Romero to Pen His First Novel

I won't say that George A. Romero single-handedly created the zombie film genre, but he is widely regarded as the father of it. What he did was take what was ostensibly a throwaway movie trope and turn it collectively into a viable force in the horror genre. Today there is a certain canonical zombie archetype, which can ultimately be traced to Romero, and that is why it's impressive that he's writing a novel about it.


Here is what The Guardian UK had to say about the project:

"There is no one more qualified to write a zombie novel," said Mellor, who pointed to the success of the films Shaun of the Dead, I Am Legend and 28 Days Later, and the runaway bestselling book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, as proof that the genre "has legs". "You just have to look on the internet and around the world at the enthusiasm with which Romero, and zombies, are greeted, to see that there's a huge amount of potential for these books," she said. The Living Dead will be published in July next year.

The problem is, and I'm just being honest, by writing this novel, Romero is ultimately not playing to his strengths. He's not the best writer, and it's his visual style that defines him most successfully. If he can manage to translate the gritty, gory, paranoid claustrophobia of his films intact in the novel, then it may be hugely successful. Let's hope that's what happens.

[Cult director George A Romero to pen zombie foundation myth]
[George Romero to Write his Definitive Guide to Zombies]

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

Okay, I know. I know that the trend will become bland and supersaturated, and in a year or two this will become trite and the hipsters will hate it, but damnit, for the time being, let's just enjoy the literary train wrecks that are the Jane Austen [insert monster] books.

The latest, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, goes, well, not really anywhere you haven't been before, but at least it takes you there with sea monsters! The book is scheduled to be released on September 15, 2009.

Read the Amazon description:

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!

Previous Related Posts:

• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
  

The Kite Runner & Afghanistan

Sometimes I feel like I use my "five paragraph essay" voice when I talk about quote-endquote important issues, so forgive me.

Anyway, I'm about ninety percent done with Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner and have an overarching feeling of dismay about the whole thing. Don't get me wrong, it's a wonderful novel, and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

But the line between fiction that so often gives me comfort in and escape from the REAL WORLD has been shattered by this book, which details the life of a child who grows up in Afghanistan in the Seventies, moves to America, and then returns [for an important plot thread] after the country has been taken over by the Taliban.

So, anyway, that's the novel in a nutshell, and since I have painted the story with such a broad brush, please don't disregard the book based on such a silly little paragraph. There is too much to be explored plot-wise in the story, but the literal, surface meaning is not what I mean to talk about. The political undercurrent is, and it is that which interests me. It is so alive with the modern state of the country and pessimism about its future that I couldn't help but be fundamentally shaken by its implications.

When war is waged on a country, it is difficult for people to understand the daily struggles of those people and whether or not the beliefs of the everyman align with those who have (ostensibly) caused the war. In Afghanistan, the fundamental - again, no pun intended - question is: do most people in the country align themselves with the Taliban?

The answer, I would say, is a resounding NO. I can't extrapolate all of Afghanistan out by the comments of one book, of course, but I do think it is important to note that perspective can be derived from sympathetic texts. And, while I criticized escalation of forces in Iraq, I have to say that I agree with Mr. Obama in sending more troops to Afghanistan to help the country get under control.

Khaled Hosseini himself has something to say about the presence of the US:

But this much we do know: Without a genuine and sustained, long-term commitment on the part of the U.S. and its allies, Afghanistan is doomed. Though Afghans are an independent people and take pride in their sovereignty, polls have repeatedly shown that, despite growing skepticism and disillusionment, the majority of Afghans still view the foreign presence in their country favorably. They know that a weakened western resolve will mean that positive gains that have been made so painstakingly will vanish swiftly and the country will slide back.

So, if I haven't depressed you too much, I encourage you to give The Kite Runner a chance. It's a damn fine book, and one that may help you get something that almost never hurts: a perspective other than your own.

Blood Meridian

I'm reading Cormac McCarthy's wonderful novel, Blood Meridian. My favorite quote so far:

Before man was, war waited for him.

That is all.