Yesterday, as I was rifling through the mound of galleys that publishers oh-so-kindly sent our way, I came upon a book that made me sigh. Read the full post.
Jan 4
2010
09:08 AM ET
'Pride and Prejudice' updates: Enough!
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So for someone that has never read the orignial P&P, is P&P&Z worth it? I’m a huge fan of stories that have a sci-fi element to them and have had this book on my “To Read” list for awhile now. Any thoughts?
I don’t think it’s probably the best thing if you haven’t read the original– the fun is in seeing these familiar scenes completely changed. I’m not sure it would stand up very well as a zombie book on its own.
For those of you looking for a Louisa May Alcott update, there’s always the book “March,” which actually follows the girls’ father as he fights in the Civil War.
Please. Jane Austen does not need an update, any more than the Keira Knightley version of “Pride and Prejudce” was either necessary or bearable.
I tried to write “Jane Eyre and the Jackalope” but it just never took off.
Well, I have written a, I wouldn’t call it a mash-up, but a sequel to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that is true to the Frankenstein story about what happened to the Female Creature Victor Frankenstein (not a baron, not a doctor) created on an Orcadian skar, regretted that “future generations might curse more for a pest,” tore apart, put the body parts into a basket laden down with stones and put the basket onto a little skiff, sailed the skiff out into the North Sea, and dropped it overboard. But damned if I can get it published. Have been trying for some time. Maybe now, what with heightened environmental awareness, especially with Arctic melting and all (the origianl sotry begins north and east of Archangel, you’ll recall), I can get “The Female Creature” published. I live in Pt. Angeles, about 60 miles n.n.e. of newly infamous Forks, Wa. The thing’s ready to go–be a trade publication, a graphic novel, a movie, a stage play, a musical, a video game, whatever. I hold the copy right. And every other version of the “bride” is all wrong. Believe me. I put in years of research.
for serious enquiries, contact ellisjard@gmail.com
No more Austen please, her writing is already bad enough, then you have these lazy “authors” reestablishing her works…
How about this for a fresh update: There’s a new novel out that has Steinbeck, Tolstoy, Kafka, Dickens and Melville endorsing it on the cover from the afterlife. “Forgiving Ararat” by Gita Nazareth. The novel itself is set in the afterlife and centered around a young lawyer and new mother named Brek Cuttler who dies unexpectedly and, arriving in heaven, is chosen to join the elite lawyers who defend souls at the Final Judgment. It’s actually a serious, well-written literary novel with a big story and big questions a la “East of Eden”
I should add that “Forgiving Ararat” rather neatly updates Dante by have lawyers and their clients (souls) standing trial at the “Final Judgment.” It also contains a telling Dante quote: “Follow me and I will be your guide and lead you forth through an eternal place. There you shall see the ancient spirits tried.”
I just read this in Publishers Weekly … hurrah!
“Presenting a rather twisted twist on the tried-and-true, Little Vampire Women proves that in a post–Pride and Prejudice and Zombies world, nothing is safe from bloodthirsty creatures of the night. Lynn Messina reimagines Louisa May Alcott’s March sisters as vampires in this May paperback, due from HarperTeen with a 60,000-copy first printing. The publisher promises that the close-knit siblings are sweeter and more loving than ever—and have ravenous appetites.”