Mary Shelley, “The Last Man”, 1826 was an apocalyptic, science-fiction novel set in the future. Lionel Verney is the protagonist and title character, “Last Man”. Last Man “Lionel Verney” is the survivor of germ pandemic that kills 99% of the world’s population. The 1% remaining are injured, except Lionel Verney. The story is futuristic set in the 21st century, and was adapted to a film in 2008 of the same title. The protagonist character is largely autobiographical of Mary Shelley, and the character “Adrian” is based on her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mary Shelley, “The Last Man”, 1826 is biological “hard” science-fiction. The pandemic “fear” places the novel in the Sci-Fi sub-genre of horror. Biological terror science-fiction after, Mary Shelley, “Frankenstein; or,The New Prometheus”, 1818 of course!
