This book comes with an introduction and notes by Dr Siv Jansson, University of Greenwich. Begun when the author was only eighteen and conceived from a nightmare, "Frankenstein", is the deeply disturbing story of a monstrous creation which has terrified and chilled readers since its first publication in 1818. The novel has thus seared its way into the popular imagination while establishing itself as one of the pioneering works of modern science fiction. AUTHOR: Mary Shelley (nee Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin; 30 August 1797 ? 1 February 1851) was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus (1818). She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her father was the political Philosopher William Goodwin, and her mother was the philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft.