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‘Sense and Sensibility’ gets ‘Zombies’ treatment
At midnight, the folks at Quirk - who brought you the best-selling Jane Austen mashup Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - announced that they’re back with the next book in the series, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, which goes on sale Sept. 15 (complete with 15 illustrations - we’ve brought you two of them - and a readers’ discussion guide). Quirk editor Jason Rekulak, the creator of the series (”I just thought it would be really funny to desecrate a classic work of literature”) recently said that he didn’t want to go out there “with the one-millionth vampire novel that’s going to be published this year.” P&P&Z’s Seth Grahame Smith did not write this sequel, since he recently left the franchise and signed a hefty contract with Grand Central for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. I talked to the series’ new author, Ben H. Winters, last week.
I know Quirk came up with the title and the concept for the novel … what did you think when you first heard “sea monsters”?
I loved the idea of sea monsters. I’d hate to say our culture is oversaturated with vampires and zombies, but it was fun to do something different. I got to research shark attacks, sea serpents, pirates, octopi. I went back and read a lot of period peril-at-sea novels - I got really into H.P. Lovecraft. I was also heavily influenced by Jaws and even the first season of Lost (much of the action in the book is set on a desolate island).
Did Quirk give you free rein?
They did. They gave me the title, a copy of Sense and Sensibility, and told me to go to town.
The Jane Austen aficionados, who can be a tough bunch, seemed to like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
I feel like people who really love Austen get it. Her novels are so strong, so cleverly constructed, so smart and dry, they really lend themselves to over-the-top violence.
Okay, what kind of creatures can we look forward to in the book?
A giant rampaging mutant lobster. Octopi with glittering tentacles. And pirates - I couldn’t resist pirates. I studied pirate lore, from R.L. Stevenson to Pirates of the Caribbean.
Compare to the last book, if you would.
Well, our monster-to-Austen ratio is higher than in the last book, about 60-40 (that’s 60 Austen, 40 me). That’s proportionally more monsters, swordfights, and submarines.
SOURCE: ew.com