Review: 'Myyy PRECIOUSSS.' Has A New Chapter!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 18, 2012
Note: I received an evaluation copy before publication from the author.Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus is my life's book.You can change several things in your existence; your home, job, football or soccer team (extremely unlikely, but it happens) yet you can't change the book of your life. I'm so in love with this act of creation on the part of my beloved Mary Shelly that I just get jealous by thinking it in different hands.It has to be mine, mine alone.Myyy PRECIOUSSS....Well, setting aside my Gollumite attack, I'm going to tell you what happened with `Frankenstein: Return From the Wastelands'Skeptically, I approached this novelette, too afraid of reading yet another bad adaptation or re-writing of my 'precious classic'. I've read tons of books, comics, graphic novels, and poetry on the subject, and all, with just a couple exceptions, disappointed me.But this was from Billie Sue Mosiman. I had just enjoyed her majestic `Wireman', of which I still bear scars in my mind for its strength and complex scariness, so I wondered - `How could Mrs. Mosiman dare adding a chapter to a perfect work?'With rabid eyes, and a wary approach, I delved into her latest fatigue expecting yet another failure.The monster was now beautiful and playing in a rock band? Was he portrayed as modern serial killer, bringing his revenge on all Frankenstein's descendants (Sarah Frankenstein? BANG!)No.From the incipit you're delivered the right plate; no modern grim cityscapes, no leather-clad psychos.A letter from Captain Robert Walton to his sister.Epistolary style? Could it be?Yes! Return from the Wastelands is not a follow-up, but an added chapter, a seamless continuation of Shelley's work. And it's not about the creature.Oh yes, the creature is in there and well described by the author, yet I felt this book is more about Walton.In the original novel Captain Walton was the one sending letters to his beloved sister Margaret in England. Through him we are acquainted with the tragedy of the infamous scientist and his creation. Walton was so obsessed in reaching his goal that nearly paid with the lives of his crewmen, and his own. Now, twenty years later, he's become obsessed to discover if the creature followed his purpose to kill himself, after his nemesis death (i.e. Victor Frankenstein). So, this is a story with the same theme: obsession.I loved Mrs. Mosiman's portrayal of Walton's lucid dementia, adding depth to a marginal character, and pivoting him to the stage's center. And Walton doesn't staggers or stutters, no, quite the contrary, in this author's able hands he shines like a polished gem.I rarely say this, but it's deserved:Thank you, Mrs. Billie Sue Mosiman; I'll add it to the book of my life. Your novelette is now part of my personal idea of the `Great Book'. I'll be forever grateful.