Steampunk Shelly, Mikel Glass
Inspired by a retelling of the Frankenstein myth from a feminist perspective called Memories of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Theodore Roszak. The writer imbues the character of Frankenstein's bride with the attributes of Mary Shelly’s life, and casts her as narrator. Thus we learn about the doctor’s quest from her perspective, rather than from the random sea captain assigned that role in the original telling.
Elizabeth goes to great lengths to realize her dream of having a child. On a parallel narrative track we learn about Frankenstein’s quest to create his perfect being. Eventually, Elizabeth gets pregnant, just as her husband makes substantial gains on his experiment. As both progress, Frankenstein makes a discovery - the dead flesh he has been collecting from hospitals and morgues is inadequate to animate his creation - instead, he must find live human flesh that can be employed in his process. As Elizabeth’s pregnancy enters its final phase, Frankenstein has his ultimate epiphany - he must have the flesh of a live human baby to bring life to his creation. In Steampunk Shelly, Elizabeth is depicted at the moment of decision between keeping the very thing she holds most precious in her life versus handing it over to the man to whom she is alchemically bound
