Literary Mashups Meet Tentacles. Has All Of Western Literature Been Leading Up To This?

Quirk Books just announced its follow-up to its Jane Austen/George Romero blend Pride And Prejudice And Zombies, and it sounds a million times more interesting — Sense And Sensibility And Sea Monsters. Witness the book-cover greatness. And there's a trailer!

I have to admit, the zombie Austen book never interested me, maybe because both Jane Austen and zombies are played out. But also, it felt gimmicky. But with this new book, all is forgiven — or even celebrated. And is it just possible that this could spark a new sea-monster literary trend to replace the oh-so-dull zombie fad? Bring on the kraken lit, man!

Here's that book trailer:

And here's the book cover in high res:

From the Quirk Books press release:

Editor Jason Rekulak explains the choice of sea monsters for this highly anticipated literary mash-up:
"A couple of publishers are crashing Jane Austen vampire novels that will no doubt capitalize on the success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and there were certainly plenty of people who urged me to do the same. But I didn't want to go out with the one-millionth vampire novel that's going to be published this year. I know there are a lot of vampire fans, but the genre feels exhausted to me. Whereas Sea Monsters allowed us to draw inspiration from so many rich and diverse sources-most obviously Jules Verne novels and Celtic mythology, but also Jaws, Lost, Pirates of the Caribbean, even SpongeBob Squarepants! I think Pride and Prejudice and Zombies fans are counting on us to deliver something original, and I don't think they will be disappointed."

With Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, Quirk Classics has also developed a new Austen to monster ratio. Instead of featuring 85% of Austen's work and 15% new text as in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters features 60% Austen and 40% additional monster chaos! Most importantly, this new Quirk Classic stays true to Austen's original novel…

As our story opens, the Dashwood sisters are evicted from their childhood home and sent to live on a mysterious island full of savage creatures and dark secrets. While sensible Elinor falls in love with Edward Ferrars, her romantic sister Marianne is courted by both the handsome Willoughby and the hideous man-monster Colonel Brandon. Can the Dashwood sisters triumph over meddlesome matriarchs and unscrupulous rogues to find true love? Or will they fall prey to the tentacles that are forever snapping at their heels?

This masterful portrait of Regency England blends Jane Austen's biting social commentary with ultraviolent depictions of biting sea monsters. It's survival of the fittest-and only the swiftest swimmers will find true love! Featuring fifteen black-and-white illustrations and including "A Reader's Discussion Guide" for book club and student use, Sense and Sensibility and Season Monsters is sure to delight Austen fans as well as wayfaring adventurers.

Sense And Sensibility And Sea Monsters is by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters. The book is out Sept. 15, which is entirely too long a wait.

Send an email to Charlie Jane Anders, the author of this post, at charliejane@io9.com.

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