THE MUMMY! A Tale of the Twenty-Second Century by Jane C. Loudon

Did you think Mary Shelley was the only woman writing science fiction in the nineteenth century? Think again! In 1827, only nine years after the first edition of Frankenstein was published, Jane C. Loudon (née Webb) anonymously published The Mummy! A Tale of the Twenty-Second Century in three volumes and it bears a remarkable resemblance to the world we live in today: an early form of Internet, espresso machines, air-conditioning, and hair accessories made of fire! Well, we might not be there yet, but Loudon was writing a century ahead of us anyway. We may be wearing fire on our heads and travelling almost exclusively by hot air balloon in one hundred years; we can only hope! Needless to say, this rich but under-appreciated historical tale sounded like the perfect addition to the Skyboat collection and we dove right in.

Loudon herself was also ahead of her time. Not only was she a pioneer of the science fiction we know and love today, but she also became a leading horticulturalist after her marriage to John Claudius Loudon. Her husband was a renowned botanist and after they married she contributed to his research and created the first popular gardening manuals, bringing the world of gardening to the young women of England.

Before she married, Loudon was orphaned at the age of 17, and when she had to find a means of supporting herself she wrote that “on the winding up of [her father’s] affairs, that it would be necessary to do something for [her] support” and so she published her “strange, wild novel called The Mummy.” And it is, in fact, quite a “strange, wild novel,” for it contains the first instance of a mummy being reanimated in the English language!

And our audiobook production of it is no less wild! We recorded over 48 different scenes in only 3 days, blending narrator and multi-voices, to bring this visionary narrative to life (again). Featuring Stefan Rudnicki as THE MUMMY Cheops, our top-natch cast of narrators went above and beyond in an audiobook clocking in at a whopping 18 hours and 9 minutes! In fact, you could say they “take the cake”!

Speaking of dessert, there was an actual cake to celebrate our final day of recording this science fiction, Steampunk, pre-feminist, Victorian curio masterpiece! Treat yourself to this delectable audiobook and purchase your copy today!