4 days until Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

From the publishers that brought the world the international bestseller Pride and Prejudice and Zombies comes another twist on a beloved classic. Brooklyn's Ben H. Winter's new novel is entitled Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, and it hits shelves in four days finally asking the question we have all been pondering for years:

"What if (H.P.) Lovecraft and Austen sat down and wrote a book together — it’s just preposterous, but what would happen?"



From the book description on Amazon.com:

From the publisher of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies comes a new tale of romance, heartbreak, and tentacled mayhem. Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters expands the original text of the beloved Jane Austen novel with all-new scenes of giant lobsters, rampaging octopi, two-headed sea serpents, and other biological monstrosities. 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 sea monsters biting. It’s survival of the fittest—and only the swiftest swimmers will find true love!

Yes, it's for real. No, you haven't died and gone to heaven. Yes, we also wish we had thought of this first.

In an interview (which you can read here) Winters explains how he strove to incorporate a Lovecrafitian vocabulary into Austen's world with spectacular results.

“I’m a big believer in actually picking up a thesaurus rather than using Thesaurus.com or online reference sources,” he said. “I find the experience, as a writer, of digging up words in the old books is so satisfying. For example, what word would Austen have used to describe the layer of gooey flesh on the underside of a man-eating snail?” After digging around, he found “mucocutaneous.”

Mr. Winters, you sir, are a hero.



Preorder the book here: http://www.amazon.com/Sense-Sensibility-Monsters-Jane-Austen/dp/1594744424