Zombies and Vampires and Literature, Oh My: Seth Grahame-Smith at the Brattle

An Evening with Seth Grahame-Smith
Brattle Theatre (40 Brattle Street, Cambridge)
Monday, March 8
6 to 8 pm
$5 tickets from the Harvard Coop

Much as Somerville is the birthplace of the Monster Mash, Seth Grahame-Smith is the pioneer of the Monster Movement in literature. Though the idea of blending monsters and literary classics was first conceived by Jason Rekulak of Quirk Books, Rekulak chose Grahame-Smith to pen the wildly popular Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. This is the book that causes you to do a double-take on the T when you see a seemingly demure Austenesque book cover gone horribly dead flesh. The text relates how the Bennet sisters train for zombie combat in addition to courtship. The "mashup" of Jane Austen's classic Pride and Prejudice set the stage for other monstrous works: Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters is already out, and zombie sequel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls will come out at the end of March.

Zombie revolution aside, Grahame-Smith is actually at the Brattle to talk about his latest book: Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. This psudeobiography paints Lincoln as a battler of the undead in addition to slavery. Not surprisingly, a movie version (by Tim Burton) is already in the works. Horror films inspiring books inspiring books inspiring films: what a delightfully disturbing progression.