Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

[Forkboy]

Are you a fan of the biting social commentary and masterful irony of Jane Austen?

Ever wish she and Dawn of the Dead creator George A. Romero could have teamed up to bring one of her stories to the big screen?

Well, you'll have to wait a bit for that, but in the meantime, we have the next best thing:

Quirk Books' upcoming Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, billed as "the classic Regency romance—now with ultraviolent zombie mayhem!" It's due April 15.

The book is a posthumous—natch—collaboration between Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith, the gentlemanly author of How to Survive a Horror Movie and The Big Book of Porn.

Here's how Quirk describes the book: " features the original text of Jane Austen's beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Complete with 20 illustrations in the style of C.E. Brock (the original illustrator of Pride and Prejudice), this insanely funny expanded edition will introduce Jane Austen's classic novel to new legions of fans."

:rofl:

News of a movie, too...

Remember Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the book that answers the question: Why didn't Jane Austen ever include the undead in her books?

Well, the Australian Herald Sun newspaper now reports that Hollywood is sniffing around, like a walking dead man after brains, to turn the satirical book into a movie.

The book, which will be published by Quirk Books in April, comes from Los Angeles-based TV comedy writer Seth Grahame-Smith, who has been able to update Austen's original tale because it is out of copyright. Grahame-Smith said about 85 per cent of his novel is Austen's original text.

Can you imagine? Colin Firth's Mr. Darcy with a shotgun blasting zombie heads? Keira Knightley's Elizabeth with her face rotted off? Oh, the possibilities.

http://scifiwire.com/2009/02/is-a-pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-movie-coming-to-get-you-barbara.php#more

[MercutioATC]

1. PERFECT!!

My girlfriend loves Jane Austen and I love zombie stories!

It'll be a great addition to our library :)

[Greyskye]

2. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Oh my!

My wife is a huge Jane Austin fan as well - not so hot on the zombies though. I think I'll get it for her anyway. :evilgrin:

[raccoon]

3. Sounds like a hoot, if there isn't too much gore. I'll depend on you guys

to let me know how it goes before I tackle it.

[superconnected]

4. Okay, I got into the book when I read it in H.S. but it was long and boring, so I would like to

trade in my "sweet" memory of that book for this celluloid trash.

It was a good book, don't get me wrong. I think this zombie take may be an improvement for the long boring read part though.

[Forkboy]

5. Zombies never makes anything worse by being in it.

:)

[Greyskye]

6. Don't forget "Pride and Predator"

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theampersand/archive/2009/02/17/pride-and-predator-jane-austen-to-battle-killer-aliens.aspx
Pride and Predator: Jane Austen to battle killer aliens
The film, reports Variety, "veers from the traditional period costume drama when an alien crash lands and begins to butcher the mannered (protagonists), who suddenly have more than marriage and inheritance to worry about."

"It felt like a fresh and funny way to blow apart the done-to-death Jane Austen genre by literally dropping this alien into the middle of a costume drama, where he stalks and slashes to horrific effect," Furnish said.

OK, it's a movie and not a book, but I'm sure there will be a novelization if the movie is greenlighted. :D

[Forkboy]

7. We could have Pride and Prejudice and Zombies vs Predator.

C'mon, they made TWO Scooby Doo movies...this is a shoe in. :)