S & S & SM

I told you Monday that Quirk is planning a follow-up to its wonderfully successful Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. This one? Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. No. I am not joking.

According to Publishers Weekly, "The Dashwood sisters, evicted from their childhood home by their conniving stepmother, land on a mysterious island full of man-eating sea creatures, instead of a nearby, downgraded, English cottage."

P&P&Z author Seth Grahame Smith kept 85 % of Austen's text untouched, but Ben H. Winters, author of the upcoming S&S&SM, maintains a 60/40 ratio. Rekulak, the editor, says they were inspired by "a wide range of cultural sources, both high and low. To that end, Rekulak said they looked to everything from Jules Verne novels to Lost to SpongeBob SquarePants."

I don't know. Jules Verne and Lost could work. But I'm a little put off by the SpongeBob thing.

It'll be published September 15th. Of course, I'll have to read it. I'll keep you posted.

Silly Old Bear

Pooh lovers rejoice! On October 5th of this year, we can again enjoy the bear of very little brain. Publishers have announced a new book of Winnie the Pooh Adventures titled Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, the first authorized sequel to A. A. Milne’s 1920’s classics.

The book will be written by David Benedictus, a novelist and playwright, and illustrated by Mark Burgess, a British artist.

No plot details are being released.

A spokesman for the estate assures fans that Benedictus and Burgess “capture the spirit and quality of those original books.” I sure hope so.