From Zombies to Sea Monsters
Quirk Books has announced the followup to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, to be written by Ben H. Winters.
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).
We wonder if the author was inspired by this comment from AustenBlog Gentle Reader Sisi to a post about the Jane Austen’s Secret Boyfriend book:
I have my own theory, which would benefit from the coattails of “P&P and Zombies”: Cthulhu ate the unfortunate Devonshire gentleman. http://snipurl.com/fiv3q [images_google_com]
Teignmouth is quite close to Minster Hall, ancestral home of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, whose progenitor departed for North America under circumstances which remain shrouded in mystery to this day. As far as I can tell, dissolute Squire Lovecraft was not unlike Gen. Tilney. HPL himself reported that the man was in Dun territory, and had any number of dubious schemes to make money (getting a job was not on) the last of which failed spectacularly in some way. Just possibly, the squire may have patriotically hoped to enlist the Old Ones to sink Bonaparte, but HPL’s implication is that the fellow needed money and didn’t care how he got it. Cthulhu’s supporters were often rewarded with shipwreck treasure and extra large hauls of fish. Really, how much worse is it to sacrifice a supernumerary child to an extraterrestrial’s entourage than to do so on the marriage market or by making him join the Navy or a smuggling ring as more conventional Devon parents did? The timing would be right for the revision of NA. HPL’s ancestor was the youngest son (exactly JA’s age) who learned an honest trade and emigrated. The fate of his older brothers is unrecorded, but I suspect they went well with Cumberland sauce.
Except for the existence of Cthulhu, all of the foregoing is substantially true. If one is going to give one’s imagination free rein, why not go ventre a terre?
There’s also a book trailer, which we frankly found more entertaining than the Emma trailer (not to mention a quite deserving fate for a certain gentleman).
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Sea Monsters? They would fit better in Persuasion
. OMG! so zombies made so much money and they keep with this! Mercy!!!
Oh that trailer was awesome! Thanks for the good laugh.
I thought it would be better in Persuasion, too. Or Mansfield Park.
What a laugh.
I will confess to having been pleasantly surprised by P&P&Z. I thought Seth Grahame did a great job of keeping the joke from being too one-note. Will Ben Winters be capable of the same?
I’m having a hard time picturing how sea monsters will be incorporated into S&S as well as the zombies were into P&P (I obviously enjoyed P&P&Z). Sure the Dashwoods are at the cottage for a while, but there aren’t that many instances (from what I recall) near a body of water, so I’m having a harder time accepting this plot arrangement. I suppose Horatio Hornblower doesn’t have enough of a following for such a mash-up to work.
But that trailer was definitely worth watching.
I too feel as though it would work better had Colonel Brandon been in the navy, like Wentworth, rather than the military. But heck, anything for more Colonel Brandon is good enough for me! *waves Team Brandon flag*
I was so pleasantly surprised by P&P&Z that I can’t wait for this one! Loved the trailer!
There is the distinct possibility that the book trailor will be better than the book. V. funny video!
I am almost speechless. I do wonder if last weekend in Chawton the great scholars disccused this “new approach” to JA. I do not think so.
I’m sorry, but I don’t understand this or P&P&Z. What’s the meaning?
I loved P&P&Z so I am excited to see what this new title will be about. I am a bit sad that Seth Grahme is not writing it since he did such a great job with P&P&Z. I also thought sea monsters will be a bit harder to incorportate and Persuasion would have been a better fit.
Heeheeheehee! That was delightful. I do suspect the publishers of choosing S&S solely for the purpose of alliteration, which is unfortunate as I agree sea monsters would make much more sense in Persuasion. Just imagine the scenes at Lyme! But then, what would they call it? The Persuasion of Cthulu?
Also, delightful as that trailer was, and satisfying as it is to see a certain gentleman get his just desserts, that is not the John Willoughby I know–he’s much too selfless and gallant.
Oh well, suppose we can’t have everything.
Mansfield Park & Shapeshifters has to be next in line…
Wow, that’s awesome!
KL: Along with Mansfield Park and Shapeshifters should be Emma and Ectoplasm
Emma the Vampire Slayer is next, yes? =P
(Although I do think that S&S would have been better suited with a witch theme than sea monsters. Haha.)
Persuasion and Poltergeist?
Northanger Abbey and Nosferatu?
NA actually seems like it would be the best vehicle for this genre, since it is already spoofs on the horror conventions of its own era; adding those of our own would be a reasonable further step. But then, Pride and Prejudice as a brand is much better known, so much easier to exploit.
For I must agree with Sylvia M. above. At the risk of sounding like Mary Bennet, I do not really understand this. It does not seem funny. P&P&Z, aside from the joke of combining two wildy disparate notions, seems to me to cast no new light on either P&P or zombies. The trailer of S&S & SM is hilarious, true, but it’s five-minute trailer funny, not an-entire-book funny. Am I missing some extremely obvious point?
No Kathleen. You are not missing anything.
I’m also little perplexed about how they are going to incorporate sea monsters into S&S. But from the clip, it looks like the “sea” monsters may be living in any body of water. I can’t recall if Norland Park had lake, but certainly they might encounter something in the Thames when they are in London.
@Kathleen-I’m curious how NA would play out. Since it already mocks horror conventions, perhaps it would be better mashed-up with another genre. “The Tranforming Robots of Northanger Abbey,” perhaps, or “Northanger Abbey: The Wrath of Khan.”
Willoughby would never say save yourself, lol. He would just gaze at the lake from afar one day, and WISH he had been that man.