A Literary Classic with a Dash of the Undead

While zombies have been invading bookshelves a lot these days with modern titles such as Max Brooks’ World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide, classic literature has remained relatively safe from the undead. Until now.

Later this year, Quirk Books will unleash Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an updated version of the Jane Austen classic that is swarming with, as its title suggests, the living dead. Writer Seth Grahame-Smith has transformed the British novel of manners into a gory horror tale pitting characters Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy against legions of decomposing flesh eaters. Grahame-Smith told Entertainment Weekly’s PopWatch blog that zombies were a natural fit for a mash-up of the public domain work over other popular horror phenomena such as robots or vampires.

“…when you take a look at the original book, it's almost as if, subconsciously, Jane Austen is laying out the perfect groundwork for an ultraviolent bone-crushing zombie massacre to take place.” He added, “These aristocrats are trying to get on with their lives as best they can, despite the fact that the country is being devoured around them. They still have their balls and their teas and their manners. It was terrific fun to write, in the style of Jane Austen, describing horrific deaths and entire villages being slaughtered and burned to the ground.”

But will it be terrific fun to read? We’ll find out when Pride and Prejudice and Zombies hits shelves on April 1st.

A Star Wars Horror Novel?

While more than a few shrieks were heard around the world after The Phantom Menace hit theaters, Star Wars has never really been all that scary. Del Rey Books and author Joe Schreiber (No Windows, No Doors) hope to change all that later this year with Deathtroopers, a horror novel scheduled to hit bookshelves on October 27.

On January 26, StarWars.com unveiled the gruesome cover art for the forthcoming paperback. While little is known about the book itself, the image of a bloodied Imperial Stormtrooper helmet—with a head presumably still inside—hanging from an ominous hook already has my interest piqued. Will the book itself deliver with an equally-creepy premise? We’ll all find out this Halloween. Well, maybe not all of us, but I'm sure those of us who get thrown into a rage when people misspell Kashyyyk will be lining up for a copy.

I’m an admitted Star Wars fanatic, but I haven’t really gotten into the dozens of ancillary novels based in its universe. Aside from Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command), the X-Wing series and Shadows of the Empire, there aren’t many Star Wars novels that I can seriously recommend to casual fans. However, one can’t help but appreciate that this wealth of content does exist, providing other creative minds with the means to further explore George Lucas’ ever-expanding mythology.

The World's Gone Potter Crazy!

It's a good week for Harry Potter, the bespectacled boy wizard created by J.K. Rowling. With a hit movie topping the box office and a new book that's selling like, well, a Harry Potter novel, kids and adults alike have become, dare I say it, enchanted.

I managed to catch the new film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix this week. It was the first time I would be seeing a Harry Potter film after reading the book, so I knew I'd be looking for each and every deviance from the original story. And boy, are there deviances. But this isn't always a bad thing. I'd even venture to say that Order of the Phoenix is the second best Potter film after Alfonso Cuaron's brilliant version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

I wasn't always a fan of the books or the movies, I should mention. It always felt like something I just didn't get, despite being enamored with just about every fantasy property known to man. The movies were entertaining as kiddie-fair, but the first two books were pretty underwhelming for me at first. I didn't understand the adult fascination in the series until I dove into the rest of the books. Around halfway through Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, I found myself truly caring about the characters and the world that Rowling had created. With each book she raises the stakes and further develops her mythology. I've since garnered a far greater appreciation for both incarnations of the series, and can find merit by looking at them as both an adult with a strong literary education and as a child who just happens to be 23 years old.

The film version of Order of the Phoenix is basically a Cliff's Notes version of the book. It's a highlight reel, which both adds and detracts from the narrative. At this point in the series, Rowling was in dire need of a better editor, with the stories running a bit long and rambling in places. However, I kind of missed a lot of the rambling on film. There's no real way to remedy that, save for making the film far longer. It complemented the book nicely; I just don't think the uninitiated (let's call them Muggles in this context) would appreciate the scope of the story.

Performances were a lot better this time around from the three principals: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. You can tell that these young actors, who have grown up together on-film, have also grown into their characters. Director David Yates, although a relative novice director, coaxed strong performances out of everyone involved. Welcome new additions were Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge and Helena Bonham Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange.

If you're a Potter fan, you already know the story and will have a lot of fun seeing it on the big screen (IMAX, if it's available). You might be miffed about the deletions, but everything included is well done. It's one of the best Harry Potters yet, and is by far the most exciting. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to finish reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Here's a spoiler:

J.K. Rowling is RICH!

Breaking The Hobbit

The interweb is abuzz with news that Peter Jackson, director of the Academy-Award winning Lord of the Rings trilogy will not be returning to adapt J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit to the big screen. Due to some piddling legal mumbo jumbo that I'm not entirely clear on, it's looking like the film will make it to big screen without Jackson's magic touch...and without his writing team...and without his special effects house. Oof.

Now I've seen some stupid studio decisions lately, including the supposed greenlighting of a sequel to Alien Vs. Predator. But this? This has misfire written all over it. Now, the LOTR movies aren't perfect, but damn it they're close. Why screw that up?

Show your support. Head on over to TheOneRing.net and let your voices be heard as loud as the Horn of Gondor. Oh yes, I went there...and back again.