Twisting the Classics

So by now we've all heard about Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. It's gotten a lot of great reviews, and seems to have spawned a new sub-genre of its own. Rumors are the author (Seth, not Jane) received over half-a-million dollars for two more books, one of which is Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

The mind boggles.

So in the interest of fun and brain-challenging exercises, what are some other classics novels that could make it with a paranormal twist? What would you like to see?

My choices:

The Three Musketeers: Blood Vendetta -- Undead Cardinal Richeliu returns with a vampire army and a plan to take control of France.

Estella, the Vampire Slayer: A Heroine of Great Expectations -- Before Rupert Giles, there was Miss Havisham. Before Buffy, there was Estalla...


Whatcha got?

Comments

Anonymous said…
Well, one could plug Holmes into such a situation (and others have done so in various situations) , so let's make it...

Robin Helsing? Keeping Sherwood Forest safe from the creatures that walk at night, including the were-sheriff of Nottingham. What Robin doesn't know is that Richard the Lionhearted is more than just an epitaph...
Chris said…
It'd be a kindness to zombify the entire cast of Wuthering Heights...
Carla said…
To Kill a Mockingbird, with Atticus Finch defending an innocent were-person. Boo Radley can be a vampire and Scout still learns the "everyone is a person" lesson.
Thom said…
A Tale of Two Zombies!

The Zombies Karamazov!

Undeath of a Salesman!

Though what I would actually want to read is the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and his werewolf friend Jim as they travel down a Mississippi River chock full of the paranormal. The Duke and the King are vampires, that kind of thing.
Thom said…
Then again, The Talisman is pretty much Huck Finn w/ Werewolf, so I guess I have already read that book after all.
The Picture of Dorian Gray: Almost everybody dies in this book... or so you think. Corpses seem to disappear, people seem to be speaking up and asking for brains, there has even been rumors about a MR. Gray been seen in the shadows of the underworld, but a lot more paler than he use to be, and with a thirst for blood.

Hehe I really liked that book ^^

www.bloodybookaholic.blogspot.com
Jeremy F. Lewis said…
The Secret Garden of Blood

Mary's social inexperience would now be explained by her concrentrated studies as a vampire hunter. Dickon is a were-robin, the one that showed her the garden in the first placee and Colin is half-human half-vampire saved by an infusion of Archibald Craven when the boy's mother died. Mrs. Medlock is also a vampire hunter who is angry that Mary will not help her destroy the "evil" of Craven and his "unnatural" child.
Falcata Times said…
Romeo and Juliet 2 - Their zombies come back to take vengeance on thier families.
alanajoli said…
I *LOVE* silveradept's idea about Richard the Lionheart. I laughed out loud (and I work in a library, so that kind of thing can be frowned upon...)

One of my favorite classics is Phantom of the Opera, which is already a horror novel, so that's a no-go. To go with other French gothic novels that have been made into musicals, though, how about Les Miserable, Plagued by Demons? Cosette is actually a celestial being who doesn't know her heritage, Eponine is a demon slayer fighting at the front lines to protect the man she loves, and Jean Valjean is the innocent soldier thrust into the supernatural world.

(I have to say, if Estalla was a demon hunter and Miss Havisham was a Watcher, that explains *so much* about Great Expectations.)
Sabrina Favors said…
There's got to be something great with King Arthur, or maybe Robin Hood. Merlin as a vampire, Little John and Will Scarlett as lycanthropes? Robin Hood is vampire hunter?



*word ver: shince--the funny-bone-like feeling you get when you bang your knee/shin into something.
Thom said…
"There's got to be something great with King Arthur"

A Revenant Yankee in King Arthur's Court
GB said…
'The Scarlet Letter' could take on a whole new meaning of you make Pearl a slayer-in-training and give Chillingworth his comuppance early. If Dimmsdale and Hester were her trainers, they may actually have a spine between them and it could save a whole lot of heartache.

"Demon Tess of the d'Urbervilles" wouldn't quite be the wrist-slasher that it currently is, either.

Can you tell these aren't exactly my most favourite classics in the world? :)
Karen said…
Jane Eyre -
In the early years, Jane would discover she can see ghosts, when she has a run in with one.
She's sent to boarding school for girls with special abilities, to train them as slayers. Some supernatural members of the faculty prey on the girls. She leaves after a zombie rampage wipes out the school.
She then becomes a governess to a girl whose werewolf mother is locked in the attic (but occasionally runs free) & whose stepfather, Rochester, is a vampire. Jane falls in love with him, but then must leave when she learns the truth, he bites her & she freaks.
She ends up with a missionary bent on fighting demons, but doesn't love him. Just when she's about to marry him, she hears Rochester calling to her thru their blood connection.
She rushes to him. There has been a fire, he is horribly burned. She loves him, so she offers her blood to help heal him. They marry & raise the stepdaughter who is also a werewolf. Jane gives birth to a damphir. sigh...
Sabrina Favors said…
I'm really enjoying all your suggestions, Thom. There's already been every other version of A Yankee in King Arthur's Court.


Grendel as a werewolf is almost too obvious.
Anonymous said…
Alanajoli: Thankyew, thankyew. Library workers unite, yo. *fistbump*

Also, anyone think that a piece like The Pigman would be improved vastly if the target of the kids were, say, a were-boar? Bet those kids would feel a lot worse for taking advantage of him... when he gored them!

Flowers (and Chains) for Algernon - while brilliant, the main character manages to gene-splice the mouse, who then bites him and turns him into a were-dire rat. Now he has to figure out how to control his transformations as his intelligence fades away.

The Glass Menagerie - That shy, crippled girl being pressed to find a husband? Actually has a taste for blood, which is why we don't see her out and about all that much. And why she dropped out of the business college.
Nicola O. said…
Pssst, those of you with a taste for a vampiric Sherwood forest might want to check out Lynn Viehl's Darkyn series.

Just sayin'....
Wanker said…
wanker says- King Arthur going to enjoy this.

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