Dec 16

Dec 16 The Year Without Summer (Book of the Georgians)

An absolutely dream commission, telling the story behind the composition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: Or, the Modern Prometheus with the headline referencing to mood of extreme gloom and melancholy following the eruption of Mount Tambora the previous year.

At four pages there was an enormous amount of reference by way of influences on this seminal work of gothic literature, but what I enjoyed the most was bringing to life the intense emotions of the Villa Diodati: it certainly says a lot about the mood that Mary Shelley produced a criticism of her husband’s callous dreaming, inspired in part by the child she’d lost the previous year, while Dr John Polidori thinly satirised Lord Byron.

I was lucky enough to be living near Shelley’s grave and as soon as I submitted this piece, I went to visit her.

The Year Without Summer appeared in the bookazine Book of the Georgians, priced £9.99. Find out more at MyFavouriteMagazines.co.uk

Trained as a journalist, James has worked as a writer and editor for over a decade, launching three history magazines and one true crime magazine.

He knows a worrying amount about some of the strangest things

Dec 16 The Year Without Summer (Book of the Georgians)

Trained as a journalist, James has been an editor and writer for over a decade, specialising in war, witchcraft, and weirdness.

Trained as a journalist, James has worked as a writer and editor for over a decade, launching three history magazines and one true crime magazine.

He knows a worrying amount about some of the strangest things

Dec 16 The Year Without Summer (Book of the Georgians)

Dec 16 Hitler and the Occult (All About History issue 58)

Dec 16 The War on Slavery (Book of the Georgians)

Trained as a journalist, James has been an editor and writer for over a decade, specialising in war, witchcraft, and weirdness.