A tweaked version of Jane Austen’s beloved classic–here flesh-eating undead monsters are thrown into the mix–the book has been defying expectations; Quirk is into its sixth printing after releasing the title on April 1 and has over 120,000 copies in print.
The book–lovingly referred to in-house as P&P&Z–was the brainchild of editorial director Jason Rekulak. Rekulak said he’s long enjoyed the online mash-ups that recast existing media into new entities, and cited examples like DJ Dangermouse’s Grey Album (which melded Jay Z’s Black Album with the Beatles’ White Album) and the swath of recut movie trailers, popular on YouTube, which manipulate movie themes. Confident the mash-up model could work for books, Rekulak started brainstorming potential projects.
“I knew we had to limit outselves to public domain works, so I started a list of classic titles, everything from Oliver Twist to War and Peace.” Rekulak took his classic lit list and paired it with another list he had made, of “things” he could insert into the novels. The latter included everything from werewolves to monkeys. When he connected Austen’s classic with zombies, he said, he “just knew” it was a fit.
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