Why The Top 13?

Sure, there’s Saturn 3, Babylon 5, Blake’s 7 and District 9. But what number could be geekier than 13? Not only is there its inherent creepiness, but there’s also The 13th Immortal, The 13th Warrior and The 13th Floor. There’s spooky gore-fest Friday the 13th and those plucky, kick-ass comic book kids, Gen13. There’s Warehouse 13, The X-Files’ oft-referenced 1013, and the 13 tribes of Kobol. Plus, the Munsters lived at 1313 Mockingbird Lane.

So, we at Geek Speak Magazine bring you the Top 13 of... well, whatever strikes our fancy.

Just be glad we didn’t elect to go with The Top 1701...

Disclaimer:

The following women are listed in strictly chronological order... well, we do think #13 belongs where she is, but all the others could really occupy any place on the list, and their position is not necessarily a reflection of our opinion of their work or their influence.

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1. Mrs. Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823)

The origins of modern genre fiction are rooted in boredom and loneliness. In the 1790s, often left alone by a husband who worked long hours, Ann Ward Radcliffe wrote stories by firelight to keep herself occupied. But although Mr. Radcliffe was putting in the long hours at the office, it was Mrs. Radcliffe's career that took off as a result. Her novels, born of those lonely nights by the fire, kick-started the English Gothic tradition and became major milestones on female novelists' long road to respect and acceptance.

Radcliffe was one of the first authors (although probably not the very first) to specialize in Gothic novels, which usually featured dewy-eyed heroines, forbidding castles, spooky atmospheres, and spectral phenomena. She was indisputably one of the best. Like all the great Gothic novelists, Radcliffe was a master of atmosphere; she excelled in building tension through hints and suggestions, as opposed to the depiction of frank gore. In fact, this restraint (what seems today like extreme restraint), coupled with her undeniable gift for the language, may well have made her work -- and genre in general and novels by women, which were still fairly unusual at that time -- more palatable to the opinion-shaping upper classes. Through Radcliffe, Gothic fiction gained a certain respectability; her biographer, Rictor Norton, notes, "It is due to Mrs. Radcliffe that the Gothic novel became literary as well as popular."

Her books were, indeed, hugely popular. She received £500 for The Mysteries of Udolpho, the most money ever paid to a female writer at the time. Her novels were parodied, to memorable and hilarious effect, in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. And although she retired from writing early, her style would influence Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Marquis de Sade, among others.

Today, Radcliffe's novels are rarely read outside college English Departments, which is kind of a shame. This genre pioneer deserves to be remembered!

The Quote: "Emily passed on with faltering steps, and having paused a moment at the door, before she attempted to open it, she then hastily entered the chamber, and went towards the picture, which appeared to be enclosed in a frame of uncommon size, that hung in a dark part of the room. She paused again, and then, with a timid hand, lifted the veil; but instantly let it fall - perceiving that what it had concealed was no picture, and, before she could leave the chamber, she dropped senseless to the floor." -- The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794)

Most Influential Genre Work: The Mysteries of Udolpho is probably her best-known work, but many consider *The Italian to be her masterpiece.

Unforgettable Characters: Udolpho's villainous Signor Montoni is much more interesting than the pure and innocent Emily. Isn't that always the case?

Forthcoming Publications: None. Several new editions of her novels have been released in the past few years, including an “Oxford World’s Classics” version of Udolpho. There are also several biographies out there. The Mysteries of Udolpho is available in its entirety at the Gutenberg Project, if you're interested.

On Screen: Hollywood has yet to really discover Mrs. Radcliffe. Televised versions of the Radcliffe-inspired Northanger Abbey were made in 1986 and again in 2007, and Radcliffe herself was a secondary character (portrayed by Helen McCrory) in the 2007 Anne Hathaway vehicle Becoming Jane. There was also a 1977 French television mini-series based on The Italian, but we suspect that this is for completists only.

2. Mary Shelley (1797-1851)

What can we say about the author of probably the single most influential genre novel ever? Frankenstein, Or, The Modern Prometheus, published in 1818, contained themes that are still extremely relevant today, including the limits of science and the forces that can drive an outcast to violence. In Frankenstein's monster, Shelley created a complex and sympathetic villain, who only wants to be loved but who turns to hatred after being rejected by a society repulsed by his appearance. And in Frankenstein himself, Shelley created not a simple mad scientist, but a callow and arrogant inventor whose life is ruined when his creation goes out of control.

The most remarkable thing? When she wrote Frankenstein, Shelley was only nineteen years old.

Frankenstein caught the public's imagination and has never really let go. This may explain the 80 movies with "Frankenstein" in the title, the numerous television series (including The Munsters, of course), and the three separate video games. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, people began to confuse Frankenstein with his monster, and today most people associate Frankenstein with a tall green guy with a crew cut and stitches painted on his face. Wonder if the Shelley estate is collecting royalties?

Shelley wrote several novels after Frankenstein, as well as notes and commentary on the poetry of her husband, poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Her later works never quite matched her earlier achievement, but then how could they? As it was, she produced a novel whose characters' moral complexity would not be equalled in literature again for, oh, about a hundred and fifty years. She told a genuinely creepy and unforgettable tale. She invented one of the most enduring icons of genre fiction. At nineteen. And she was even married to a poet. The mind boggles.

The Quote: "Like Adam, I was created apparently with no link to any other being in existence; but... he had come forth from the hands of God a perfect creature, happy and prosperous, guarded by the special care of his Creator: but I was wretched, helpless, and alone. Many times I considered Satan as a fitter emblem of my condition." -- Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (1818)

Most Influential Work: Frankenstein, of course, but also The Last Man, about the final survivor after a plague has wiped out the world's population.

Unforgettable Characters: Victor Frankenstein and, in particular, the Monster.

Forthcoming Publications: Frankenstein is one of your easier genre classics to find in both its original flavor and in new and updated versions. Notably, the prolific Dean Koontz has rebooted the Frankenstein story in a trilogy of his own, and is now re-telling his own retelling in a series of graphic novels.

On Screen: See above. Our old friend Helen McCrory starred as Dr. Victoria Frankenstein in a 2007 adaptation, and something appears to be in the pipeline for either 2012 or 2013 or possibly both (IMDB is playing coy with us on this one). You’ll want to put Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein (1999) in your Netflix queue without delay; the Monster is voiced by Fred Welker, the voice god who best known for his timeless portrayal of Fred in the Scooby Doo cartoons.

3. The Brontë Sisters (Charlotte: 1816-1855; Emily: 1814-1848; Anne: 1820-1849)

We don't usually think of Charlotte, Emily, or Anne Brontë as genre writers as such, but in fact much of their work falls more or less squarely into the Gothic tradition exemplified by Mrs. Radcliffe. Their novels are full of isolated houses, gloomy, windswept moors, heavy atmosphere, and spectral visitations. Take Charlotte's Jane Eyre, for example. Remember the terrifying scene in which her aunt locks her in the "haunted" room at Gateshead? Remember her telepathic connection to Rochester? Pure Gothic. And in Villette, heroine Lucy Snowe is chased through much of the book by the spectral figure of a long-dead nun. (In a somewhat disappointing turn of events, the Nun turns out to have a perfectly ordinary explanation, but her appearances are pretty creepy nonetheless.)

Then there's Emily, author of Wuthering Heights, which is crammed with ghosts, atmosphere, capital-D Destiny, and hints of necrophilia. Anti-hero Heathcliff is a particularly nasty customer whose spiritual heirs include Bad Angel (but not Angelus -- Angelus has far too much fun) and every brooding, miserable character ever played by Ralph Fiennes(who, in a brilliant stroke of casting, actually played Heathcliff in a 1992 adaptation, opposite Juliette Binoche as Cathy). Anne is the least genre-oriented of the three -- her best-known work, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, deals with the more everyday horror of domestic abuse -- but we're going to include her here anyway, 'cause she's cool, and we like her.

Why are the Brontë sisters important? Quite simply, because they're responsible for some of the very best writing to come out of the nineteenth century -- and the most enduring. Their work represents genre with a little twist, if you will -- the Gothic creepy stuff is bad enough for the Brontë's protagonists, but the really horrifying occurrences have prosaic explanations (malicious aunts, abusive husbands) and are perpetrated by their relatives and alleged friends. For the Brontë's, hell really was other people.

The Quote: "What, then, do I see between the half-drawn curtains? What dark, usurping shape, supine, long, and strange? Is it a robber who has made his way through the open streetdoor, and lies there in wait? It looks very black, I think it looks -- not human. Can it be a wandering dog that has come in from the street and crept and nestled hither? Will it spring, will it leap out if I approach? Approach I must. Courage! One step!" -- Villette (1853)

Most Influential Work: The Big Three: Charlotte's Jane Eyre, Emily's Wuthering Heights, and Anne's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

Unforgettable Characters: Jane and Rochester, of course. Heathcliff and Cathy. Helen and Gilbert from Tenant. Also disturbing madwoman wife in the attic. Gives a girl nightmares.

Forthcoming Publications: Nothing new and exciting coming out -- although Harper Collins did release a Twilight-inspired edition of Wuthering Heights last year, sending it to the top of the Classics Best-Seller lists (hey, it's Bella's favorite book!). And the Brontë other works are generally very easy to find.

On Screen: Jane Eyre is remade into a movie every few years or so: in fact, Alice in Wonderland's Mia Wasikowska is filming one right now! The IMDb lists over 20 filmed versions, including a 1943 movie called I Walked with a Zombie that appears to bear little relation to the actual book. (The 2006 BBC production featuring Ruth Wilson as Jane and Toby Stephens as Rochester is a must-see.) The IMDb also lists some 36 filmed versions of Wuthering Heights, including Spanish, Malaysian and Filipino adaptations. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall has only been produced twice on screen, in 1968 and 1996. Poor Anne, neglected again.