The creation of 'Frankenstein' (1818) was the result of a volcanic eruption and a bet. In 1815, Mount Tambora erupted in Indonesia, causing the 'Year Without a Summer' in 1816. Trapped indoors at Lake Geneva by relentless rain, Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, and Percy Bysshe Shelley held a contest to see who could write the best ghost story. 18-year-old Mary had a 'waking dream' of a scientist kneeling beside the 'hideous phantasm of a man' he had animated. This vision became the first true science fiction novel. Interestingly, the book was published anonymously, and many readers initially believed Percy Shelley wrote it because he wrote the preface. It wasn't until the second edition in 1823 that Mary was credited as the author, forever changing the landscape of gothic and speculative literature.