Sheila English's Blog, page 3

John William Polidori – His Words of that Fateful Event

Copied with permission from the Gutenberg project.

John William Polidori was among those at Villa Diodati that fateful summer when Mary, Percy and Claire came to visit Lord Byron. Challenged to write a ghost story Polidori started out with some vague story about a woman with a skull head. Luckily he changed it and wrote The Vampyre instead.

I’ve read the book and listened to it on audio. If you check it out keep in mind when it was written. It is an interesting account and a cautionary tale. Obv...

Giving…and Getting Your Entire Heart – A Mary Shelley Factoid

Though often referred to as a “myth” it is actually a fact that Mary Shelley kept her husband, Percy Shelley’s heart, until the day she died.

Percy died in a storm out on a lake. When his body finally washed ashore it was routine to burn bodies that were decomposing. It was considered a health issue. So a pyre was set and Percy’s body set aflame. But, his heart had calcified and it did not burn. It was pulled out of the ash and taken by one of Percy’s friends.

Mary wasn’t there when Percy’s body...

Mary Shelley Comic- The Creation of Adam

Writing the comic book for Mary Shelley’s League of Supernatural Hunters I always knew Adam Frankenstein, the creature, would get his origin story. Not just the story of how the creature was created, which loosely follows the novel written by Shelley, but where the body parts came from.

In the novel, we know the creature is disfigured. He’s made from different parts of dead bodies and then animated to life.  In my comic book I tell the story of how those body parts came into the possession of Dr. Frankenstein and how those people lived before they became parts to create the whole of Adam.

I hint at his story in the comic book cover. And you get the feel of the comic on how Mary and Adam are together. Mary is a strong figure, a fighter. And you can clearly see she’s not fearful of the brutish Adam who stands behind her.

I hope people will enjoy the extra details of the creature’s life and how it came to be!

Mary Shelley Research

Richard Rothwell, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Most people know who Mary Shelley is or at least they’ve heard of her book – Frankenstein. But, fewer people know who she actually was. She was an amazing woman who had so many hardships in her life.  She was a real-life heroine who did so many things most women would never have even imagined back in the early 1800s.

Researching Mary Shelley I’ve found so many interesting things about her life. She was a pregnant teenage runaway who fell in love with married man. She lost three children in her lifetime, all of whom were with that same married man – Percy Shelley.

Mary retained Percy’s calcified heart in brown wrap paper until the day she died.

Mary helped a couple, a transgender married couple, escape persecution.

She was romantically interested in Washington Irving (Sleep Hollow author),

She overcame tragedy and adversity holding strong to her convictions. All of that is true.

Making her a monster hunter wasn’t actually much of a stretch.

GIVEAWAY!!! Award-winning Adam Frankenstein: Search for a Soul

To celebrate winning the Gold Book Award from Literary Titan I’m doing a giveaway over on Goodreads! I’m giving away 20 copies of Adam Frankenstein: Search for a Soul! TWENTY copies!!!

The giveaway runs until Sept. 30th so you have time to go over and enter to win!

You can read the 5-star review Literary Titan gave to the book – HERE

Adam Frankenstein: Search for a Soul Wins Literary Titan Award

I was contacted by Literary Titan and told they had given my book Adam Frankenstein: Search for a Soul a 5-star review a few weeks ago. I read the review and was over moon with the review, which you can read HERE.

Here’s a snippet of the review-

“A more modern and brutish man than one may expect, this monster embodies both of his namesakes rather well, the innocent first man of lore and the man-made of many. The monster we meet in the collection Adam Frankenstein: Search for a Soul by Sheila English is all at once stoic and terrifying—yet he counts Mary Shelley and Van Helsing among his friends here.” – Literary Titan

I was thrilled to find out recently that my 5-star review had entered me into their book award contest and that my book had won the gold! Since my Adam Frankenstein: Dog Fight comic book won the Reader’s Favorite award the same day I was more than shocked.

The book is a short story collection that tells the tale of how Adam learns lessons of humanity.

I love Adam. I think we can relate to someone so completely alone and friendless who tries to better himself despite the fact it likely won’t win him any friends. He does it for himself.

I hope you’ll give Adam a try regardless of whether you want to read short stories or comic books. I hope to release a full-length novel next year!

 

 

 

Adam Frankenstein: Dog Fight Comic Book is Award Winner!

I’m thrilled that my first comic book, Adam Frankenstein: Dog Fight has done so well! I credit so much of its success to my illustrator Evan Scale who I think is brilliant!

The comic book was a #1 New Release on Amazon the day it debuted and has been a reader favorite at signings. Now, not only did Reader’s Favorite give it an incredible 5-star review, it went on to win the book award in the Graphic Novel/Comic genre category! Of the thousands who submitted all over the world, my comic was one of the four that won! I’m so proud of this work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve been very fortunate in that my Adam books have all done well. My first book of Adam Frankenstein short stories won Suspense Magazine’s Best of 2016 in the horror category and it was chosen by Screencraft as a finalist in their Short Story contest.

The second book of Adam short stories – Adam Frankenstein: Search for a Soul just won the Gold Book Award from Literary Titan, which I’m also very excited about.

I am so grateful to everyone who gave Adam a try and especially to those who shared their excitement about his stories and left reviews!

 

My Comic Book Just Won an International Book Award!

Adam Frankenstein: Dog Fight is my first comic book and it just won and international book award! I'm so proud of this comic and hope people love the new ones coming out!


I received notification this morning that the comic had won an award so I rushed over to the Reader's Favorite site. Of thousands of submissions, including those from big publishers, my comic was one of four winners!



They sent along this wonderful press release to share as well-

For immediate release:

Readers’ Favorite recognizes “Adam Frankenstein” by Sheila English in its annual international book award contest, currently available at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1684....

The Readers’ Favorite International Book Award Contest featured thousands of contestants from over a dozen countries, ranging from new independent authors to NYT best-sellers and celebrities.

Readers’ Favorite is one of the largest book review and award contest sites on the Internet. They have earned the respect of renowned publishers like Random House, Simon & Schuster, and Harper Collins, and have received the “Best Websites for Authors” and “Honoring Excellence” awards from the Association of Independent Authors. They are also fully accredited by the BBB (A+ rating), which is a rarity among Book Review and Book Award Contest companies.

We receive thousands of entries from all over the world. Because of these large submission numbers, we are able to break down our contest into 140+ genres, and each genre is judged separately, ensuring that books only compete against books of their same genre for a fairer and more accurate competition. We receive submissions from independent authors, small publishers, and publishing giants such as Random House, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster, with contestants that range from the first-time, self-published author to New York Times bestsellers like J.A. Jance, James Rollins, and #1 best-selling author Daniel Silva, as well as celebrity authors like Jim Carrey (Bruce Almighty), Henry Winkler (Happy Days), and Eriq La Salle (E.R., Coming to America).

“When the right books are picked as winners we pay attention. We will be spreading the word about Readers’ Favorite.” –Karen A., Editor for Penguin Random House

Readers’ Favorite is proud to announce that “Adam Frankenstein” by Sheila English won the Honorable Mention Award in the Fiction – Graphic Novel/Comic category.

You can learn more about Sheila English and “Adam Frankenstein” at https://readersfavorite.com/book-revi... where you can read reviews and the author’s biography, as well as connect with the author directly or through their website and social media pages.

Readers’ Favorite LLC
Media Relations
Louisville, KY 40202
800-RF-REVIEW
support@readersfavorite.com
https://readersfavorite.com

The World of Adam Frankenstein

You can't really talk about Adam Frankenstein without a shout out to Mary Shelley.
To have a book like Frankenstein continue to be such a popular story through the ages is such a feat. A true classic, this tale tells of a scientist whose need to prove he can bring life to man results in a creature that is both terrifying and heartbreaking.
If you've never read Mary Shelley's novel I urge you to. Yes, the wording is old English but you'll understand it. And it is NOT the Universal Studios Frankenstein. The creature is more sympathetic and intelligent.





I actually began writing about Mary Shelley's League of Supernatural Hunters several years ago with a book that brought Dracula, Bram Stoker and Eli Van Helsing to modern-day New Orleans. I hope to publish that book one day.
But, what happened was that in the second book I introduced Adam to the mix, and then I fell in love with him. I knew he had his own stories that needed to be told. So, I began writing the short stories in an experiment to see if people would like the character.


From there I wrote my very first comic book- Adam Frankenstein: Dog Fight.
The first full-length Adam novel is currently titled The Deadly Pieces and I'm in edits with that right now and then it will be off to my agent to see if the publishing world will embrace or reject Adam.



I am also updating the next novel, which I completed last year, but now needs additional storyline added. I'm not sure that title will stick though. It's currently titled Of Miracles and Monsters. The third is A Bag of Bones and the fourth is Skin Coat. All of those are completed awaiting edits.
In addition, I completed another comic - Adam Frankenstein: Fear Fest.
I have three more comics in the works but only one is an Adam-related project. The others are all Mary Shelley's League of Supernatural Hunters.

Adam has a partner, which we meet in the first book of short stories and then again in Dog Fight and Fear Fest. Rebecca Hughes is a U.S. Marshal and she is a true heroine in every sense of the word.
Without a doubt Adam and Rebecca have chemistry. You're just not sure if that chemistry is going to be romantic in nature or not. But, they are funny together and extremely loyal to one another, which I love about them.
Other characters in Adam's world include Jericho who organizes Adam's life and deals with his investments.
There's Caleb Bronte who works for the League, but who likes Adam even though Adam doesn't trust him.
Eli Van Helsing is the Van Helsing you're thinking of. He's a Master Witch and helps run the New Orleans League headquarters.
There are several US Marshals we meet along the way as well.
It's an ensamble cast that feels like family.
Adam isn't for everyone. He can be brutish just as easily as he can be gentle. He has a black/white sense of justice and acts on that.
Where Rebecca has a strong faith in the justice system, Adam's belief is that there are some people who just need killed. So, he's not everyone's cup of tea. But, he does have a moral compass. He has a sense of loyalty. He wants to find humanity in himself. Who he is and who he wants to be is all part of the adventure.

Find out more on my website

Writing During Tumultuous Times

I have about 20,000 more words to complete my novel and it's taking forever.
I have a comic book that I've nearly completed the script for, but that is on hold.
Like everyone else, times of trial and challenge affect an author. I suppose I should only speak for myself.
For me, it's hard to be creative when you're worried about real-life problems. I've been fighting depression since May 3rd when my mom passed away unexpectedly. And during this damn pandemic.

I love my comics and my Adam Frankenstein character. I love writing. But, I stare at the page and try to force myself through that wall and into creativity where you actually live inside the story, I just can't seem to break through.
Now, with the unrest throughout the US, it's even more difficult. I have family who are in law enforcement and friends who are peacefully protesting. I worry for all of them.
I'm not sure what other people do when they can't seem to move forward.
I guess I'll try to write something even if I have to re-write it later.
Wish me luck!