Tonight, as part of our October classic horror series (every Wednesday this month), we'll be reading the opening to "Frankenstein, or, the Modern Prometheus", written by Mary Shelley and published anonymously in 1818 when she was just 20 years old. It tells the story of a scientist named Victor Frankenstein who creates a hideous humanoid creature. Since the novel's publication, the name "Frankenstein" has often been used to refer to the monster itself, although in the novel the monster is never given a formal name. Shelley’s story of Frankenstein has been referred to as the first true science fiction novel.