On January 1, 1818, a book was published by the London firm of Lackington & Hughes. Only 500 copies were printed of the three-volume work, and its author’s name was omitted. Its chronicle of a young scientist’s pursuit to create life – a life he would cruelly disown – would ignite the imagination (and moral wrath) of Regency England and beyond. Join Ed as he describes the fateful “summer without sun” of 1816, when Mary first conceived the story, during a contest initiated by Lord Byron to outdo German ghost stories. Later, joined by her husband, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, the two would craft a tale reflecting the era’s fascination with science and its perceived ethical boundaries.