Quirk Books to release Tolstoy's "Android Karenina"

[Nate the great]

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters co-author Ben H. Winters is back with an all-new collaborator, legendary Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, and the result is Android Karenina—an enhanced edition of the classic love story set in a dystopian world of robots, cyborgs, and interstellar space travel.

As in the original novel, our story follows two relationships: The tragic adulterous love affair of Anna Karenina and Count Alexei Vronsky, and the more hopeful marriage of Nikolai Levin and Princess Kitty Shcherbatskaya. These characters live in a steampunk-inspired world of robotic butlers, clumsy automatons, and rudimentary mechanical devices. But when these copper-plated machines begin to revolt against their human masters, our characters must fight back using state-of-the-art 19th-century technology—and a sleek new model of ultra-human cyborgs like nothing the world has ever seen.

from:
http://www.quirkclassics.com/index.p...uirk-classic-4

*******

Folks, I give you the next fad in publishing: classic-scifi mash ups. I guess this means the previous fad (vampire romance) is dead, thank goodness. So what do you think will be used in the next mash up?

[HarryT]

I'm sure this kind of thing appeals to someone, but I find it very silly, personally.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

I dunno... maybe toons? Stories re-set into caveman days?

Whatever it is, it can't be any dumber than the last two.

[Daithi]

I bet this guy is doing pretty well. Quite a few people bought his Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Personally I loved the cover, although I haven't bought the book.

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

from:
http://www.quirkclassics.com/index.p...uirk-classic-4

*******

Folks, I give you the next fad in publishing: classic-scifi mash ups. I guess this means the previous fad (vampire romance) is dead, thank goodness. So what do you think will be used in the next mash up?

I have the next annoying, grating, bullshit fad -- we exhume the corpses of some of our most beloved writers (some will only be skeletons now), such as John Steinbeck for example. We then dress these bones up in pretty, pretty clothes, and we prop this up in a tent somewhere with a typewriter in front of the freshly dug-up author. Roll in a fresh piece of paper, then, through a series of levers, pulleys and strings, some untalented, no-idea douchebag can jerk the strings around and words will appear on the paper. Doesn't matter about the words, could be anything at all, just random words, because the people we package, market and sell this crap to won't read it anyway, they'll be too busy voting on American Idol or cheering for far-away pointless wars to be concerned with anything as time-consuming as reading.

We'll trademark this new and innovative method with the name POX. Or maybe BLIGHT - for when you just can't be bothered to come up with anything original. Why not bring the authority and respect of a dead author to your mindless drivel?

Mashups and fanfiction and vampire romance, endless super-hero movies and 'reboots' of old tv shows that should be forgotten. Almighty Atheismo save us from this garbage. And if I hear the word 'reboot' in relation to any movie/tv show or creative work again I will scream until my nose bleeds. It's not a reboot, it's a soulless, mindless cash grab and everyone knows it.

[WillAdams]

The Greeks invented everything, all else is variation.

Of course, one could hope for a bit of variation done w/ taste and style and insight.

Fred Saberhagen's re-visiting of Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and Sherlock Holmes for one example of this sort of thing done very well.

William

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

The Greeks invented everything, all else is variation.

Of course, one could hope for a bit of variation done w/ taste and style and insight.

Fred Saberhagen's re-visiting of Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and Sherlock Holmes for one example of this sort of thing done very well.

William

Ah now, you touched upon what is at the heart of my hatred. All that you have mentioned is reinvention, not mere addition. All these so-called 'mashups' are just addendum to the already established classics, and they trade upon the classic nature of the original. If, for instance, someone wrote the story of Anna Karenina from the viewpoint of cyborgs, that might be interesting, that might be worthy of reading time. But not this drivel that's being pumped out recently.

[Daithi]

I see where Moejoe's coming from, but these books are clearly parodies, and I really don't have a problem with them. After all, parodies can be great entertainment. I loved "Weird Al" Yankovic as a kid, Monty Python and the Holy Grail's spoof of King Arthur is great. Even Don Quixote was a parody that mocked the traditional knight errant tales.

[guess32]

I bet they read it one hundred times more people than the original Ana Karenina

[luqmaninbmore]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

Mashups and fanfiction and vampire romance, endless super-hero movies and 'reboots' of old tv shows that should be forgotten. Almighty Atheismo save us from this garbage. And if I hear the word 'reboot' in relation to any movie/tv show or creative work again I will scream until my nose bleeds. It's not a reboot, it's a soulless, mindless cash grab and everyone knows it.

Didn't like the new Star Trek movie, did we?

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by luqmaninbmore

Didn't like the new Star Trek movie, did we?

Consider me thoroughly hoisted upon my own petard. I really enjoyed that film

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

Consider me thoroughly hoisted upon my own petard. I really enjoyed that film

[dadioflex]

Edit.

[Daithi]

Catsittingstill, a poster here on Mobileread, said she read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and that the major plot threads and scenes were all there. She also said and that it wasn't bad (not that she was saying it was good).

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by dadioflex

Awww, people have been re-writing classic fiction for years. This is just good marketing. I'm fine with parodies. Has anyone read either of the first two? Is it the original text with extra bits, substantially the original text, or is it pure parody with just a few quotes thrown in?

What's stopping ANYBODY doing this? Next thing you have a glut and nobody cares anymore.

I read here that a Sherlock Holmes inspired anthology was canned, probably in response to the recent film. Now that's a real crime, never mind mash-up literature, which I'm actually extremely surprised Moejoe isn't in favour of.

Why surprised? Mashups are lazy forms of creativity, why not just pay homage like every other writer or creator has ever done and keep 'new' art coming? The idea isn't bad; taking one of those stuffy old texts and then adding something new to it like zomibies or what have you, a clash of polite society and an horrific event. But why not invent your own society, your own characters and events where all this can take place? Why not create something new from the old, instead of just adding onto what already is?

What's next, Moby Fang? A Tale of Two Werewolves? Jane Eyre: Vampire Hunter?

Homage: Taking what was and letting it inspire what is
Parody: Aping what is
Mashup: Combining what was and what is and boring me in the process

EDIT: And while we're on the subject I want all Vampires, Werewolves, Witches, Warlocks, Demons and Devils along with all assorted other horrors brought back to their rightful position in the nightmares of all. From now on I don't want to see another Vampire Detective, Werewolf Bounty Hunter or Witch Dentist. Gorram ruining horror is all that rubbish!