Austen's Pride and Prejudice set for zombie mash-up

Jane Austen's classic talePride and Prejudice has been updated and reimagined in a host of ways over the years, whether set in modern times or perhaps with a Bollywood flavour. However, a new parody incorporating zombies is generating buzz ahead of its release.

Television comedy writer and producer Seth Grahame-Smith is set to release his manners-plus-monsters mash-up novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies this spring.

"About 85 per cent is the original Jane Austen text," Grahame-Smith told the U.K.'s Sunday Times newspaper.

What the Los Angeles-based writer has added, however,are scenes of Austen heroine Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters pressed into battling an onslaught of undead zombies hailing from London. The Bennet girls are trained, interestingly enough, in Japanese fighting techniques by Mr. Darcy.

"I hated her when I was forced to read Austen in school, but when I started rereading, I realized she was a brutal, but very funny, satirist," added Grahame-Smith.

"I can only aspire to be as mean-spirited as she could be."

Grahame-Smith's other book credits include:Pardon My President: Apologies for 8 Years of George W. Bush; The Big Book of Porn: A Penetrating Look at the World of Dirty Movies; and How to Survive a Horror Movie: All the Skills to Dodge the Kills.

Though the book is not officially set for release until April, Grahame-Smith has already fielded calls from Hollywood, with several firms bidding for rights to a film adaptation, he said.