Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance-now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! (Quirk Classics) [Illustrated] [Paperback]

The moment, Monster-lit mash-ups. 'Its a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains. Never was this truth more plain than during the recent attacks at Netherfield Park, in which a household of eighteen was slaughtered and consumed by a horde of the living dead.' So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Los Angeles screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith, in which Jane Austen's Regency prose is drenched in human gore and spiked with Shaolin ninja moves...Scholars think it's a bloody travesty, and the fans agree - the bloodier the better. --The Times magazine, April 18, 2009...The new trend for adding a touch of blood and gore to the genteel world inhabited by the likes of Elizabeth Bennett and the Dashwood sisters is set to reach grisly new heights next month with the publication of a series of books which will indulge the public's apparently insatiable thirst for horror "mash-up" literature. ...Two weeks later, the US-based creators of the best-selling publishing phenomenon Pride and Prejudice and Zombies are due to unleash their follow-up, which brings a bit of aquatic horror to Austen's debut with Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.
... Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has sold over 700,000 copies and is to be made into a film'
--The Independent, 13 August 2009--Name the best science fiction titles.Speculative fiction has produced some of the most intriguing story titles ever. But which are the best of the best?
You should never judge a book by its cover, but should you judge a story by its title? If the recent success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is anything to go by, then for many readers today the answer is yes. Seth Grahame-Smith's bestselling mash-up of Jane Austen and George A Romero became one of the most pre-ordered titles this side of The Lost Symbol, based solely on a zeitgeist-surfing title. And if those readers came to the story expecting an obvious joke stretched thin over 316 pages too many, they were not disappointed. --The Guardian, 20 November 2009

A quirky twist. Wannabe novelists looking for a marketable idea can settle on an already successful literary classic that is a surefire seller, add a twist and put it out there all over again. That appears to be the way forward for some, including a version of 'Pride and Prejudice', published by Quirk Books in which the original text is enhanced with new scenes of zombies, by Seth Grahame-Smith--The Independent, November, 2009--There's a whole new genre of Jane Austen works. While most adaptations pride themselves on loyally adhering to the original, a recent version of Austen's most famous novel by writer Seth Grahame-Smith has introduced a new element. His book is entitled Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and is an example of the increasingly popular 'mash-up' genre. Grahame-Smith's interpretation sees a household of 18 people slaughtered and consumed by the living dead, and endows the Bennet sisters with martial arts skills to keep the creatures off their crinolines. 'I tried to space through the book sequences of gratuitous gore, so it would be more breezy than the original,' said Grahame-Smith--Pride and Prejudice and Zombies uses some clever genre plot devices to spice up the original novel, including the Bennett sisters substituting reading and playing music for sparring with martial arts experts in the far east and becoming trained assassins, with the sole purpose of defeating the zombie army waiting to attack--Eatmt Brains dot com, Nov, 2009--Jane Austen is quintessentially British, and her novel Pride and Prejudice has been one of the most cherished love stories in classic literature. But what would happen if you were to combine Pride and Prejudice with gore, senseless violence, and the undead? You get the exciting and entertaining Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by --Jane Austen's World, November, 2009

A quirky twist. Wannabe novelists looking for a marketable idea can settle on an already successful literary classic that is a surefire seller, add a twist and put it out there all over again. That appears to be the way forward for some, including a version of "Pride and Prejudice", published by Quirk Books in which the original text is enhanced with new scenes of zombies, by Seth Grahame-Smith. --Seth Grahame-Smith

There's a whole new genre of Jane Austen works. While most adaptations pride themselves on loyally adhering to the original, a recent version of Austen's most famous novel by writer Seth Grahame-Smith has introduced a new element. His book is entitled Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and is an example of the increasingly popular 'mash-up' genre. Grahame-Smith's interpretation sees a household of 18 people slaughtered and consumed by the living dead, and endows the Bennet sisters with martial arts skills to keep the creatures off their crinolines. 'I tried to space through the book sequences of gratuitous gore, so it would be more breezy than the original,' said Grahame-Smith. --Grahame-Smith

A quirky twist. Wannabe novelists looking for a marketable idea can settle on an already successful literary classic that is a surefire seller, add a twist and put it out there all over again. That appears to be the way forward for some, including a version of "Pride and Prejudice", published by Quirk Books in which the original text is enhanced with new scenes of zombies, by Seth Grahame-Smith.

There's a whole new genre of Jane Austen works. While most adaptations pride themselves on loyally adhering to the original, a recent version of Austen's most famous novel by writer Seth Grahame-Smith has introduced a new element. His book is entitled Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and is an example of the increasingly popular 'mash-up' genre. Grahame-Smith's interpretation sees a household of 18 people slaughtered and consumed by the living dead, and endows the Bennet sisters with martial arts skills to keep the creatures off their crinolines. 'I tried to space through the book sequences of gratuitous gore, so it would be more breezy than the original,' said Grahame-Smith.

The public's unanticipated desire for the unusual conflation of Regency romance and the undead this morning sent Seth Grahame-Smith's zombie mash-up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies soaring to the top of Amazon's UK "movers and shakers" chart, which monitors the books which are experiencing sudden demand from consumers.

Already sitting at number three in the New York Times bestseller lists, the novel - which sees Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters battling a zombie menace that has descended upon the quiet English village of Meryton - looks likely to make a similar killing in the British market.

"Two classic institutions come head to head in this hilariously-titled novel that inserts zombie scenes into Jane Austen's classic"

"The perfect beach read: elegant manners, witty repartee and merciless slaughter of the undead."
(a holiday read suggestion for David Cameron...)

"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" features the original text of Jane Austen's beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone crunching zombie action.

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.

CHAPTER 1

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession
of brains must be in want of more brains. Never was this
truth more plain than during the recent attacks at Netherfield Park,
in which a household of eighteen was slaughtered and consumed by
a horde of the living dead.
"My dear Mr. Bennet," said his lady to him one day, "have you
heard that Netherfield Park is occupied again?"
Mr. Bennet replied that he had not and went about his morning
business of dagger sharpening and musket polishing--for attacks by the
unmentionables had grown alarmingly frequent in recent weeks.
"But it is," returned she.
Mr. Bennet made no answer.
"Do you not want to know who has taken it?" cried his wife
impatiently.
"Woman, I am attending to my musket. Prattle on if you must, but
leave me to the defense of my estate!"
This was invitation enough.
"Why, my dear, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young
man of large fortune; that he escaped London in a chaise and four just
as the strange plague broke through the Manchester line."
"What is his name?"
"Bingley. A single man of four or five thousand a year. What a fine
thing for our girls!"
"How so? Can he train them in the ways of swordsmanship and
musketry?"
"How can you be so tiresome! You must know that I am thinking
of his marrying one of them."
"Marriage? In times such as these? Surely this Bingley has no such
designs."
"Designs! Nonsense, how can you talk so! It is very likely that he
may fall in love with one of them, and therefore you must visit him as
soon as he comes."
"I see no occasion for that. And besides, we mustn't busy the roads
more than is absolutely necessary, lest we lose more horses and carriages
to the unfortunate scourge that has so troubled our beloved
Hertfordshire of late."
"But consider your daughters!"
"I am considering them, silly woman! I would much prefer their
minds be engaged in the deadly arts than clouded with dreams of marriage
and fortune, as your own so clearly is! Go and see this Bingley if
you must, though I warn you that none of our girls has much to recommend
them; they are all silly and ignorant like their mother, the
exception being Lizzy, who has something more of the killer instinct
than her sisters."
"Mr. Bennet, how can you abuse your own children in such a
way? You take delight in vexing me. You have no compassion for my
poor nerves."
"You mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves.
They are my old friends. I have heard of little else these last twenty
years at least."
Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour,
reserve, and self-discipline, that the experience of three-and-twenty
years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character.
Her mind was less difficult to develop. She was a woman of mean understanding,
little information, and uncertain temper. When she was discontented,
she fancied herself nervous. And when she was nervous--as
she was nearly all the time since the first outbreak of the strange plague
in her youth--she sought solace in the comfort of the traditions which
now seemed mere trifles to others.

The business of Mr. Bennett's life was to keep his daughters alive.
The business of Mrs. Bennett's was to get them married.