Monster Mash

Some experts are actually calling it monster lit (try here, here, and here for starters), but I like Gabe's suggestion of "monster mashup" and feel that a more accurate description would be mashup monster lit, or perhaps monster mashup lit (now that has a nice ring to it!). After all, monster lit could refer to so many types of literature involving monsters, but there's no mistaking what a mashup involves.

What am I talking about, exactly? Oh, it's this new trend where authors (and soon Hollywood) take public domain stories and throw in zombies, vampires, and all sorts of other creatures to turn classic novels into all-new sci-fi, thriller, and horror tales.

The genre really took off with the publishing of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies this year, but it's certainly not the only title available (or soon to be available) on the market.

Unfortunately, there are also a lot of "re-imaginings" of history and classic novels -- but with zombies, demons, and other monsters thrown in for good measure -- getting lumped in with these mashup monster lit pieces. Examples include A.E. Moorat's Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter, which to my knowledge does not contain any mashups of actual novels; it just recasts Queen Victoria as "an ass-kicking killer of evil creatures." The thing is that these mashups take a lot of work and skill that's quite different from simply rewriting history or writing a quirky new sequel that picks up where a classic left off (though I certainly don't mean to minimalize the effort put into such books as QVDH, since no writing process is truly "simple").

If this writing process took no talent/effort at all, then you wouldn't get Austen and classic literature fans raving about these new books. So, kudos to companies like Krisostomus for relegating these other books to historical fiction and to Publishers Weekly for lumping them in creepy fiction and other such categories, where they belong.

(Actually, I want to take back that comment about these other books "simply" rewriting history; they do what all good historical fictions do, which is to take real people or events and add in imaginary characters or events to create a new story. In fact, I'm looking forward to Grahame-Smith's next book, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.)

But the fact of the matter remains that those books employ different writing devices than the mashups, so maybe I'll compile a different list of those other books later.

Here's a list of monster lit mashups, complete with descriptions and links when available:

Already Available

The War of the Worlds Plus Blood, Guts and Zombies by H.G. Wells and Eric S. Brown, published by Coscom Entertainment; available since 4/30/2009. Earth's inhabitants find themselves facing not only the newly arrived Martian invaders, but legions of their own undead compatriots as well. Considering Mr. Brown's extensive list of books in the horror genre, particularly regarding zombies, I'm surprised this one hasn't gotten more popularity, and so far as I can find is the true "father" of mashup monster lit (unless I can find an older book by a more respected author, of course).

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith, published by Quirk Books; available since 6/01/2009. Characters from Jane Austen's original novel face zombies when a mysterious plague brings Meryton's dead back to life. Keep your eyes peeled, because a deluxe edition will be available in November; according to the website, it features many more illustrations and "30% MORE...ultra-violent zombie mahem [sic]." You can read excerpts of the book here.

Adventuresof Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim: Mark Twain's Classic with Crazy Zombie Goodness by Mark Twain and W. Bill Czolgosz, published by Coscom Entertainment; available since 07/10/2009. I glanced over the first few pages of this book in the preview on Amazon's website, and I was not impressed; the mashup author seemed to have recast all the black characters as zombies, which made me nervous as to the racial connotations involved. On the other hand, this in itself was a genius device since the passage where the widow talks about mulattoes ends up describing her reaction to the usefulness of those who were merely half-zombie. Hopefully the plot thickens (so they say) as the story advances.

Coming Soon

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, by Jane Austen and Ben Winters, published by Quirk Books; release date 9/15/2009. More of Austen's characters interact with otherworldly creatures; in this version of the tale Colonel Brandon is a sea monster. You can find a more detailed description, with excerpts from the book, here.

Iam Scrooge: A Zombie Story for Christmas, by Adam Roberts, published by Golancz; release date 10/2009. It's unclear from the description whether this is a true mashup or a mere retelling of the classic Dickens novel; however, because it seems to contain so many of the original characters and plot points (even going so far as to suggest that Tiny Tim's mystery illness was part of the zombie plague) I'm including it here.

Well, and that's pretty much it for now, but hopefully I can find more titles soon; unfortunately, so many aren't available to read yet, and I really don't want to classify any as mashups when so many, on closer inspection, are actually sequels or retellings.

Links:
http://poesdeadlydaughters.blogspot.com/2009/03/monster-lit.html
http://www.wunderkabinett.co.uk/damndata/index.php?/archives/1704-Monster-lit-Jane-Austen-vs-Predator-vs-Zombies.html
http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=14550
http://www.myspace.com/summitplanet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashup_(music)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_and_Prejudice_and_Zombies
http://www.kriso.ee/Queen-Victoria-Demon-Hunter/db/9781444700268.html?id=4ZfS4TvT
http://austenprose.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/jane-austen-goes-paranormal-%E2%80%93-author-janet-mullany-chats-about-austen-and-vampires/
http://poesdeadlydaughters.blogspot.com/2009/03/monster-lit.html
http://janitesonthejames.blogspot.com/2009/07/which-pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies.html
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6568141.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/books/14arts-MOVEOVERJANE_BRF.html
http://www.amazon.com/Worlds-Plus-Blood-Guts-Zombies/dp/1897217919/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1248375412&sr=8-3
http://www.myspace.com/esbrown4
http://irreference.com/pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies/
http://irreference.com/pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-deluxe-heirloom-edition/
http://irreference.com/pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-chapters-1-3/
http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Huckleberry-Finn-Zombie-Jim/dp/1897217978/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248375412&sr=8-1
http://irreference.com/sense-and-sensibility-and-sea-monsters/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jul/15/austen-sea-monster-mashup
http://www.amazon.com/I-Scrooge-Zombie-Story-Christmas/dp/0575091541