The work of Jane Austen has proved to be rather fertile soil from which to raise the dead. With Pride and Prejudice and Zombies author Seth Grahame-Smith moving on from Plain Jane to Honest Abe, Quirk Books drafted Steve Hockensmith to pen the prequel to their unexpected mash-up hit, Dawn of the Dreadfuls. We spoke with Hockensmith about Austen, zombies, and why those two great tastes taste so great together.

Had you read the original before you got the job to write the prequel?

I had not, but I knew of it well. I am an Entertainment Weekly subscriber so I had been seeing mention of it coming down the pipe for quite some time. It was actually pretty funny because the day when I got the call from someone in my agent’s office to ask, “Have you heard of this thing call Pride and Prejudice and Zombies?” and I said of course, and she threw out that there might be an opportunity to write the prequel, I had to run out and buy a copy immediately, because I didn’t want to start talking about this until I had read it. Although the two books are very different, of course, I hasten to add. I ran to the local Borders, and they were sold out. So I ran up the street to the little independent corner bookstore that was a little further on. I go in and there was a lady behind the counter, a nice little grey-haired bookstore employee type, and I say to her I’m looking for this book called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. And she just rolls her eyes and says, “Oh…that,” and she proceeds, rather begrudgingly, to lead me to this table where there is only a single copy left. READ FULL STORY »