Welcome to Friday Bookblogging, Gentle Readers! We have several pieces of Jane Austen book news to cover this week, mainly because the Editrix has been feeling extremely lazy all week and saying, “Ah, save it for Friday Bookblogging.” Now enjoy the fruit of her sloth.

Laurel Ann reports at Jane Austen Today that Pride and Prejudice and Zombies has been spotted for sale at some Borders stores (and Alert Janeite Sophie tells us that she has actually purchased a copy, and is quite enjoying it). Laurel Ann received her advance copy; none yet here at AustenBlog World Headquarters, though.

Speaking of monster mashups, John Kessel’s novelette, “Pride and Prometheus,” has been nominated for a Nebula Award from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The story mixes up Jane Austen and Frankenstein; we’re not sure how, as we haven’t read it, but John has kindly put a PDF of the story on his website, and also provided a two-part podcast in which he reads it. We’ll be checking it out this weekend.

The Baja Janeite let us know that she found a bargain on two of Jane Austen’s novels.

Just picked up a copy of Orgullo y Prejuico (P&P) and Sentido y Sensibilidad (S&S) at the Mega Comercial (Mexican chain store comparable to Super Walmart) here in Los Cabos.

These two hardback books plus several other well known titles are advertised as “the best romantic novels of all time” and only cost $49 pesos (about $3.50 US)! They have very pretty pastel covers including an 1800’s illustration and bit of gold scrollwork and dainty flowers. These books were actually printed in Uruquay in 2007, but they are distributed by Santillana Ediciones in Mexico City. A great bargain even with the financial crisis here!

She was even persuaded to send us photos of the books, and they are quite beautiful! Click on the thumbnails for larger versions.

Illustrator Ben Templesmith has drawn a cover for Emma for a friend, using the draw-your-own-cover Penguin edition of the novel. We think it must be the scene in which Emma spends a night wondering if it’s too late for her and Mr. Knightley.

A preview of this week’s Times Literary Supplement drops a rather tantalizing hint: the soon-to-be-published letters of Samuel Beckett indicate, among other things, that he was influenced by Jane Austen. Well, we’ve been Waiting for Tilney for an awful long time now, so okay. 😉

An article in Time discusses posthumous publications of an author’s work. Jane Austen is mentioned in passing. We figure Jane probably discussed at least the publication of Northanger Abbey and Persuasion with Cassandra and possibly even Henry before she died, and if not, that she would never have begrudged them the bit of money they made on the publication. Jane’s other unpublished manuscripts were given out by Cassandra as remembrances, as were the letters she did not burn. We think that doesn’t mean we, as Jane’s fans, don’t have the right to read them; but we think it’s also important to understand they were only meant as remembrances, and not take them too seriously. Just enjoy them.

That wraps up another week’s Friday Bookblogging, so until next time, Gentle Readers, always remember: Books Are Nice!