous newspapers. Other works include a history of SF, Billion Year Spree, an autobiography Twinkling of an Eye and some poetry. In 1999 he became A Grand Master at the Nebula awards given by the SF and Fantasy Writers Guild for his lifetime achievements in SF writing.