Prequel announced to P&P & Zombies

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In an announcement from the Department of Dead Horse Beating, Quirk Books has announced the next title in the Quirk Classics line will be a prequel to P&P&Z, Dawn of the Dreadfuls.

In this terrifying and hilarious prequel, we witness the genesis of the zombie plague in early-nineteenth century England. We watch Elizabeth Bennet evolve from a naïve young teenager into a savage slayer of the undead. We laugh as she begins her first clumsy training with nunchucks and katana swords and
cry when her first blush with romance goes tragically awry.

Though we did laugh at the “Master of Our Public Domain” bit on the main page, as Evil!Willow would say: Bored now. Isn’t it time to pick on another dead author yet? Or at least producing a parody that would actually appeal to Janeites? Maybe ask one to write it? Or someone who doesn’t only think he is a Janeite? (Don’t think we haven’t noticed all these books are written by men.)

Relinquishing the soapbox to the floor.

10 thoughts on “Prequel announced to P&P & Zombies”

  2. Allison T.

    This is a stupid idea and not for anyone over the age of 15.

    The (limited amount of) humor in P&P&Z came from the juxtaposition of Austen’s brilliant prose with the idea of flesh-eating zombies & ninjas and so on. But, hey! that was a one-trick pony. (Or poney, as Fanny would have it.) The joke’s stale now–give it a rest!

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  3. While I enjoyed P&P&Z, I think this prequel is like teenagers trying to one-up each other until it just gets out of hand. I don’t really see why Jane Austen is listed as an author when she doesn’t have any material that fits the prequel.

    Thanks for a hearty laugh, Mags. That EvilWillow quote is perfect. I got a nice image of her playing with her new puppy, the author of the prequel.

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  4. This entire trend feels so exploitive to me. There is nothing more frustrating than being asked, every time someone learns I love Austen, if I’ve read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I try to just be happy that more people are thinking about Austen but, as these stories have every hallmark of being the brain child of a marketing department, my instinct is to demand that Jane be left to those of us who will love and honor her. The prospect of this prequel leaves a horrible taste in my mouth.

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  5. I was bored when the title was announced. Glancing through the “introduction” (really just a place for the “author” to reminisce about how much money he’s made suckering people with this hack job) for the “deluxe edition” of P&P&Z yesterday, I was horrified at how blatantly this is the product of people who really care nothing about Austen at all (protestations that they “sincerely appreciate” or “admire profoundly” to the contrary, the “author” recalls how he had to “struggle” through the book in high school and hadn’t read it since, how he carefully selected his text – from the internet, and on and on). Alexa is completely correct about the genesis of the project, if the introduction is to be believed – it’s clever marketing that drives this entire project, nothing to do with appreciation of the books at all. And a sequel with nothing but situation names and a faux-Regency style just proves it.

    I think Mark Twain would be an excellent choice – let’s see how people respond to that classic anti-racist novel Huckleberry Finn recast as “Huck Finnpyre and Van Helsing’s Deathmatch on the Mississippi” – yeah, not so funny, is it, oh champions of such “brilliant” ideas as P&P&Z – after all, Huck Finn is a “serious” novel about “serious” issues, and Jane Austen is just chick lit about romance and girl cooties, right? Right? Oh, wait.

    I would, as a man who is proudly a Janeite, take issue with the simple statement that “most of these sequels are by men” – I do think it’s a problem, but because of the specific kind of men who are writing them, not because they are men. There are many men out there who have an intelligent, witty, and sincere love of Jane Austen – the people doing these “parodies” (read “money-grubbing cut-and-paste exercises”) are just very obviously not among them.

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  8. I’m also not thrilled with this prequel coming out. I am tired of this series. However, I think I have Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters coming to me to review and as I never read P&P&Z, maybe it will still have some “zing” for me.

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  9. Maria S

    The great problem in the world of entertainment and pop culture is that there is nothing new under the sun and people cannot come up with original ideas. They, therefore, recycle/resurrect every cliche and beaten horse out there. Witness all the “new” movie ideas such as Toy Story 3-D. What’s next? Madonna wannabe outfits from the ’80s?

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    • Mags

      It’s not that people can’t come up with original ideas, it’s that the publishers and studios, being risk-averse, don’t want to pay to make something unless they can be fairly sure it will be a hit. Unfortunately, putting Jane Austen’s name on something is seen as a guaranteed hit.

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