Until his recent tragic death in an automobile accident, iBooks publisher Byron Preiss had been reissuing some of his long-out-of-print Dell anthologies, including THE ULTIMATE FRANKENSTEIN, which has an interesting mix of authors as varied as Katherine Dunn (GEEK LOVE), A.I.’s Brian Adliss and sci-fi master Isaac Asimov.

All write about literature’s arguably most famous monster – some quite seriously, others not so much – recasting him as a football player, an actor, a homeless drifter, a psych patient and a sexual deviant. S.P. Somtow’s tale is the most disturbing and carnal, while F. Paul Wilson get the points for all-around creepiness. Benjamin M. Schutz presents his story uniquely, in the form of a forensic evaluation report in “The State Versus Adam Shelley.” And the award for Most Unlikely Author to Appear in a Frankenstein Book goes to none other than critically acclaimed cult fave Kurt Vonnegut, whose interesting and experimental “Fortitude” reads like a stage play.

Complete with a Franken-filmography, the collection is fun, breezy, well-written overall and easily one of the very best Frankenstein books I have ever read. As editor, Preiss gave the same treatment to Bram Stoker’s vampire villain with THE ULTIMATE DRACULA, which is also available and worth reading, though not as much as this one. Similar volumes once existed for werewolves, witches and zombies, but Preiss’ passing sadly leaves their chances for back-in-print status less than hopeful.