Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: A Retelling

"I love the idea of a retelling that makes it easier to read. Frankenstein is an important book, it’s the granddaddy of science fiction horror . But it is an old book. It is quite difficult to read with modern eyes and the language can feel a bit old-fashioned. Obviously, it’s not written for young readers but everybody has heard the name Frankenstein, so I think it’s good for them to have the opportunity to read it. This book will probably also be for the older end of middle grade readers. Yes, definitely. I think it’s great to be able to read it in an easier way. Frankenstein is interesting because it’s a story of people telling stories. It begins with an explorer meeting Victor Frankenstein, who tells his story about how he became obsessed with science, how he created this man but was ashamed of what he had done. He rejected his creation, which became angry and murdered Frankenstein’s brother. So Victor Frankenstein hunted the creation down, only for it to recount how it had educated itself and learned to be human. The creation persuades Frankenstein to make a partner for it, which Victor Frankenstein agrees to do. But in the process, Frankenstein decides he’s doing the wrong thing and destroys all his work, which enrages the monster who then kills Frankenstein’s wife and his friend. By modern standards, it’s probably quite a tame story in terms of the sci-fi horror side of it, but it’s an interesting story and it’s an important story because it’s where it all started. Yes, the Crooked Oak books are short and easily readable. I think that for a lot of kids who think reading is not for them, it’s nice to be able to pick up a short book. And it’s important for them to have a book that is easy to read where the interest level is a bit higher than the reading level. When I write a book, I just write a story because it’s the story I want to write. But with those books I do try to make them less dense and move the story on as quickly as I can. There’s a bit more of a restriction in terms of word length and word count, but they’re great fun to write. I love writing them. I have a book coming out in June called The Wall Between Us . It’s set in 1961, and it’s about two cousins, Anja and Monika, who are best friends. They live on opposite sides of the same street in Berlin but are separated when the Berlin Wall is built. It’s a story about separation, friendship, oppression, bravery, and a world where shadowy threats lurk around every corner. It’s partly told through diary entries, partly through letters, interview transcripts, secret notes, newspaper articles, all sorts of formats. I am also working on another Crooked Oak story. The most recent one, The Terror of Hilltop House , was very much inspired by The Day of the Triffids , which is one of my favourite science fiction horror stories. The Crooked Oak story I’m working on now involves Pete, Nancy and Krish investigating a meteorite, a lead mine, and some very unpleasant creatures. There seems to be so much out there at the moment, but I don’t feel as if there’s a lot of science fiction. There’s a lot of fantasy, and a lot of historical stories, but I think we need some more science fiction, some creepy sci-fi. There definitely seems to be a growing appetite for it among younger readers, and if we want to keep young people reading, we have to give them the kinds of stories they want to read."