Austen’s Quirks

Not unlike a pile of reanimated zombie corpses, Jane Austen’s works, themes and characters are being resuscitated all over the place. Hacked up, monster-mashed together with more contemporary sensibilities that mix gore, B-movie violence, and possibly romance, Austen’s works are finally blunt-stitched back together in a manner befitting Dr. Frankenstein’s monster. (Authors take note: that one’s mine).

Following hot on the heels of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (also available in a “deluxe heirloom edition” with “30% more zombies”), Quirk Classics has just announced the next hybrid Austen tale: Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. Though the book is available for pre-order, it won’t be released until 15 September 2009.

In a similar vein (so to speak) and capitalizing on the current wave of the vampire fiction craze, Mr Darcy, Vampyre is due out August 1. 

Next we’ll have Jane Bites Back, due in 2010, plus The Immortal Jane Austen, apparently the first in a series about Jane herself as a vampire hunter.

It turns out you can beat a dead horse.

Credit where credit is due: Quirk Classics has outdone themselves with a Youtube trailer for S&S&SM.

And you thought Austen was a one-trick pony.