Lizzie the Zombie Slayer

A year ago, I’ll probably be appalled by the sight of this book.

Now I just can’t stop grinning at it.

I’m a Jane Austen fan but hardly an “uptight purist Janeite”. I enjoy P&P the way any girl tends to get swept away by a nice love story and also because of the way Elizabeth Bennet was drawn out. And Fitzwilliam Darcy is my ideal guy  - aloof but romantic, haughty but generous, and dependable and upright. Of course, he doesn’t have a doppelganger outside of Pemberley (but if you see one, do contact me; I’ll buy gold money first so he’ll not dismiss me). 

I’ve always been avoidy of gore and mayhem in movies, books, and any other media. It just wasn’t my thing. Recently, though, I find myself drawn to the science fiction and fantasy genre and realized that I can enjoy it to some extent and this one belongs to that category.

Jane Austen fans have mixed reactions, as to be expected. Publication date has reportedly been pushed for April this year and it is to be distributed by Quirk Books.

Here’s the blurb:

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies 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.

Jane Austen is the author of Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, and other masterpieces of English literature.

Seth Grahame-Smith is the author of How to Survive a Horror Movie and The Big Book of Porn. He lives in Los Angeles.

The idea is a bit sick and so darn funny. Well, it depends, of course, on what floats your boat.