Outcasts

On a dark and stormy night in 1816, a teenage girl sat down and invented science fiction. Mary Shelley was no more than 18 years old when she wrote Frankenstein. From the moment of its publication 200 years ago, readers have been wondering, as Mary put it, “How I, then a young girl, came to think of, and to dilate upon, so very hideous an idea?” Outcasts takes readers behind the scenes, to reveal the surprisingly contemporary thoughts and feelings of Mary, an unmarried mother and the lover of radical poet Percy Shelley, their friend Lord Byron, and the other guests at the “most famous literary party in history”. What led the daughter of two of the most radical philosophers in England to turn her hand to horror?

"A remarkable achievement. Beautifully written, eerily authentic and never less than compelling, Stegall's fictionalized account of an extraordinary moment in literary history held me in thrall." —Miranda Seymour, fellow, Royal Society of Literature; author, Mary Shelley

"With Outcasts, Sarah Stegall twists the origins of Frankenstein into a new and utterly fascinating shape. Brilliant, devious and beautifully written. Highly recommended." —Jonathan Maberry, author, Kill Switch and The Wolfman

"During the dreary summer of 1816, in a villa on Lake Geneva, Lord Byron challenged Mary Shelley; her husband, Percy; and John Polidori to each write a ghost story. Stegall has done her research on these remarkable people, and much of the drama comes organically as she lets their opposing personalities and desires bounce off each other. Rather than dwelling on personal drama, Stegall folds philosophy into the narrative, taking meandering paths through subjects that were dear to the Romantics' hearts: nature, the fallibility of human beings, the soul, women's rights, and, later, ghosts and monsters. This novel is sure to please fans of literary history and historical novels, as well as anyone who likes monsters well-rounded." —Publishers Weekly

"Author Sarah Stegall’s romantic novel Outcasts is narrated in the third person by the young Mary Shelley, second wife of poet Percy Shelley and the author of Frankenstein. ... Based on the famous Romantics’ actual summer occupancy on Lake Geneva, Outcasts is believable and compelling, especially since it explores Mary Shelley’s mind, including what does not say. She brings forth all the characters through expressive and tart dialogues, which drive the novel . . . . A departure from Stegall’s earlier novels, Outcasts is a well-researched, engaging and entertaining work." —Robert Bonazzi, San Antonio Express-News

"This summer marks the 200th anniversary of the invention of science fiction . . . by an 18-year-old woman . . . . I celebrated the genesis of the genre by reading a fantastic book about the three fateful days leading up to that creative epiphany: . . . In Outcasts: A Novel of Mary Shelley (Wings Press), Science fiction author and critic Sarah Stegall — after obviously thorough research — explores three days in June of 1816, when the newly married Shelleys and their infant son William were staying at near Lord Byron’s villa on Lake Geneva with Mary’s half-sister Claire Clairmont . . . . Stegall’s writing is so perfectly evocative of those times, so emotionally powerful, that segue into the incomparable science fiction classic feels utterly seamless." —David Bowles, McAllen Monitor

"Although we know some of the circumstances that led to Mary Shelley’s composition of the book Frankenstein, until now we have had no detailed look into Shelley’s inner thoughts on those summer afternoons beside Lake Geneva . . . . Sarah Stegall fills in the gaps in our knowledge with an imaginative and entertaining novel whose events take place over the course of three days in June 1816." —James R. Adair, Voices de la Luna

"We are given a rare glimpse into the genesis of the first horror story—Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus—during three seminal days on Lake Geneva during June 1816 . . . . So intensely written are these days that I could actually hear Lake Geneva lapping at the shore, smell the rain, and hear the thunder. Stegall captures this time in mundane detail while recognizing the historical importance of the relationships and the literary works that found their roots in them. Absolutely wonderful!" —Ilysa Magnus, historicalnovelsociety.org

Sarah Stegall writes novels and reviews. Her reviews have been cited in academic television and cultural studies such as Cult Television, Escape Into the Future, Aliens In America, The Philosophy of The X-Files, Convergence, and Reality Squared (which called these reviews “among the best critical commentary available on the Web”).