This October, Sendb00ks is working with Madison Willing., composer, performer, artist and friend who has chosen to send Mary Shelley’s 1816 sci-fi classic - Frankenstein - written when she was just 18. It is a timely release as the nights get longer and the days darker, and reality in our modern world becomes stranger than any fiction. Madison describes the work of composing for films and documentaries as seeking down the stem, beneath the soil and to the seed of the original emotion, which is what permits certain works to travel through centuries.i
We present an empty manuscript, for the etching of sound or vibration, her lines the clefs from left to right, a familiarity within which to write. And we also present her mono-print entitled GHOST 2, made at The Church in Sag Harbor, renowned for being set up by Eric Fishl, this same summer. Madison has composed a score inspired by the longing of our creature as he heads across the French Alps seeking companionship, recognition, which we will present on the evening of the 21st October in Paris.
In 1816 Mary Shelley, Percy Shelley and Lord Byron had a competition on the shores of lake Geneva during a summer where an unprecedented darkness shrouded everything in a thick and dark fog. They didn’t know this at the time, but this major ecological storm was caused by an eruption in Indonesia the year before, so the greyness was in fact a blanket of ash. Without much else to do, Byron dared the friends to write a ghost story. From the roots of a dream 18 year old Mary Shelley brought life to Victor Frankenstein, ambitious, self-educated, and determined to understand life by knowing death, harnessing electricity, he built a monster. Only later to reject this creature, the modern prometheus, turning his back on him and the havoc he felt he had bought upon the world.
Madison's mono-print will cover special editions of the book.
We will also be hosting an event in Paris, in the evening, will be a listening event to hear the music Madison has put together to compliment her experience of this book.
Listen to Madison's album Birth here.
Pre-order your copy to read along with us.
Hand numbered and signed at Sendb00ks HQ.
Pre-order now. Estimated shipping week 43.