Jane Austen Monster Classics to Become Graphic Novels

Jane Austen books are reaching a new  audience and attaining cult classic status – they've been re-conceived as the most playfully bizarre parodies we can think of in the form of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters both published by Quirk Books. There are a whole other bunch of copy cats out there in book market land but it's our understanding that these two titles started the trend, with P & P & Z hitting #3 on the New York Times Best Seller List. We haven't read them yet ("yet" being the operative word) but they sound like a hoot and Seth Grahame-Smith who contributed his 15% of zombie fiction to Austen's 85% original content should be congratulated for thinking outside the box and making us laugh at the mere notion of the title. Ben H Winters is the contributor to S & S & SM.

The good news is that the books have become bidding material for Hollywood producers, and there is to be a graphic novel in the work for P & P & Z to be adapted by Tony Lee, illustrated by Cliff Richards and published by Del Ray. Can't wait! In the meantime we may never be able to watch any BBC television adaptations in the same way again.