Jane Austen and the undead, together at last

Fans of both Jane Austen and "Dawn of the Dead" -- and, really, who isn't? -- we already know one of your beach reads: "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" is coming in June.

Written by Seth Grahame-Smith, who brought to the table the experience of creating "How to Survive a Horror Movie" (and memories, we are told, of a single English course in college) the book is billed by Quirk Books, its publisher, as "an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem."

"As our story opens," continues the unimproveable publicity copy,

a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton -- and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers -- and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Can she vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry?

Like the original, the expanded version begins memorably: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains."

Quirk's founder is David Borgenicht, the author of the "Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook." The self-described mission of the publishing house is the creation of "nontraditional and innovative crossover books." Mission accomplished.

Via Galleycat