Frankenstein/Dracula Author:Mary Shelley;Bram Stoker Here are two classic tales of terror, together in an exclusive Quality Paperback Book Club edition. Mary Shelley wrote 'Frankenstein,' first published in 1818, during a rainy summer spent in Switzerland with her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, and a few other friends. Mary Shelley produced 'Frankenstein' and was the only one of the ... more »writers to complete anything. 'Frankenstein' is the story of a Swiss philosophy student who collects body parts and constructs them into a living thing, a monster who out of loneliness and emotional confusion turns to murder and eventually kills its creator. The idea formed in Mary Shelley's mind as she was half-asleep and so terrified her she knew it had the power to frighten anyone.
'Dracula,' first published in 1897, is the most well-known vampire tale of all time. The story is told through the diaries of Jonathan Harker, a solicitor, and his friends and associates. Harker travels to Count Dracula's castle in Transylvania to assist Dracula in the purchase of an English estate. The action shifts back and forth between England and Transylvania as Dracula terrorizes Harker, vampirizes one of his female friends, and then sets his sights on Harker's fiancee, Mina Murray. Dracula can be repelled by garlic or crucifixes, but killed only by a knife through the heart, and Harker and his friends must do this to save Mina...and mankind.« less