Philadelphia’s Quirk Books are up to their ol’ tricks again, giving the wonderful Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters another push.

Now through December 25th, this new 30 second version of the original book trailer for Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters is airing in select movie theaters, on the Dish Network, and DIRECTV. The King of Prussia movie theater will be showing it before every movie. Check it out…

If you’ve yet to grab a copy of this awesome book, I highly recommend picking it up.

Well done Quirk!

If there’s one thing I can say about Quirk Books, it’s that they know how to cater to the geek crowd. From books on how to be like Batman to collections of video game art, they seem to hit all our bases. Especially the bases that love zombies and monsters. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies and Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters? Two perfect examples. And now, Quirk takes aim at something else geeks love. Special Editions.

It’s true, we adore our limited, special, collectors, and exclusive editions of the things we love. Action figures, vinyl toys, video games in obscenely large packaging, etc. Quirk knows this, and plans to release a deluxe edition of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies this November. They folks at Quirk were kind enough to send me a copy, entitled The Heirloom Edition. This new printing of P&P&Z comes with 13 new full-color oil painting illustrations (the originals were black and white ink drawings), a new preface from the author, and… more zombies. Seth Grahame-Smith has written more zombies into the text, 30% more according to Quirk’s press release.

Best of all, the book comes in a fancy faux-leather hardcover binding, that looks pretty fantastic. Which is an important thing with us geeks.

The new deluxe edition of the book debuts November 1st, 2009, but you can pre-order it off Quirk’s website. I recommend doing so, since their books tend to sell out pretty quickly on their online store. As of writing this post, Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters is still out of stock. So get on that kids. This new edition will look great on your bookshelf. Here’s hoping for a special edition of Sea Monsters as well!

Quirk Books’ Pride & Prejudice & Zombies: Deluxe Heirloom Edition
In Stores: November 1st, 2009
www.irreference.com/pride-and-prejudice-and-zombies-the-deluxe-heirloom-edition

I’ll be honest. When Philadelphia’s publisher of all-that-is-quirky, Quirk Books, announced they would be publishing a follow up their New York Times best selling book Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, entitled Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters… well, I was both excited and concerned. The trailer was hilarious and built the hype, but was Quirk just banging out a quick book to keep up with the trend, or is Sea Monsters yet another quality text?

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies was absolutely wonderful and hilarious. I brought the book into my college English classrooms and read passages to my students. The book managed to maintain the most powerful literary elements of Austen’s work, while becoming something all its own. After-all, the book was 85% true to the text, with only 15% digressing into zombie madness.

Now along comes Ben H. Winters, a Brooklyn native, with his foray into the Austen spoof. Instead of Grahame-Smith’s zombies, Winters gives us “giant lobsters, rampaging octopi, two-headed sea serpents, swashbuckling pirates, and other seaworthy creatures.” And instead of the smaller ratio of new crazy content, Winters’ dishes out nearly half.

Well, there’s a reason it’s out of stock on Quirk’s website. The book is a riot, and absolutely worth the purchase. Winters’ proves that Quirk wasn’t just piggy backing off the success of Zombies, but instead, giving us an awesome series of rewritten texts to look forward to. That’s right, this isn’t the last in the Quirk Classics series, and I can’t wait for the next one. The book is available now in stores, and I suggest you grab a copy.

However, for those of you cheaper folks, you might want to try to win a well-read copy of the book. Leave a comment and name your favorite sea-monster. I’ll pick one at random and ship out the book next week. Geekadelphia likes to share.

Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters
Out Now via Quirk Books
www.irreference.com/sense-and-sensibility-and-sea-monsters

If you’re into podcast fiction you’ve probably heard of an author by the name of Scott Sigler. He was one of the first authors who used podcasting/social media, and a little site called podiobooks.com – and turned giving away his content for free into his dream of a full fledged writing career. Scott Sigler is now currently a New York Times best selling author of such books as Infected and Contagious, which were released by Crown Publishing. Infected has actually been optioned for a feature film by Rogue Pictures. Scott Sigler will be in Philadelphia this Thursday – September, 17 supporting his latest self published effort The Rookie.

The Rookie is a Sci-Fi Sports story about an interplanetary football league in the far future.  The Rookie, which began as an adult sci-fi action novel was later edited for most of the naughty bits and is now aimed at the young adult market to help teach kids team-work and tolerance of people who are different than themselves.  The new incarnation of The Rookie are available for for purchase from scottsigler.com or as a free as podcast at podiobooks.com.

In keeping with the theme of the book Scott is calling this a “Tailgate Tour” and has been stopping at various family friendly sports locations for a discussion and a bite to eat. His Philadelphia Stop will be at Mickey’s American Grill and Sports bar from 5:30pm to 8:00pm. The plan is to meet on the 3rd Floor, read a little, have a bit of discussion, then grab a bite and a beer. For details or to let Scott know your coming check out this site. I have interviewed Scott before and shared a zombie panel with him at Balticon, and I highly suggest if any of this sounds interesting to you, you check his stuff out he’s a great writer and a great guy as well.

I adore Quirk Books and love knowing that they base themselves here, in Philadelphia. I also love that every now and again, I get a little surprise in the ol’ Geekadelphia mailbox, thanks to their wonderful PR team. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies found its way into my home (and my heart) not too long ago, as well as a wealth of other books that we still need to review on here.

The Quoteable Douchebag, as compiled by author Margaret McGuire (a Philadelphian!) is out now, and is a hilarious collection of incredibly stupid remarks from politicians, musicians, movie stars, athletes, and more. While a handful of people actually don’t belong in the book and, I believe, are unfairly included (Pete Wentz, for one), there are some truly outstanding gems that are worthy of inclusion. Notably the wealth of quotes from David “The Hoff” Hasselhoff. There are many dying children out there whose last wish is to meet me. Ah, David. You’re a real class act.

Rounding off at 144 pages, and running your pockets about $13 at the bookstore, The Quotable Douchebag is an excellent and hilarious addition to your coffeetable, and will no doubt, inspire plenty of conversation.

Now, speaking of conversation… want to win a copy of the book? I’ve got mine right here, primed for a giveaway. Update: Just leave a comment! We’ll randomly pick one of you and send you the book at the end of next week.

The Quotable Douchebag (Out Now!)
www.irreference.com/the-quotable-douchebag

Quirk Books
www.irreference.com

Quirk recently announced the newest title in their Quirk Classics series… Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters. Written by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters, this is the follow up to their first Quirk Classics release, the New York Times Bestseller Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, which we here at Geekadelphia loved. Seriously. I brought it into my World Literature classes, and read passages for my students. It was incredible.

The book will be in store September 15th, and is currently available for pre-order. Yes, September 15th is the same day the new Dan Brown book comes out, but guess who doesn’t care? This guy. Quirk editor Jason Rekulak explains why they went with sea monsters for this new mash-up.

“A couple of publishers are crashing Jane Austen vampire novels that will no doubt capitalize on the success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and there were certainly plenty of people who urged me to do the same. But I didn’t want to go out with the one-millionth vampire novel that’s going to be published this year. I know there are a lot of vampire fans, but the genre feels exhausted to me. Whereas Sea Monsters allowed us to draw inspiration from so many rich and diverse sources—most obviously Jules Verne novels and Celtic mythology, but also Jaws, Lost, Pirates of the Caribbean, even SpongeBob Squarepants! I think Pride and Prejudice and Zombies fans were counting on us to deliver something original, and I don’t think they will be disappointed.”

Make sure you watch the hilarious trailer for the book above. We’ll be reviewing the book here on Geekadelphia shortly before it comes out. So stay tuned.

Quirk Classics
www.quirkclassics.com

No, this is not Abe Lincoln fighting a Sperm Whale. I know as of late he has become quite simply, the Chuck Norris of American Presidents and this would only solidify this fact. This t-shirt by splitreason.com combines two of my loves literature and fighting games amazingly, into one shirt. The shirt is a basically what if the epic battle between Captiain Ahab and the great white whale took place in a Midway or Capcom arcade fighting game. To tell you the truth (Spoilers!) my money is on the whale, I already know how this one ends and it’s a fatality.

This is the start of my 5 quick questions interview series from Wizard World 2009. For the next four days I will be posting a different interview each day with a celebrity I was lucky enough to have the chance to ask a 5 quick questions.  For those of you that read my Waiting for Wizard World article you know one thing I was excited for was the chance to see Max Brooks author or World War Z do his “What’s your zombie plan?” Panel. I arrived at the con Friday sneaking out of work early and stopped by his table to pick up a hardback copy of World War Z to have signed. I told him I was a huge fan and asked him if I could have an interview sometime that weekend and he said “I am kinda slow now” luckily my friend Scott who blogs on 13visions.com had his H4 handy and me and Max snuck off to do the interview you see before you, check it out after the jump.

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I love zombie movies, and way before they were the new sparkly vampires mind you. While most kids were watching He-Man I was comparing the overlying thematic elements of Day of the Dead to Dawn of the Dead. I always saw the bigger picture that the movies while seemingly being about the rise of the undead from their grave were really about the human struggle, to not only to get along with one another but to survive the ordeal as well.

After spending almost my entire life watching different interpretations on this theme, sometime after Land of the Dead was released things started to get a bit stale. It seemed as if George Romero himself had run out of ideas. Now just for the record I won’t acknowledge the possibility of fast moving zombies. Not only do I find it hard to believe that the dead are not just simply re-animated but imbued with super-human speed and strength but if these zombies existed we wouldn’t stand much of a chance now would we? I had basically given up on the genre at least in American media up until I ran across World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War.

More after the jump!

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It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains…

Lately, the awesome people at Quirk Books here in Philadelphia have been sending me a lot of their recently published works. And I’ve gotta say… it’s awesome. Nothing beats coming home after a long day at work and finding a nice big manila envelope wedged in my mailbox. Especially when that envelope contains something like How To Live With a Huge Penis, Geeky Dreamboats, or the awesome Pride & Prejudice & Zombies.

Unfamiliar with this fresh adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic? You shouldn’t be. Afterall, it’s on the New York Times bestseller list and has caught quite a bit of buzz. Here’s a quick description from the back of the book.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies features the original text of Jane Austen’s beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens, 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.

But how does this book stack up with the original? Who does Seth Grahame-Smith think he is, altering what is arguably one of the greatest classical romances ever written? Well, it turns out that this adaptation of Pride & Prejudice is just as fresh and funny as a sequel to Hamlet, honoring the source material while creating something completely new and hilarious.

Back in May, when the semester was wrapping up, I spent a few minutes at the beginning of each World Literature course, reading select pieces from Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, much to the delight of my literature students. I simply cannot recommend this book enough.

For those of you interested, there’s even a special edition from Quirk, entitled the ‘Heirloom’ Edition. It features additional illustrations, a fancier cover, and more. It’s currently out of stock on the Quirk website, however.

Still not sold? Read the first three chapters online, for free, on the Quirk website.

Going with the theme of Personal Effects: Dark Art and Zach Taylor being a art therapist working at Brinkvale Psychiatric Hospital we thought we would do what I am calling “Comment Therapy” here on Geekadelphia.com.  Thanks to J.C. Hutchins we are offering a free copy of Personal Effects: Dark Art, all you have to do is comment and tell us what sends you to the “Brink”. You get to tell us about that weird guy or girl who is always looking at you funny on SEPTA and you get the chance to win a signed book all about crazies. How therapeutic is that? Contest will run 2 weeks and we will pick and announce the lucky winner June 24, 2009. If you can’t wait you can pick up Personal Effects: Dark Art on Amazon HERE or start off with the prequel Personal Effects: Sword of Blood HERE. Good Luck!

There is an interesting thing happening in the publishing world right now. Where once upon a time if you wrote your great American novel, and after shopping it around and found out it wasn’t quite what the publishers were looking for, for some reason or another. The only home it would find is in your dusty desk drawer between last years tax return and that really great script you wrote in high school after seeing The Matrix. But now that isn’t the end of the line for authors looking to get published these days, thanks to podcasting and the publishing industry is starting to take notice.

J.C. Hutchins is one these authors that started out giving his great American novel away in podcast form on Podiobooks.com as a sort of serialized audio drama or “Podcast Novel” if you will and over the years it has become one of the most downloaded “podcast novels” in history. The 7th Son trilogy still receives over 100,000 downloads each month and this led to his eventual book deal with St. Martin’s press, not bad for someone who has up until Personal Effects: Dark Art never had a novel published the old fashioned way.  With the podiobook and social media route authors like J.C. are building their audience by promoting their own work and by proving to publishers that there is an audience for their work making dream of the great American novel into a reality.

J.C.’s first book with St. Martin’s press Personal Effects: Dark Art was released this week, and it is what you would expect from someone who has made a career thus far of using all the tools at his command to tell a more compelling story his own way. The book is not simply a book but a true transmedia experience. With the book you get a envelope of “personal effects” which tie into an online alternate reality game, so once you have finished with the book you can further explore the story online adding to the experience. Due to the nature of the book itself and these “personal effects” the book will not see an electronic or podcast version to better keep the experience as it was intended. I do have to say being a designer by trade a lot of work went into creating the business cards, drivers licenses. photos and birth certificates that come with the book. Don’t fret he is currently releasing Personal Effects: Sword of Blood the prequel to Dark Art as a free podcast.

I am a huge fan of the J.C.’s work and hope you enjoy my interview and in true transmedia fashion the interview is also available as a downloadable podcast because quite honestly I couldn’t fit it all here so enjoy!

Check out the interview after the jump!

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