Free Book - Pride and Prejudice The Wild and Wanton Edition

[koland]

No longer free

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I actually read that one--against my will, I should add. What a travesty.

Aw. I actually kind of liked Pride/Prejudice on the grounds that if you're going to mess with canon to tell your own spin on a well-known story that doesn't have all that much maneuvering room (unlike the endless possible Sherlock Holmes cases that can yet be discovered), then you should really mess with canon to provide extra entertainment value and distinguish your take from the rest.

This explains my fondness for the idea of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, even if the execution was somewhat lacking.

Originally Posted by Joykins

Wait a minute, does Darcy *initiate* Bingley or does he *instruct* him? Because the one is slash, and the other is ... sex ed?

Depends on which book you're reading.

The Darcys and the Bingleys is "instruct", as far as I recall. Bingley gets sex tips and advice from Darcy, but no hands-on.

Pride/Prejudice is "initiate". They've been having an affair for ages and now both Bingley and Darcy are looking to expand their circle of acquaintance, so to speak.

And I seem to have read at least one other which is kind of both, in which Darcy and Bingley have been having an affair of mutual convenience on and off (being not supposed to touch respectable ladies without matrimony and all), but since Darcy has so much more experience while Bingley's a naïve innocent, he's now giving extra pointers on What Women Like to Bingley for his wedding night with Jane, who proves to be a lusty minx along with Lizzy (but not the two together, mind you). I think this is also the other one* with the surprise lesbian sister, not TDaTB.

* Besides Pride/Prejudice and Lost in Austen, that is. I think it's practically a meme now.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Aw. I actually kind of liked Pride/Prejudice on the grounds that if you're going to mess with canon to tell your own spin on a well-known story that doesn't have all that much maneuvering room (unlike the endless possible Sherlock Holmes cases that can yet be discovered), then you should really mess with canon to provide extra entertainment value and distinguish your take from the rest.

This explains my fondness for the idea of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, even if the execution was somewhat lacking.

That's the problem right there--messing with the story. Let the author tell her own story with her own characters, rather than twisting Austen's story and characters to suit her ends. But I don't mind modern retellings a la Clueless, or something that uses Austen as a jumping-off point, like My Jane Austen Summer.

I didn't find Pride/Prejudice entertaining, but boring in the extreme.

No zombies for me.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by Catlady

That's the problem right there--messing with the story. Let the author tell her own story with her own characters, rather than twisting Austen's story and characters to suit her ends.

Mostly agreed. I generally prefer classics derivatives which are "loosely inspired by", rather than directly "behind the scenes/filling in the blanks". Although I've read some really good ones that are the latter, like Susan Kay's Phantom: The Novel of His Life.

But I figure if I'm going to sit through someone's mere alternate viewing angle, I like it to be cracktastic enough to have grounds to speculate on exactly which mind-altering substances the author's been taking, otherwise I might as well not bother.

Because frankly, a lot of these things show a profound lack of imagination.

It seems like there's endless continuations where oh look, the Bingleys and the Darcys are having their idyllically happy life where they have kids who are just like them and oh look, they have a boy from one family and a girl from the other who are now all grown up and have this Slap Slap Kiss Kiss budding love story ju-u-u-st like Lizzy and Darcy*, isn't it all too precious?

* Bonus points if two more of them have this Too Shy To Talk to Each Other and Nearly End Up Breaking Up budding love story just like Bingley and Jane.†

† Extra bonus points if it turns out to be two+ boys or two+ girls reliving their parents' relationships. Because that has yet to be done ad nauseam.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

that's a different book -- but equally horrid.

Don

[AprilHare]

Erm, is this it? http://www.borders.com.au/book/pride...tion/17363824/
How does one get it? Just curious

[AprilHare]

I can see how to get Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife..
http://www.borders.com.au/ebook/mr-d...inues/9632192/