Two classic stories from one volcano

In 1815 the volcano Mount Tambora in Indonesia exploded which created a cloud of ash responsible for that year being called the ‘year without a summer’. In that year Lord Byron invited the poet Percy Bysshe Shelly and his wife to his estate. The weather was too cold to go outdoors so Lord Byron suggested each guest make up a ghost story to read in the evening. Mary Shelly came up with the first draft of Frankenstein which is considered to be the first science fiction story. Another guest at that same wrote a story called ‘The Vampyre’ which is considered the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s novel ‘Dracula’.

(The Great Courses – How Great Science Fiction Works)

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