The Curse of Chalion is a 2001 fantasy novel by Lois McMaster Bujold. In 2002 it won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature and was nominated for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and Locus Awards in 2002.

Both The Curse of Chalion and its sequel Paladin of Souls (2003) are set in the landlocked medieval kingdom of Chalion. The Hallowed Hunt (2005) is a contemporaneous novel that takes place to the south of Chalion and has its origin from incidents arising in the Weald, several hundred years before.

Lupe dy Cazaril, a castillar (a knight or minor baron), returns home to the Royacy (Kingdom) of Chalion a broken man, though he is only in his mid-thirties. "Caz", as he is known to his friends, had defended a castle during a long siege, only to be ordered to surrender it. Afterward, a jealous enemy had seen to it that he was not ransomed (as were the rest of his men), but sold into slavery, spending 19 months as a galley slave before finally escaping.

His old noble patroness finds a use for him as a tutor for her granddaughter, the Royesse (Princess) Iselle, half-sister to the king, and her companion, Lady Betriz. Despite his ardent desire to live a safely low-profile, peaceful life, Caz finds himself drawn into a strange journey of dangers both spiritual and temporal as he seeks to dispel the debilitating curse that hangs over the royal family of Chalion.

The Curse of Frankenstein is a 1957 British horror film by Hammer Film Productions, based on the novel Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley. It was Hammer's first colour horror film, and the first of their Frankenstein series. Its worldwide success led to several sequels, and the studio's new versions of Dracula (1958) and The Mummy (1959) and established "Hammer Horror" as a distinctive brand of Gothic cinema. The film was directed by Terence Fisher and starred Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.

The film starts with Baron Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) in prison awaiting execution for murder, where he tells the story of his life to a priest. The story begins in his youth when his father's death results in his succeeding to the Frankenstein estate. He is mentored by a man named Paul Krempe (Robert Urquhart) and, as Victor ages, the two begin to collaborate on scientific experiments. One night, after a successful experiment in which they bring a dead dog back to life, Victor suggests that they create a human life from scratch.

Lois McMaster Bujold (born November 2, 1949, Columbus, Ohio) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy works. Bujold is one of the most acclaimed writers in her field, having won the prestigious Hugo Award for best novel four times, matching Robert A. Heinlein's record. Her novella The Mountains of Mourning won both the Hugo Award and Nebula Award. In the fantasy genre, The Curse of Chalion won the Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature and was nominated for the 2002 World Fantasy Award for best novel, and both her fourth Hugo Award and second Nebula Award were for Paladin of Souls. In 2011 she was awarded the Skylark Award.

The bulk of Bujold's works are part of three separate book series: the Vorkosigan Saga, the Chalion Series, and the Sharing Knife series.

Bujold is the daughter of Robert Charles McMaster and attributes her early interest in science fiction, as well as certain aspects of the Vorkosigan Saga, to his influence. He was editor of the monumental Nondestructive Testing Handbook generally referred to as McMaster on Materials.

Lloyd James (born 27 January 1937) is a former Bermudian cricketer.

James was born in Bermuda. He was a right-handed batsman and right-arm medium-fast bowler. He played one first-class match for Bermuda, against New Zealand in 1972.

He held the record for the highest individual score, 173*, in Bermudas annual Cup match game of cricket for over thirty years.

Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American science fiction writer known for his award-winning Mars trilogy. His work delves into ecological and sociological themes regularly, and many of his novels appear to be the direct result of his own scientific fascinations, such as the fifteen years of research and lifelong fascination with the planet Mars.

Robinson's work has been labeled by reviewers as literary science fiction.

Kim Stanley Robinson was born in Waukegan, Illinois, but grew up in Southern California. In 1974 he earned a B.A. in literature from the University of California, San Diego. In 1975, he earned a M.A. in English from Boston University and in 1982, he earned a PhD in English from the University of California, San Diego. His doctoral thesis, The Novels of Philip K. Dick, was published in 1984.

Robinson describes himself as a backpacker but not a mountain climber, though mountain climbing appears in several of his fiction works, most notably Antarctica, the Mars trilogy, "Green Mars" (a short story found in The Martians), Forty Signs of Rain, and Escape from Kathmandu.