The publisher behind the hit Jane Austen horror remix novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is planning a prequel to the book, entitled Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls
The original Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was published in April this year by Quirk Classics and quickly became a hit, with readers around the globe soaking up Grahame-Smith’s injection of Jane Austen’s classic text (now out of copyright) with a number of zombie incursions and other references to the undead; for example, it is common for polite ladies to study martial arts.
The book was quickly followed by Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, created by another author, Ben H. Winters. The book was published in September this year, but has not yet found the same level of acclaim and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
On its site, Quirk has published a blurb for the new book, billed as a prequel to the original Pride and Prejudice and Zombies:
“In this terrifying and hilarious prequel, we witness the genesis of the zombie plague in early-nineteenth century England. We watch Elizabeth Bennet evolve from a naïve young teenager into a savage slayer of the undead.
We laugh as she begins her first clumsy training with nunchucks and katana swords and cry when her first blush with romance goes tragically awry. Written by acclaimed novelist (and Edgar Award nominee) Steve Hockensmith, Dawn of the Dreadfuls invites Austen fans to step back into Regency England, Land of the Undead!”
The book does not appear to be a direct mixup of a Jane Austen novel with horror themes, as the previous two books were. It is slated to go on sale in March 2010.
Readers so far appear to be skeptical about the new Quirk effort. In the comments on the AustenProse blog, one wrote: “I enjoyed P&P&Z but a prequel? And not even written by the same author(s)? Now it just seems like a money-making scheme. I have a feeling this one won’t have the same success as the other two.”
But in the comments on the Shelf Life blog on Entertainment Weekly, another reader wrote:
“Well, I’m a bit of a sucker for this stuff. I really liked PPZ – it was silly and yeah, the zombies stuff felt jammed in there a bit, but if I wanted to read P&P I would have just reread it, you know? SS&SM was actually better at the fantasy stuff – there was more original writing, so the story flowed more naturally and it was very inventive. I’ll probably read this prequel too.”
Commentary
I’ve only read snippets of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but there is certainly a great deal of humour to be found in the book. I have also read almost all of Jane Austen’s work (without zombies or sea monsters).
However, the problem I found was that there weren’t nearly enough supernatural events or action in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to keep me interested … the book actually reads relatively similarly to the original in most parts!
Apparently, from reading reviews, the author of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters realised this problem and injected quite a bit more original prose into its pages, making it easier to get into for modern readers.
So where does leave the third book, which seems entirely without direct input from Austen? Probably in murky waters. So far publisher Quirk appears to have survived on what I would call a book ‘gimmick’ – take a classic work of literature and inject a modern spin. It’s easy marketing; you can sell such books to several ready-made audiences.
However, I would say this kind of gimmick can only last so long before audiences get tired of it and want to return to more original worlds. The next Pride and Prejudice and Zombies book will likely sell, but I wouldn’t expect a bestseller.
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