July 6, 2020 Beyond Castle Frankenstein by Paula Cappa
Inside the ruins of Castle Frankenstein in Darmstadt, Germany, a ghost resides. This is no ordinary ghost. It is a ghost of the unfinished. The saddest thing about ghosts is that they have no home. They exist in a kind of blue dementia where most of us are afraid to enter. If a time ever comes to you when you are tempted to enter that blue dementia, I encourage you to open the door. This short story, a fiction both historical and biographical, Beyond Castle Frankenstein, is what happened to Mary Shelley when she opened that door and passed over threshold.
This story was originally published in Journals of Horror, Found Fiction, edited by Terry M. West, at Pleasant Storm Entertainment, Inc. I have reprinted it on Amazon as a Kindle single and in ebook format on Smashwords.
Mary Shelley is haunted. Haunted beyond cemeteries and tombstones. Love and madness rattle her every day. Scandal and drama steal her sleep. And finally it is the stab of her own impending death that drives her to conjure the dead.
Those who have been following this blog and read my supernatural mysteries, you may be familiar with this story as I have posted about it and Mary Shelley a few times. As well, I have several of her short stories in the INDEX above for your reading pleasure. Beyond Castle Frankenstein is my favorite because it relates factual information about one of our most enduring and talented authors in literature. I felt honored to discover this story in my writing world and present it to so many readers both via Pleasant Storm Entertainment publisher and now as a reprint.
Castle Frankenstein still stands today in Darmstadt, Germany.
As does the Casa Magni in Italy where Mary and Percy Bysshe Shelley lived for short period of time.
The image below is a shocking portrait of the body of Percy Bysshe Shelley being cremated.
Some early reviews of Beyond Castle Frankenstein
“Historical fact and fiction blend in an evocative and atmospheric tale of a romantic triangle, love and jealousy that transcends death, and a haunted protagonist; but is Mary Shelley truly haunted by the shade of her predecessor as Shelley’s wife–or by her own guilt? Using the literary conceit of a “found fiction,” accomplished and award-winning author Cappa skillfully crafts a work as macabre as any of her protagonist’s own creations. Not to be missed by readers who are Shelley fans; but most readers of supernatural fiction will appreciate this e-story whether they’re Shelley fans or not.” Werner Lind, author of the vampire novella Lifeblood, award-winning short fiction, avid book reviewer, and a librarian with published scholarly articles.
… Said that she wrote Frankenstein from a waking dream: “I did not sleep, nor could I be said to think.”
“I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideious phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life. … He sleeps; but he is awakened; he opens his eyes; behold, the horrid thing stands at his bedside, opening his curtains and looking on him with yellow watery, but speculative eyes.” Preface from the London Edition of Frankenstein, 1831.
Buy on Amazon.com .99 cents
On Smashwords.com for ibooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and more
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1028313
Journals of Horror: Found Fiction, editor Terry M. West, Pleasant Storm Entertainment, Inc.