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Posts Tagged ‘Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters’

Zombies: Undead Literary Trend Lives On

October 29th, 2010 No comments

41tV3gNZrFL._SL160_In a blog post for Newcity Lit college professor Monica Westin discusses the recent popularity of zombie books and questions the value of literary mash-ups like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Pride and Prejudice: Dawn of the Dreadfuls. The fact that many of these books have been bestsellers proves that they are obviously entertaining, but does this zombie trend have meaning beyond that? The proliferation of zombie tales of late could be owed in part to the novelty of experiencing characters that are primarily depicted in films or video games in print. Westin attributes most of the modern mythology and code of zombie behavior to George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead film franchise. Through the years, Romero and other fellow horror directors, have used the undead to symbolize cultural fears that range from the spread of communism to globalized viral epidemics. However, Westin argues that when zombies are introduced into a classic piece of literature, “the meaning of the original book often gets lost or marginalized with the addition of a monster plotline.” Read more…

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New Release: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

March 9th, 2010 No comments

51dzUj9767L._SL160_By Seth Grahame-Smith
Grand Central Publishing | 336pgs
Release Date: March 02, 2010

Seth Grahame-Smith’s fantastical foray into the horror/history genre Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, opens in a small cabin in Indiana, during the year 1818. Lincoln, a boy of just nine years, watches his mother’s life slip away as she suffers from a mysterious illness called “Milk Sickness.” Later as a young man, he learns that his mother’s death was caused by a vampire, and embarks on a life-long crusade to fight against the undead masses. Though Lincoln’s great accomplishments of ending slavery and fighting to keep America united have been well documented, his vendetta against vampires remained secret. Author Seth Grahame-Smith is finally able to bring these secrets to light with the discovery of The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln. Drawing on events recorded in the diary, Grahame-Smith stages an epic “biography” of the 16th President, revealing the shrouded history of the Civil War, and the role the undead evil-doers played in the upheaval.
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