little woman

And so it continues with my favorite book of all time… I poked fun to watch the Janeites squirm when they did it to P&P. Oh, how the tables have turned… Will I be able to Handel it?

Literary classic Little Women being remixed with werewolves

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was a monster hit, and we can understand why. Zombies are always cool, and mashing them up with Jane Austen—whose continued popularity almost two centuries after her death makes her seem a bit zombie-like herself anyway—was a brilliant idea.

Then came Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, which once more remixed Austen and monsters, this time two-headed sea serpents, giant lobsters and rampaging octopi.

Meanwhile, Zombies author Seth Grahame-Smith has abandoned classic novels (at least temporarily) and instead set his sights on historical figures with his upcoming Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

And this remix trend is far from over, because according to GalleyCat, Del Rey Books has signed on for a mashup of yet another classic novel with a different iconic monster. Editor-in-chief Betsy Mitchell has just purchased Little Women and Werewolves from writer Porter Grand.

Here’s how the publisher describes the book: “In this retelling of Louisa May Alcott’s classic, the beloved little women must keep not just the wolf, but the werewolves, from the door … and the kindly old gentlemen next door and his grandson may have some secrets to hide—or share with the March girls.”

We look forward to seeing whether Alcott’s werewolves can compete with Austen’s zombies, or if the new novel will find itself shambling off to the remainder bin …

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Just got this pic from one of my Austen lists… Jane Austen at DragonCon.

Austenites, like librarians, tend to have the most unfortunate stereotypes and, usually, a very good sense of humor!

guess this is a thing now…

Tonight we went to see The Last Unicorn at the Alamo Lake Creek. It was the first time the film had been shown on the big screen since 1983 (that they all know of, anyway). Peter S. Beagle was there and did a Q&A session after and signed prints, DVDs and books. I got a signed copy of the The Rhinoceros who Quoted Nietzsche and Paul got a signed copy of We Never Talk about My Brother, his latest collection of short stories.

And a HUGE shout out to Abbie for letting me have one of the THREE COPIES of The Last Unicorn she brought with her to be signed to me. I left mine at home thinking we would go see him at the Pflugerville Library tomorrow night… turns out it isn’t as necessary now.

THANK YOU ABBIE!!!

Signing a copy of The Lord of the Rings DVD

In line!

Paul & Peter S. Beagle

Abbie, Thierry and Peter S. Beagle

THANK YOU ABBIE!

For Heather: He totally explained, “Have a taco”! He was tired while he was writing. The phrase popped into his head and he thought it was funny. He told himself if he still thought it was funny the next day, he would keep it. And, apparently, he did.

Thanks to wonderful @devlogic for sending this along to me just now!!

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies- the first three chapters!

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
by L. Frank Baum
Children’s Fantasy

This took about 10 minutes to read and I am so glad I finally got around to it. Such a great story… Only 13 more of his books to go. But before I read them, I will be reading Wicked… I plan to take it with me to the coast this weekend! I am also finishing up the Hitchhiker’s Guide trilogy… So many good books my head is gonna explode…

Interesting bit about the Wonderful Wizard of Oz… this is all taken from, you guessed it, Wikipedia.

Some scholars have theorized that the images and characters used by Baum and Denslow closely resembled political images that were well known in the 1890s, specifically the debate of the day regarding monetary policy: the “Yellow Brick Road” represents the gold standard, the silver slippers (which were ruby slippers in the film version) represent the sixteen to one silver ratio (dancing down the road). Many other characters and story lines represent identifiable people or circumstances of the day. The wicked witches of the east and west represented the local banks and the railroad industry, respectively, both of which drove small farmers out of business. The scarecrow represents the farmers of the Populist party, who managed to get out of debt by making more silver coinage. The return to bimetalism would increase inflation, thus lowering the real value of their debts. The Tin Woodman represents the factory workers of the industrialized North, whom the Populists saw as being so hard-pressed to work grueling hours for little money that the workers had lost their human hearts and become mechanized themselves. (See Second Industrial Revolution) Toto was thought to be short for teetotaler, another word for a prohibitionist; it should be noted that William Jennings Bryan, the fiery popular candidate (possibly the Lion character) from the Populist Party, was a teetotaler himself. Bryan also fits the allegorical reference to the Cowardly Lion in that he retreated from his support of free silver after economic conditions improved in the late 1890s. However, it has also been suggested the cowardly Lion represented Wall Street investors, given the economic climate of the time. The Munchkins represented the common people (serfdom), while the emerald city represented Washington and its green-paper money delusion. The Wizard, a charlatan who tricks people into believing he wields immense power, would represent the President. The kiss from the Good Witch of the North is the electoral mandate; Dorothy must destroy the Wicked Witch of the West—the old West Coast “establishment” (money) with water (the US was suffering from drought). Moreover, “Oz” is the abbreviation for the measuring of these precious metals: ounces.

You can look further into this at this page specifically about the political interpretations of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz…

The SciFi channel did something not long ago that actually didnt suck that much called Tin Man. I saw some of the episodes but not all… making a mental note to download them soon…

I have, of course, seen the Wizard of Oz an ungodly number of times. Remember the munchkin suicide rumor? You can see him hanging himself at the end of the Tin Man’s scene? Turns out that is all untrue.

the object in question is actually a wild crane used to populate the forest scene.

I haven’t meant to be posting about Jane Austen or Pride & Prejudice a lot lately… but it just so happens that ppl are crazy about taking her most popular work and putting their own twist on it lately. I have pre-ordered my copy of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies already… here is something else to ruffle the purist Austenite feathers!

On the Marvel website there are some excerpts… wonder how this will work as a comic.. er, uh excuse me, graphic novel. I don’t have a lot of experience with graphic novels myself. Jane Eyre: The Graphic Novel, is on my Amazon Wish List simply because I think that would look good as a graphic novel. There is a lot of wandering around on moors, fire, and general spooky in this story that could make it exciting.

But seriously… what is the deal lately? Everyone is Austen crazy!

Origin of Species
by Charles Darwin
Published 1859
Non-Fiction

I started reading this because Darwin’s 200th birthday is coming up on Feb 12. I actually listened to this rather than read it. I wasn’t sure how easy this was going to be to follow but had heard that it was friendly to the unscientific, professionally speaking. It was easy enough!

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If I had to boil it down…

Darwin believed that species [both plant and animal] began in certain location around Earth and eventually migrated around. He doesn’t believe that the continents broke away from each other, but that ocean levels changed over time allowing animal species to move around.  Here he references Charles Lyell’s advocation of uniformitarianism, the believe that the earth was shaped entirely by slow-moving forces still in operation today.

Certain characteristics make these species better able to survive in the environment which get passed down to offspring [theory of descent with modification]. This happens over a very long time which creates variety upon variety of a species until the parent species eventually becomes extinct. We might be able to connect the dots to parent species by looking at reproductive systems, embryonic development, and organs left over from other species [fish's bladder once used for buoyancy is now used for breathing, etc.] This just happens to also be how scientists were classifying species at the time which only helped Darwin as he provided proof to back it up! It is also here that he mentions humans being similar to animal species [hand bones to moles, etc.] which is obviously the most controversial part of his theory today. Unfortunately, some would use this theory socially, asserting that some humans were more developed than others to “justify discrimination, repression and even genocide”. [Sparknote Analysis]

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It is interesting (is that the right word?) that he focuses on the males role in the reproductive relationship and suggests that they are the one responsible for passing on favorable traits to offspring.

Cool image I saw on NYT

Darwin throws out there all the problems that his peers have seen with his theory. Some he refutes some he doesn’t because he can’t and he admits that. For instance, he brings up the fact that some ant colonies are dependent on slave-ants which are sterile female ants. How is it that the slave ants are always sterile, especially if they cannot pass down that characteristic? He cannot tell us and fully admits that this particular case could throw his theory out the window all together.

I’m glad I read this! Personally, I believe in evolution and am glad I learned a little more about how this theory… um evolved!

To continue the celebration, Paul and I went to Darwin Day yesterday at the Texas Memorial Museum on UT Campus. It was very cool! There were jars of specimen that Darwin collected on his travels and a birthday cake! The place was swarming with kids which was awesome. Paul wore his Stop Plate Tectonics t-shirt and got lots of comments like, “Reunite Pangea!” What a fun, geeky crowd See pics below!

Look out little buddy!!

Wish this would have come out better… it was beautiful!

This was the best t-shirt we saw!

Fossils from the largest flying creature to be unearthed right here in our own Big Bend

Awesome facepainting… I wanted to get my face painted but the line was REALLY long…

Happy Birthday Charlie!

This website is hilarious… it summarizes tons of books down to the very nitty gritty…

LORD OF THE FLIES: William Golding
(Some BOYS crash on an ISLAND.)

Ralph We need a fire.

(They make a fire. It goes out.)

Ralph We need a fire.

(They make a fire. It goes out.)

Ralph We need a fire.

Jack Forget the fire. Let’s kill each other.

Other Boys Yeah!

(They do.)

THE END

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HAMLET: William Shakespeare

Hamlet Whine whine whine…To be or not to be…I’m dead.

THE END

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WUTHERING HEIGHTS: Emily Bronte (Paul don’t read this…he is currently reading Wuthering Heights)
Lockwood: I think I’ll stay here. Tell me a story, woman.
Nelly Dean: I’m no gossip, mind you, but this guy Heathcliff got adopted, everyone hated him, and his love Catherine died.
Heathcliff: NOOOOOOOOOO! (Dies.)
Lockwood: I’ll be on my way.
THE END

As with everything in life, some are funny and some are dumb. There is a Sci Fi page, a Bedtime Story page, and a Classics page. Enjoy!

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies
by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

Not out yet but available for pre-order from Amazon.com

[taken from The Stranger]

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies features the original text of Jane Austen’s beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Complete with 20 illustrations in the style of C. E. Brock (the original illustrator of Pride and Prejudice), this insanely funny expanded edition will introduce Jane Austen’s classic novel to new legions of fans.

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Not sure what to think about this. The idea of introducing Jane Austen’s work to a group that wouldnt normally be interested is appealing. And I literally asked a friend of mine just this morning… who DOESN’T like zombies? But meddling with something as classic as Jane Austen’s P&P?

All my librarians are thrilled about this. We are doing a Teen Symposium in a few weeks with a Zombie theme. When I told them I ran across this, they almost jumped out of their skin they were so excited. They are truly looking at this as a gateway drug to more Austen. However, I know some purists that are going to be livid…

I decided to ruffle some feathers. I posted discussions on the two Jane Austen groups I am a member of on Shelfari.com. Here is what they had to say…

“I think that sounds fantastic!!… I would definitely read it just to see how they work that into being.”

I think it sounds hilarious. It might be a fun read.

From the AustenBlog… We also were shown an excerpt, and it is basically the text of P&P with zombie stuff added. It’s not really a rewrite. We’re not entirely sure the joke will hold up throughout the whole novel, and we actually prefer ninjas with our classics, but we’ll see in April!

General consensus seems to be good! I must say that I am curious to see how they added “zombie stuff”. I looked up this author to see what else he has done… this doesnt look good… How to Survive a Horror Movie: All the Skills to Dodge the Kills, The Big Book of Porn: A Penetrating Look at the World of Dirty Movies, (the only one that looked mildly promising) Pardon My President: Fold-And-Mail Apologies for 8 Years of George W. Bush were the top 3 titles on Amazon.com.

This should be interesting!

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UPDATE!

Hollywood studios are bidding to turn a radical reworking of Austen’s most popular book, now called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a parody to be published in April, into a blockbuster movie.

Desperate for new ideas, studio chiefs hope “P&P&Z” will mark the bloody birth of a feral offspring of classic British literature: “monster-lit”.

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ADDITIONAL UPDATE!!

This is a letter from the author of P&P&Z to Austenites everywhere…

To Janeites Everywhere…

9:50 AM PST, February 4, 2009

Margaret C. Sullivan — fellow Quirk author and “Editrix” of AustenBlog, has fired a warning shot across my bow (actually, I believe her words were “back off Zombie Boy”).

Apparently, my posts have given the impression that I’m some anti-Austen upstart looking to pick a fight with the purists.  Not so.  I AM reacting to the bile I’ve found in a lot of the talkback forums out there.  Namely people hating on the book (and me) without bothering to read it.

For the record, I love Jane Austen.  She wrote comedies.  She was subversive and snarky and wore bonnets.  Good qualities, all.  And I love Pride and Prejudice.  I’d wager I read it cover-to-cover thirty times while writing P&P&Z.  It was the most fun I’ve ever had writing.  Seriously.

So I offer you my mea culpa.  I promise not to lump Janeites in with the random haters around the nets.

– Zombie Boy