The Frankenstein Book of Prayer

By Steve Case

Can a monster pray? The creature invented by Mary Shelley was not the shambling mumbling monster from the movies (apologies to Mr. Karloff). Shelley’s creature learned to reason and speak with his ear to the cabin wall of a family who lived in the woods. He learned to read when he discovered a leather satchel full of books in that same forest. What if one of those books was a Bible?

• Language: English
• Publisher: John R. Mabry
• Release date: Jul 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9781958061459

Steve Case

Steve Case is one of America’s best-known and most accomplished entrepreneurs, and a pioneer in making the internet part of everyday life. He cofounded America Online in 1985, when just three percent of people were online for an average of just one hour a week. He saw the possibilities of the digital future and built AOL into the largest and most valuable internet company in the 1990s (and the first internet company to go public). Case’s passion for helping entrepreneurs remains his driving force. He was the founding chair of the Startup America Partnership—an effort launched at the White House in 2011 to accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship in every region of the country. Case also was the founding cochair of the National Advisory Council on Innovation & Entrepreneurship, and a member of President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, where he chaired the subcommittee on entrepreneurship.  He was active in passing the bipartisan JOBS Act in 2012, which made it easier for startups to raise capital. His engagement on policy led Politico to name him “Washington’s tech whisperer” in 2017.  As chairman and CEO of Revolution, a Washington, DC-based investment firm he cofounded in 2005, Case partners with visionary entrepreneurs to build businesses such as Zipcar, Sweetgreen, Clear, Tempus, DraftKings, and many others. Case also serves as chair of the Smithsonian Institution, which under his leadership has launched a bold effort to make the best of the Smithsonian available to every home and classroom. He is also Chairman of the Case Foundation, and with his wife Jean was among the first to commit to The Giving Pledge, dedicating a majority of their wealth to charitable causes.

Book preview

Dedication

For Boris

Apocryphile Press

PO Box 255

Hannacroix, NY 12087

www.apocryphilepress.com

Copyright © 2023 by Steve Case

ISBN 978-1-958061-44-2 | paper

ISBN 978-1-958061-45-9 | ePub

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without written permission of the author and publisher, except for brief quotations in printed reviews.

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Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Preface

The Prayers of the Monster

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to:

Eric Case for pictures and insight.

Bob Wells, Chuck Schodowksi, and Marty Sullivan for a wasted youth in front of the television.

Rev. Richard McCandless who didn’t care what color my Book of Common Prayer was.

Trader Joes because I always acknowledge Trader Joes in hopes they might shoot me some free coffee and JoJo Cookies due the amount consumed in any of my writing projects

Caleb Metcalf—I figure three more years and he’ll be old enough to watch the movie with me.

John Mabry for patience

Becky for love and patience beyond my comprehension.

Introduction

In Cleveland, Ohio, in the 1970s, local TV stations only had so much network programming on any given day, and the rest of the time, they had to fill in with local programming. On Friday nights, at about 11:30, after Dick Goddard (Cleveland’s most beloved weatherman) finished his forecast, WJKW would bring out two crazy guys who went by the names Hoolihan and Big Chuck. They would do stupid (often borrowed) skits, read jokes sent in by viewers, and promote local events like County Fairs and charity softball games. They would also show horror moves.

There were many Hammer films from the ’60s, a Martian invader flick, the occasional badly dubbed Godzilla movie, and the classics. Hoolihan and Big Chuck introduced me to the movie Frankenstein (1931). I love every frame of that film, from the warning at the beginning to the burning windmill collapsing in the final moments. Thus began a lifelong obsession.

I’ve seen all films. The Bride of Frankenstein and its overly dramatic remake with Sting and Mel Brooks’s masterpiece Young Frankenstein (Puuuuuutn ona Reeeeeeeetz.) I’ve seen the play with Benedict Cumberbatch and the movie with a strangely shirtless Kenneth Branagh.

The DC Comics depiction of the monster is surprisingly deep, and the