Zombie Slash

Update, 12/3/09, 12:50PM: Our suspicions that this report was a little shady are confirmed. Author Seth Grahame-Smith confirms that the rumor is false and the adaptation of P&P&Z is to be a feature film. Either way, we are still hoping for some parody of the BBC miniseries — possibly the infamous lake scene? [The original post follows.]

According to reports based on the Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Twitter feed, the zombie-romance-classic mashup will be adapted into a 6-part miniseries. As P&P&Z fans, we can’t wait to see this Regency-ninja-zombie thing done right!

The miniseries will evidently be produced by Deadline Productions, which seems relatively legit. We are, however, calling the report unconfirmed, since we’re unsure of the Twitter page’s authenticity. But IMDB and P&P&Z author Seth Grahame-Smith have mentioned a P&P&Z adaptation, and the Twitter page does have some pretty great concept art (as seen on the left of this post) — so, we’re going to go ahead and celebrate.

Anyone who is a fan of P+P-Z (i.e., the original Pride and Prejudice) knows that the most beloved adaptation is the 6-part 1995 Pride and Prejudice BBC miniseries starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.

This begs the question of whether the miniseries will be produced as a parody of the much-loved BBC miniseries. We say, bring on the critical disdain!

Related: Check out our review of P&P&Z and our other P&P&Z-related posts.

The biggest problem with Breathers, a great new zombie book released last month, could be that no one knows what genre it belongs to. It’s about zombies, but it’s not exactly a horror book. It has romance, but it’s no love story. It’s a dark comedy, sure, but it’s more than that. Some reviews are calling Breathers a Rom-Zom-Com, short for a zombie romantic comedy, but even that seems like a stretch.

Breathers is contemporary, humorous and sophisticated. If it weren’t for the zombies, this book would be on the shelf next to Nick Hornby’s latest and Fight Club. Why? Because I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the genre it belongs to is the poorly understood male ennui: A bored man struggles through a depressing existence, eventually learning how to take back his own life. Except the main character is a zombie, so he’s actually taking back his undeath.

And there’s no mistaking it — Breathers is definitely a zombie book. The story is told in first-person by Andy, a rotting corpse that lives in his parents’ wine cellar after reanimating, wandering out of the mortuary and getting locked up with the other itinerant undead at the SPCA. Between dull days and nights of watching bad television while drinking expensive wine and shampoo, Andy commiserates with other zombies at Undead Anonymous. Hilarity and poignancy ensue.

Breathers is cool and fresh new fiction. It’s the kind of zombie book you could loan to your mother. As long as your mother is okay with a little violence, irreverence and necrophilia — assuming it’s necrophilia if both parties are dead. Or undead. Whatever.

I’m giving Breathers five brains, then subtracting a half brain because, like zombies, the book starts off a tad slow but will get you in the end.

Further reading: Breathers has a pretty cool web page, Undead Anonymous, which has some good literature on coping with undeath.

Today is the official release date of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith and Jane Austen. As I mentioned last week, I was super excited to read it. I’m actually a bigger fan of Austen than I generally admit, so combined with my love of zombies, I thought I’d be the perfect demographic.

The problem is that I might just be too big a fan of Austen and too big a fan of zombies to fully appreciate the combination. It’s like making a sandwich with peanut butter and bacon. They’re both delicious on their own, but together?

I know people were saying all this before the book came out, but I didn’t believe them. Because, you know, everything is better with zombies. And the zombies in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies are great. There just aren’t enough of them. But, to make room for the zombies, there is also less of Darcy and Elizabeth, the characters that make Pride and Prejudice so lovable. As a result, romance and mayhem are in competition.

That said, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was thoroughly enjoyable. It was funny and gruesome and had lots of ninja vs. zombie action. Grahame-Smith’s interpretation of Regency England included ongoing humor about vomit and balls. (Historical note: “Balls” once referred to social gatherings at which guests danced, rather than, “heheh, balls.”) Really, I couldn’t put the book down.

Grahame-Smith’s literary mashup, though not wholly seamless, is a fun and fantastical take on the Austen’s classic novel. Austen was a progressive woman with a sense of humor, but she feared that Pride and Prejudice was “rather too light, and bright, and sparkling.” Had she lived in modern times, maybe she would have realized that zombies were exactly the soiling the novel needed. Maybe.

I’m giving the book four brains out of five.

Although Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is not due to release until April 8, some booksellers are selling the book in advance. Publishers are usually not happy with these unofficial pre-releases because they can lower the book’s first week sales, but they can also increase buzz if the feedback from early sales is good.

I am personally thrilled with P&P&Z’s accidental pre-release — it means I got my copy last night!! I’ll post a review here once I’m done, and hell, I’m so psyched, I’m even posting pictures of my book after the jump.

For those stuck waiting till the official release, the publisher has released the first three chapters online for free, and more reviews are pouring in. Boing Boing recently gave the book a mixed review, but this is mostly because Cory Doctorow doesn’t like Jane Austen. I am an Austen fan and am loving the book so far.

Continue reading »

What will you do when the undead hit your neighborhood? Get some practice with these choose-your-own-zombie-adventures!

The Outbreak is a choose-your-own-adventure zombie film that was released last fall. The film is interactive and online, which makes for at least fifteen minutes of fantastic entertainment. Although the production is B-movie quality, the interactivity and availability give it an A in zombiliciousness. (Hint: if you don’t survive the feeding frenzy on your first attempt, click “chapter select” to go back a step.)

Check out the trailer below, or go straight to the site for zombie action.

If you’re looking for a more traditional choose-your-own-zombie-adventure, look no further than the newly released Zombie Bank Run. The story follows Samuel Nelson, a man who lost it all in the Great Depression, and might just lose his life too in the zombie apocalypse.

As you might expect, Zombie Bank Run isn’t the finest literature out there, but it definitely gets bonus points for creativity and, of course, for zombies, and provides at least a good hour of zombie fun. Get started on the adventure here!

I recently picked up The Living Dead, edited by John Joseph Adams, an anthology of zombie-themed fiction that includes stories by authors such as Stephen King, George R. R. Martin and Clive Barker.

The Living Dead offers a fresh take on zombie fiction. These are stories that you’ll enjoy for their literary value as much as for their zombie mayhem. They include great characters, great ideas and great writing.

Although The Living Dead provides its share of Romero-style zombies, there are also some new and liberal interpretations of the zombie theme. Some stories feature zombies can think and talk (”Beautiful Stuff” by Susan Palwick), characters that have been influenced by zombies in popular culture (”Everything is Better with Zombies” by Hannah Wolf Bowen) or zombies that might not really be zombies (”The Dead Kid” by Darrell Schweitzer).

Adams’ compilation is might not be the most zombie-bang for your buck (although there definitely is some R-rated zombie banging), but it is a must-read for anyone watching as zombies amble and claw their way into popular culture.

We just got an indirect tip from one of the few insiders who’s read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies that Jane Austen’s original Pride and Prejudice text is unabridged with “maybe a few alterations”, and the incorporation of the zombie story is “absolutely amazing”. For many horror, fantasy, and sci-fi fans, this is going to be the first time they’ve read Jane Austen at all.

It’s been an ongoing trend to adapt Jane Austen stories, and especially Pride and Prejudice, to new settings (including Bollywood), to write sequels and new versions of the story from other points of view (like the Fitzwilliam Darcy Gentleman series), and even to add a modern sci-fi twist (as in Lost in Austen). But none of these stories reuse all of the original Austen text with little rewriting, as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is said to do. It’s gutsy — and I can’t wait to read it.

Another upcoming zombie love story that’s getting some press is Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament by debut novelist S. G. Browne. From the reviews, it sounds like your typical coming-of-age romantic comedy set to a silly zombie beat.

Breathers, which doesn’t come out until March 3, is already being adapted for film by Geoff LaTulippe. It may not be getting all the buzz of P&P&Z, but it’s got potential.

We’re itching to get our hands on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith, which comes out March 13th, and we aren’t the only ones. This book has gotten so many pre-orders on Amazon that the publisher apparently gave the author a pony.

P&P&Z Author Grahame-Smith

Being a huge fan of both Jane Austen and zombie lit, I was already sold on this book, but if I hadn’t been, the author’s Valentine’s day blog post from Darcy to Elizabeth would’ve sold me.

Seth Grahame-Smith, we’ll be watching you. We like your brains.

Zombie Slash is a new website dedicated to the zombie crossover genre … for example, zombie-slash-regency-literature. We’ll have news, links, videos, discussion, and so on. Watch this space.