The Qwillery

I am constantly on the look out for Mash Ups and more. Here is a Mash Up I had not noticed before.

Hound: The Curse of the Baskervilles
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Lorne Dixon
(February 2010)

Doctor Watson is dispatched to gloomy Dartmoor to investigate the savage murder of Sir Charles Baskerville--but even the great detective Sherlock Holmes could not anticipate the dark secrets they will uncover. A monster haunts the dark countryside that surrounds the Baskerville estate, a creature whose existence will challenge the rational beliefs at Holmes's core.




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
For the full list of Mash Ups and Mimicries, Twisted Histories, and Continuations and Alternates visit the Mash Ups + Page here.

While looking for more mash ups, I came across the book trailer for Pat the Zombie.  Warning: It's got blood, of course.

 

A macabre mash-up of the children’s classic Pat the Bunny and the present-day zombie phenomenon, with the tactile features of the original book revoltingly re-imagined for an adult audience.

In the hemorrhagic vein of other zombie parodies, Pat the Zombie presents trusting toddler Judy playing peek-a-boo with a putrefying Paul. Grownup fans of Pat the Bunny (seven million of them) will find their favorite touch-and-feel features disturbingly re-created: Judy reaches for Zombie’s decaying jaw instead of daddy’s cheek; Paul caresses Mummy’s empty eye socket instead of her wedding ring. Ximm’s twisted wit, Soofi’s sick artistic sensibility, and clever packaging that mimics the original book will bring the undead lurchingly to life in this camp popculture romp.

Quirk Books and Bridgeman Art Library are co-sponsoring a design competition for the most creative mash-up title and book cover design. Submissions are due by March 11, 2011.

The iconic “Zombie Lady” on the cover of the New York Times Best Seller Pride and Prejudice and Zombies captured the imagination of readers around the world and has become one of the most recognizable book jackets in recent history. Once the portrait of Marcia B. Fox, Quirk Books designer Doogie Horner obtained the image from Bridgeman Art Library and removed the flesh from her jaw line, reddened her eyes, and added a few blood stains to this once genteel image. Since then, Quirk Books has utilized images from Bridgeman’s collection to create striking cover artwork for the entire Quirk Classics series.

On March 22, 2011, Quirk Books will release Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After, the final book in the PPZ trilogy. To celebrate, Quirk Books and Bridgeman Art Library invite you to create your own mash-up title and original book cover using a public domain book title and a fine art painting from Bridgeman’s collection. Submit your entries by March 11, 2011 for a chance to win a grand prize package. To learn more about Quirk Classics and check out their subsequent titles, click here.

For more information, rules, and how to enter head over to Bridgeman Art Library by clicking here. May the best Mash-Up win!

While checking for new mash ups I discovered that Alice in Zombieland is being reissued with a new cover by a new publisher.

When little Alice follows the Black Rat down into the open grave, she falls and falls, and soon finds herself in an undead nightmare. Following the Rat, she ventures further into this land of monsters, encountering characters both creepy and madcap along the way. But there’s something else troubling poor Alice: her skin is rotting and her hair is falling out. Can Alice escape Zombieland before the Dead Red Queen catches up to her?

Have a seat at the table for the wildest tea party of your life and explore the unforgettable adventure that is Alice in Zombieland.

Northanger Abbey and Angels and Dragons by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian is available. You can read my interview with Vera Nazarian here.

Northanger Abbey and Angels and Dragons
by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian
Curiosities
December 5, 2010
Trade Paperback
Retail Price:
$14.95 USD - £11.50 GBP
ISBN-13: 978-1-60762-058-7
ISBN-10: 1-60762-058-8
346 pages



Click for more information: http://www.norilana.com/naad.htm

You can read an excerpt of the first 3 chapters of Northanger Abbey and Angels and Dragons here.


In addition, more mash ups are forthcoming from the Curiosities imprint of Norilana Books:

Pride and Platypus: Mr. Darcy's Dreadful Secret
by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian
December 25, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1-60762-078-5
ISBN-10: 1-60762-078-2

Pagan Persuasion: All Olympus Descends on Regency
by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian
TBA, 2011

Emma Enchanted
by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian
TBA, 2011

Sense and Sanguine Sensibility
by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian
TBA, 2012

Lady Susan, Succubus
by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian
TBA, 2012

The Collected Supernatural Jane Austen
by Vera Nazarian
TBA, 2013

I mentioned Pat the Zombie last month. At that time I did not see a description of the book at the Random House site. It's there now.

Pat the Zombie: A Cruel (Adult) Spoof
by Aaron Ximm and Kaveh Soofi (Illustrator)
Trade Paperback, 20 pages
(April 26, 2011)
A macabre mash-up of the children’s classic Pat the Bunny and the present-day zombie phenomenon, with the tactile features of the original book revoltingly re-imagined for an adult audience.

In the hemorrhagic vein of other zombie parodies, Pat the Zombie presents trusting toddler Judy playing peek-a-boo with a putrefying Paul. Grownup fans of Pat the Bunny (seven million of them) will find their favorite touch-and-feel features disturbingly re-created: Judy reaches for Zombie’s decaying jaw instead of daddy’s cheek; Paul caresses Mummy’s empty eye socket instead of her wedding ring. Ximm’s twisted wit, Soofi’s sick artistic sensibility, and clever packaging that mimics the original book will bring the undead lurchingly to life in this camp popculture romp. Random House


It certainly appears that this will be a touch and feel book like the original Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt.
Dorothy Kunhardt's Pat the Bunny is a children's classic, with millions of copies sold. It's inspired numerous spin-offs for both kids and adults-but none as wickedly amusing as this clever interactive book!

Women will have endless fun playing with the lift-the-flap, touch-and-feel, pull tabs, and other highly designed elements. It slyly questions how will you get Paul through the wedding of a life time? When will Paul committ already, as our bride isn't getting any younger? Can you help the bride deplete her 401K to get the dress, and shoes, and things she "needs" to get married? Where will you seat Crazy Uncle Larry?

Since many little girls fantasize about one day being the princess or beautiful bride (some do it two or three times!) what's better than celebrating with a toast and this hilarious adult humor parody in this great children's format? Pat the Bride takes amusing aim at the oddities of brides everywhere, making it the perfect gift from girlfriend to girlfriend, as well as for bridal showers and anniversaries. Every bride will recognize the humor in the quirky characteristics played out - and laugh every time.

Pat the Husband: A Parody
by Kate Nelligan
Spiral Bound, 16 pages
(October 2008)
Dorothy Kunhardt’s Pat the Bunny is a children’s classic, with millions of copies sold. It’s inspired numerous spin-offs for both kids and adults—but none as wickedly amusing as this clever interactive book! Every wife, girlfriend, and woman who hopes to be one will treasure it, and have endless fun playing with the lift-the-flap, touch-and-feel, pull tabs, and other highly designed elements. It slyly questions who wears the pants in the family, and lets women humor their men by removing the Velcro pants from the female figure and putting it on the male. Or, eager to have hubby say yes to your request? Then just use the tab to make his head nod!

Since all men are really little boys at heart, what better way to celebrate (okay—roast) their peccadilloes than with a kids’ book format? Pat the Husband takes amusing aim at the oddities of guys everywhere, making it the perfect gift from girlfriend to girlfriend, as well as for bridal showers and anniversaries. Every wife will recognize the humor in the quirky characteristics played out about “husbands everywhere”—and find a reason every day to sneak a peek and pat!


Has the "Pat the ..." craze gone too far?

I was checking the publication dates for some upcoming Mash Ups, etc. and discovered that The Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor, Vampire Slayer is being published on December 21, 2010. I love Twisted Histories so this book is on my must buy list.


Sovereign Power. Eternal Pleasure.

Revealed at last in this new vampire saga for the ages: the true, untold story of the "Virgin Queen" and her secret war against the Vampire King of England. . . .

On the eve of her coronation, Elizabeth Tudor is summoned to the tomb of her mother, Anne Boleyn, to learn the truth about her bloodline—and her destiny as a Slayer. Born to battle the bloodsucking fiends who ravage the night, and sworn to defend her beloved realm against all enemies, Elizabeth soon finds herself stalked by the most dangerous and seductive vampire of all.

He is Mordred, bastard son of King Arthur, who sold his soul to destroy his father. After centuries in hiding, he has arisen determined to claim the young Elizabeth as his Queen. Luring her into his world of eternal night, Mordred tempts Elizabeth with the promise of everlasting youth and beauty, and vows to protect her from all enemies. Together, they will rule over a golden age for vampires in which humans will exist only to be fed upon. Horrified by his intentions, Elizabeth embraces her powers as a Slayer even as she realizes that the greatest danger comes from her own secret desire to yield to Mordred . . . to bare her throat in ecstasy and allow the vampire king to drink deeply of her royal blood.

As told by Lucy Weston, the vampire prey immortalized in Bram Stoker's Dracula, this spellbinding account will capture your heart and soul—forever.

Simon & Schuster





The author, Lucy Weston, has a website here. Obviously this is a pseudonym.

I must have Zombies on the brain lately, which is much better than Zombies eating my brains. I was checking to see if there were more holiday Zombie books and discoverd this instead:

Pat the Zombie: A Cruel (Adult) Spoof
by Aaron Ximm and Kaveh Soofi (Illustrator)
Trade Paperback, 20 pages
(April 26, 2011)

I was looking around book sites today for more mash-ups and twisted histories when I noticed what may be a trend - zombie Christmas stories. I've no idea why zombies and Christmas go together. Perhaps after all the shopping, wrapping, unwrapping, celebrating, and eating folks feel a bit zombie-ish? Is it that zombies just want to enjoy the holidays also? Or is it simply funny? What do you think?


It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Zombies!
A Book of Zombie Christmas Carols
by Michael P. Spradlin

Fresh brains roasting on an open fire . . .

Outside the temperature's dropping. The snow is falling, blanketing the world in white. Sleigh bells are jingling. Soon it will be that most wondrous time of the year!

That time of flesh-devouring zombie horror!

Yes, Christmas is on its way—and all the little boys and ghouls are dreaming of stockings filled with candied eyes and bleeding body parts. You'd better watch out! Santa Claws is coming to town—and he knows who's been naughty, who's been naughtier . . . and who'll taste best with a nice glass of Chianti!

In celebration of this merry macabre season, we present a peerless compendium of more than two dozen of the most soul-stirring, brain-boiling carols composed specifically for the decomposing. Holiday favorites such as “I Saw Mommy Chewing Santa Claus,” “Deck the Halls with Parts of Wally,” and “We Three Spleens” are guaranteed to lift the spirits of the lumbering, shuffling undead and their temporarily still breathing meals-to-be. So put down your gore-splattered baseball bats and raise your voices in song! And sing loudly—to drown out all the screaming.


The Zombie Night Before Christmas
by Clement C. Moore and H. Parker Kelley, Dominic Mylroie (Illustrator)



I am Scrooge: A Zombie Story for Christmas
by Adam Roberts

Marley was dead. Again.

The legendary Ebenezeer Scrooge sits in his house counting money. The boards that he has nailed up over the doors and the windows shudder and shake under the blows from the endless zombie hordes that crowd the streets hungering for his flesh and his miserly braaaaiiiiiinns!

Just how did the happiest day of the year slip into a welter of blood, innards and shambling, ravenous undead on the snowy streets of old London town?

Will the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future be able to stop the world from drowning under a top-hatted and crinolined zombie horde?

Was Tiny Tim's illness something infinitely more sinister than mere rickets and consumption? Can Scrooge be persuaded to go back to his evil ways, travel back to Christmas past and destroy the brain stem of the tiny, irritatingly cheery Patient Zero?

It's the Dickensian Zombie Apocalypse - God Bless us, one and all!


Christmas is Dead: A Zombie Anthology
Anthony Giangregorio (Editor)

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a . . . zombie?

That's right; this anthology explores what would happen at Christmas time if there was a full blown zombie outbreak.

Reanimated turkeys, zombie Santas, and demon reindeer that turn people to flesh-eating ghouls are just some of the tales you will find in this merry undead book.

So, curl up under the Christmas tree with a cup of hot chocolate, and as the fireplace crackles with warmth, get ready to have your heart filled with holiday cheer.

But, of course, then it will be ripped from your heaving chest and fed upon by bloodthirsty elves with a craving for human flesh!

For you see, Christmas is Dead!

And you will never look at the holiday season the same way again.


Christmas is Dead...Again: A Zombie Anthology
Anthony Giangregorio (Editor)


Christmas is upon us and the dead are walking!

Zombie Santas, undead elves and living dead reindeer are just a few of the holiday characters you will find in this merry anthology.

Have you been naughty or nice this year?

Well, that's up to Santa Claus to decide.

Just pray he leaves you a stocking full of coal and doesn't gut you and eat your insides instead!

For you see, Christmas is Dead. . .again!

And the holiday season will never be the same again.


The Undead That Saved Christmas
Lyle Perez-Tinics (Editor)
The Undead That Saved Christmas is the heart-chilling anthology with stories across the spectrum of holiday mythology. The perfect stocking stuffer that doesn't include a box of shotgun shells or a macheté, The Undead That Saved Christmas brings together various talented authors and artists from Great Britain, the United States and Ireland.

Stories include The Magic of Christmas, by Rebecca Besser; Santa Claws is Coming to Town, by Calvin A.L. Miller II; Night of the Frozen Elf, by Richard S. Crawford; And to All a Good Fright by Stacey Graham; and many others. The anthology also includes rich illustrations by David Naughton-Shires, Jason Tudor, Chris Williams and more. Another thing to expect in this anthology is a fun collection of holiday zombie-themed poems and carols. And to wrap things up there is an awesome assortment of original comics, from Mike Schneider, Nate Call, and many others.

Proceeds from the sales of The Undead That Saved Christmas benefit the Hugs Foster Family Agency (hugsffa.org) and will help them give their foster children gifts this holiday season.

The Undead That Saved Christmas has a Facebook page here.

It's Mash Up and More update time.

I found a double mash up that was released last month - Robinson Crusoe (The Eerie Adventures of the Lycanthrope). This a Dafoe and Lovecraft mash up. I imagine we will be seeing more of these double mash ups in the future.

While at New York Comic Con, I met the super folks from Quirk Books and found out about two upcoming Quirk Classics books for 2011 - Meowmorphosis and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After.

Robinson Crusoe (The Eerie Adventures of the Lycanthrope)
by Daniel Dafoe, H.P. Lovecraft, and Peter Clines
(September 2010)

ROBINSON CRUSOE is one of the most enduring adventures of the past four centuries and one of the most well-known works in the English language. Or is it?

Recently discovered amidst the papers of the 20th century writer and historian H. P. Lovecraft is what claims to be the true story of Robinson Crusoe. Taken from the castaway's own journals and memoirs, and fact-checked by Lovecraft himself, it is free from many of Defoe's edits and alterations. From Lovecraft's work a much smoother, simpler tale emerges--but also a far more disturbing one.

Here Crusoe is revealed as a man bearing the terrible curse of the werewolf and the guilt that comes with it--a man with no real incentive to leave his island prison. The cannibals who terrorized Crusoe are revealed to be less human than ever before hinted-- worshippers of a malevolent octopus-headed god. And the island itself is a place of ancient, evil mysteries that threaten Crusoe's sanity and his very soul.

This version of the classic tale, assembled by two legends of English literature and abridged by Peter Clines, is the terrifying supernatural true story of Robinson Crusoe as it has never been seen before.


Meowmorphosis
Franz Kafka and Cook Coleridge
(May 2011)

The phenomenal success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies inspired a massively popular literary-remix movement. Now Quirk Classics once again charts bold new territory, turning the monster-mash-up formula inside out to infuse Franz Kafka’s horrific masterpiece, “The Metamorphosis,” with the fuzziest, snuggliest, most adorable creatures possible: kittens!

Gregor Samsa is a humble young man who supports his unemployed parents and teenage sister by working as a traveling fabric salesman. But his life goes strangely wrong in the very first sentence of The Meowmorphosis, when he wakes up late for work and discovers that he has inexplicably become an adorable kitten. His family must admit that, yes, their son is now OMG so cute—but what good is cute when there are bills to pay? How can Gregor be so selfish as to devote his attention to a ball of yarn? And how dare he jump out the bedroom window to wander through Kafka’s literary landscape? Never before has a cat’s tale been so poignant, strange, and horrifyingly funny.


Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After
by Steve Hockensmith
(March 2011)

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and its prequel, Dawn of the Dreadfuls, were both New York Times best sellers, with a combined 1.3 million copies in print. Now the PPZ trilogy comes to a thrilling conclusion with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After.

The story opens with our newly married protagonists, Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy, defending their village from an army of flesh-eating “unmentionables.” But the honeymoon has barely begun when poor Mr. Darcy is nipped by a rampaging dreadful. Elizabeth knows the proper course of action is to promptly behead her husband (and then burn the corpse, just to be safe). But when she learns of a miracle antidote under development in London, she realizes there may be one last chance to save her true love—and for everyone to live happily ever after.


For the full list of Mash Ups and Mimicries, Twisted Histories, and Continuations and Alternates visit the Mash Ups and More Page here.