Monster Mashing through History, Literature and Graphic Novels

Monster mash-ups contain a combination of appeals for their fans and readers wanting to test drive a new sub-genre. These appeals include humor, parody, horror, heroes or heroines, monsters, fast pace and quirky classics. They come in the form of adaptations of classic literary fiction, alternative biographical tales of historic figures or famous authors, or graphic novels. Samples of each type are included below.

Maiming Their Way Through History

Major historical characters meet up with the monsters in their midst.

Grahame-Smith, S. (2010). Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Grand Central Publishing.
From the time of his mother’s death from a vampire attack, our 16th president combats the undead seeking to control the development of America in a private war against vampires and the slave owners with whom they conspire.

Grahame-Smith. S. (2012) Unholy Night. Grand Central Publishing.
Actually notorious thieves on the run, the three kings of the Nativity story fight to protect the holy family from Herod’s killing armies while journeying to Egypt together. Fast-paced, swashbuckling action and heroism.

Moorat, A. E. (2010). Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter. Eos.
Young Queen Victoria inherits a cache of monster-slaying weaponry with her crown. She enlists court demon hunter, Maggie Brown, and Prince Albert to vanquish the horde of giant rats, hellhounds, werewolves, vampires and zombies roaming London. Balances Victoria and Albert’s real romance with satirical accounts of monster fighting.

Moorat, A. E. (2010). Henry VIII, Wolfman. Hodder & Stoughton.
Henry VIII of England is portrayed as a bloodthirsty king who is infected by werewolves. This one may be a little more gory than other mash-ups as a result.

Weston, L. (2010). The Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor, Vampire Slayer. Gallery.
Tudor England mixes with Arthurian legend when Mordred, vampire son of King Arthur and Morgan le Fey, pursues Elizabeth I to join the ranks of the undead so that he can rule England beside her.

Famous Authors Fighting Evil Hordes:

Monsters don’t just want to mash-up with these authors’ famous creations: they want to make mayhem for their creators’ as well.

Ford, M.T. (2009). Jane Bites Back. Ballantine.
Jane, a vampire for 200 years, spends her days as the owner of a small town bookstore unable to publish her most recent novel. Will she be exposed by her past? Wit is more pronounced than Jane’s fangs.

Handeland, L. (2010). Shakespeare Undead. St. Martins Griffin.
William Shakespeare tries his hand as a vampire necromancer teaming with his dark lady, Katherine Dymond as they investigate the origin of an invasion of the undead.

Mullany, J. (2010) Jane and the Damned. William Morrow.
Join Jane Austen, unwillingly vampire, and a group of English vampires fighting for England against a French invasion plan.

Invading Classic Literature:

Jane Austen may be the favorite target of zombies and vampires, but Dickens’, Alcott’s, Shakespeare’s and the Brontes’ protagonists have done their share of holding back the onslaught of the undead and transformed hordes of evil.

Browning Erwin, S. & Bronte, C. (2010). Jayne Slayre: The Literary Classic with a Blood Sucking Twist. Gallery.
Jane, an orphan raised by vampires, is a demon slayer and governess. She falls for Heathcliff, who hides a dark secret: his first wife is a dangerous werewolf.

Coleridge, C. & Kafka, F. (2012) The Meowmorphosis. Quirk Books.
Attempting to turn horror to humor, this parody has Kafka’s main character wakes up one morning as a cute, human-sized kitten. Zombie, werewolf and vampire-free mash-up.

Gabel, C. (2010) Romeo and Juliet and Vampires. Sourcebooks Landmark.
Iambic pentameter and rhyme free, these Montagues are vampire hunters, the Capulets are vampires. Romeo meets Juliet while she is still human, they fall in love, but the rest of the story could only happen with vampires involved.

Grahame-Smith, Seth (2009). Pride and Predjudice and Zombies: the classic regency romance—now with ultraviolent zombie mayhem. Grand Central Publishing.
Elizabeth is already combating a mysterious plague afflicting Meryton when Mr. Darcy arrives and romantically distracts her from zombie slaying.

Gray, S. (2011) A Vampire Christmas Carol. Kensington.
Scrooge has one last chance to regain his lost love, Belle, from the vampires she pursues assisted by Scrooge’s clerk and his nephew, Fred.

Gray, S. (2010) Wuthering Bites. Kensington.
Catherine Earnshaw faces a choice between marrying the wealthy refined Edgar, and her love for dangerous but devoted vampire and vampire slayer, Heathcliff. Heathcliff struggles between compassion for his victims and his own blood thirst.

Hockensmith, S. & (2009). Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls. Quirk Books.
A prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The young Bennett sisters seek their inner ninja, as they train to fight the zombie hordes. Parody.

Hockensmith, S. & (2011). Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After. Quirk Books.
Sequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Mr. Darcy has been infected through a zombie encounter. Should Elizabeth promptly beheading and incinerating him or seek out an experimental zombie anecdote in London? Parody.

Jeffers, R. (2009). Vampire Darcy’s Desire: A Pride and Prejudice Adaptation. Ulysses Press.
Mr. Darcy struggles with a 200 year old familial curse: he’s half vampire and half human. His love for Elizabeth only complicates his desires.

Josephson, W. (2010). Emma and the Vampires. Sourcebooks Landmark.
Gentleman vampires fight against wild vagrant vampires as clever but comically clueless Emma plays matchmaker with her friends and the town gentlemen..

Messina, L. (2010). Little Vampire Women. Harper Teen.
A light toned parody mirroring the March Girls original story. The girls are back with vampiric lifespans avoiding consuming human blood while fighting against vampire slayers and courting non-vampires.

Roberts, A. (2011) I am Scrooge: a Zombie Story for Christmas. Gollancz.
Dickens will never be the same, nor will Jacob Marley for that matter. Many tongue-in-cheek puns populate this zombie-mayhem-filled Christmas Eve journey.

Winters, B. & Tolstoy, L. (2009) Android Karenina. Gollancz.
Set in a world where robots, cyborgs and interstellar travel are commonplace, the relationships of the original are set in a steampunk world of rebellious clockwork machines and counterattacking androids.

Winters, B. & Austen, J. (2009) Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. Quirk Books.
When Elinor and Marianne lose their home, the island they move to contains creatures worthy of a Ray Harryhausen movie. Watch out for the tentacles, including the family matchmaking ones!

The Inevitable Mash-ups: Graphic Novel Tales Imbued with Monsters

Jensen, V. & Higgins, D. (2009) Pinocchio Vampire Slayer. SLG Publishing. (series).
When Geppetto is slain by vampires, Pinocchio learns of his unique vampire slaying skill set. Humorous dialogue combined with elements of the original fairytale make for an entertaining romp against evil.

Lee, T. & Grahame-Smith, S. (2010). Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Graphic Novel.
Quirk Books.
Tony Lee illustrated the graphic novel adaptation based on Grahame-Smith’s well-known zombie infested retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

Moore, A. & O’Neill, K. (1999). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. America’s Best Comics.
Though it is more strictly interpreted as literature invading comics, the League predates the current “monster mashup” genre, but includes enough common elements to provide some entertaining adventures for readers seeking more intrigue. Stoker’s Mina (Murray) Harper (the team’s vampire), Wells’ Invisible Man, Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, Wilde’s Dorian Gray, Verne’s Captain Nemo and Allan Quartermain from Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines team up as Victorian Era Justice League protecting the British Empire (circa 1898) from a powerful mastermind. Steampunk aficionados may enjoy the technology used. Adventure/Thriller.

Apple, J. & Teitelbaum, M. (2012). The Very Hungry Zombie. Skyhorse Publishing.
This parody of Eric Carle’s classic, The Very Hungry Catepillar, tells the story of a zombie eating all of his favorite “foods.” The artwork style and board book construction imitate Carle’s classic toddler tale right down to die cut pages. Recommended for adult readers.

Adventures in the 'Hood

Urban Fiction—subgenre: Christian Urban Fiction
Title: Even Sinners Have Souls
Authors: Noire, Chunichi, B.L.U.N.T., KaShamba Williams
Editor: E.N. Joy (2007)
Intro by: Nikki Turner, the “Queen of Hip Hop Lit”
Includes “Even Sinners have Souls” a poem by Oscar McLain III

This book is an anthology of short stories and novellas by some of female urban fiction writers with the express purpose of allowing them to write from their spiritual perspectives. They are following in a tradition laid down by earlier writers and preachers. Some of the best evangelists of any time period speak with a connection to the pop culture of their time. The Wesley brothers' hymns were often based on tunes heard in their local pubs.

These urban authors use the stories and language their readers expect with the additional insight into the inner spiritual struggles of characters trying to do the right thing or step away from sinful lifestyle choices. Each contributor has their own level of inclusion of sexual content, so the authors did keep portions of that element from their normal writing. High-end fashion, music and material goods descriptions are typical of the main genre. This volume is a perfect example of a caution Saricks gave about Christian fiction often confronting less than comfortable moral issues. Drugs, murder, out-of-wedlock relationships, deception, incest and affairs are discussed from various viewpoints along with the saving, forgiving and courage-inspiring power of God. The underlying message that anyone can still be reached no matter how deep they are entangled in a sinful life.

The writers use the inner thought life of their characters to depict their compelling motivations and spiritual struggles. Character is stronger than plot in driving these stories. In some ways, the stories reminded me of C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters in their depictions of the “temptations of the old life” and in one case the manipulative misuse of scripture by an adulterous male church leader. Nikki Turner’s introduction is not to be skipped as it does explain the goals of the authors which follow her of using their writing not only to feed their families but as a gift from God to point others toward Him or toward better choices. One of the most compelling purposes she stated in her intro was expressing to younger women that “Not all sugar daddy’s are sweet.”


Annotations for the individual stories:
Double Jeopardy by B.L.U.N.T.: Tells the tumultuous story of identical twins Denise and Dina, whose lives could not be more different. Dina is a drug dealer (Queen D) and single parent of 2, and Denise is a law office intern and fiancée of a well-connected lawyer. When Dina’s associates and the police come after her, she calls on Denise to care for her children while she sets up her escape plan. Denise is mistaken for her in a classic wrong place, wrong time situation and the story follows both women through the events that unfold from that mistake. (My personal favorite of the 4 stories in this book due to the contrast of the 2 sisters and the plotting involved. Plot and character drive this story equally.)

Trust No Man by Chunichi: This tells the story of a woman living the party girl lifestyle with her 2 best friends. Tatiana, nicknamed “Goldie” for her gold-digger lifestyle, has only one use for men: that they spend money on her. Her lack of trust comes from a horrible incident in her past. Her believing grandmother has another goal in mind for Goldie: her salvation and meeting the right Godly man. (This one does a bit of a jump to a conclusion.)

Backslider by KaShamba Williams: This tells the story of a beautiful single woman drawn into a church by an attractive but married church leader who twists scripture for his own carnal gains. Her dilemma about the nature of love makes an interesting read. (Contains the male character that most reminds me of Screwtape. "Backslider" is Christian slang for someone who has fallen back into sin).

Everything for the Truth by Noire: NBA star wife, Porsche, searches for the truth about an accusation against her husband. When she finds it, she chooses where to draw her line in the sand and decides if her man is part of her future or her past. She has to choose between material security and trusting God for everything. (I have to give this one credit for a courageous heroine.)

Characteristics of the Genre:

• Gritty street life and language
• Drugs or sex have an important role in the plot
• Detailed descriptions of fashions, accessories, cars and musical references
• Character Driven
• African American urban culture and slang

What makes it a Christian story?

• The authors showing their audience that no matter how “bad” the sin they are in, there is a forgiving God who loves them and can help them change their lives.
• Characters openly professing their faith
• Redemptive situations
• Focus on choices or repentance
• Confronting tough social or moral issues head on

Read Alikes:
B.L.U.N.T., Betrayal of a Hustler (urban fiction)
Nikki Turner, any of her titles
E.N. Joy,    Love, Honor or Stray; Trying to Stay Saved; Been There, Prayed That (all titles Christian urban fiction)
Pat Simmons, Free from Guilt, (Christian urban fiction)
Vanessa Williams, Former Rain (Christian urban fiction)

Non Fiction Tie-Ins:
Taylor Field, Mercy Streets: Seeing Grace on the Streets of New York
(Field relays stories of unexpected grace in the mean streets of New York and the Bronx.)

Wesley Hill, Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality
(Hill is a gay Christian, who has chosen to live a celibate life--tie in for a Chunichi character.)

Tony Evans, God’s Unlikely Path to Success
    God Is Up to Something Great: Turning Your Yesterdays into Better Tomorrows
    Kingdom Man: Every Man’s Destiny, Every Woman’s Dream
    Destiny: Let God Use You Like He Made You
(Evans is an African American Pastor in urban Dallas, Texas known for speaking to men about redemption, marriage, fatherhood, societal and spiritual responsibility.)

C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (One of the characters in KaShamba Williams story reminds me of scripture-twisting Screwtape and Wormwood, Lewis’ classic demons.)

More Christian Urban fiction selections here:
http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/urban-christian-fictionhttp://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/urban-christian-fiction

More standard Urban Fiction selections here, thought the list is clogged with urban fantasy.
(I chose page 2 of the list because it contains half of the authors I know I’ve been asked about: K’wan, Nikki Turner, Deja King and Zane).
http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/urban-fiction?page=2

Excellent Service, Exceptional Readers:

Challenging Libraries to Reach All Avenues of User Ability
(this really long post was a paper for my Reader's Advisory class at IUPUI)

A few recent instances pulled together the theme for this paper. I just read a compact treatise titled Expect More: Demanding Better Libraries for Today’s Complex World. It challenges library users to expand their expectations to a library relevant to and engaged with their community. I thought about this and how we deliver reader advisory—are there areas where we can pump RA up to meet today’s users? I had a couple of experiential situations that we just might have room to expand or improve our interaction with readers and raise our perceived value as keepers of book knowledge and a place for growth.

I also work in the downtown library of a county-wide metropolitan library system. I’m a page and a Library Science student. I believe that it helps overall customer service if we pages at least acknowledge the patrons we pass and ask if they need any help finding anything, especially if we see them looking lost. I don’t pretend to be a librarian with skills, I’m still in the lightly armed and unpredictably dangerous mode called “student.” I do want my library’s patrons to succeed in finding their treasures. Within a library system that boasts 4 million items, it can be a bit of a treasure hunt for the information seekers wandering our aisles.

Some of my examples of under-served readers come from my own experience, and some were inspired by articles relating experiences of active librarians. Of particular interest to me, are ways to reach these people that either go beyond the standard RA interview or bridge an accessibility gap. I’m going to focus on three groups of readers. The first group consists of generally younger adults of all ethnicities who seek “street” or “urban” fiction. The second are the 55 and over “seniors” that may need more accessible formats or be looking for social contact with peers or cross-generational interest groups. The third are newer immigrants, ESL and bilingual patrons desiring materials in their native language or materials to bridge them into reading more English.

Zombies and Vampires and Werewolves Don’t Scare Me
Since librarians and paraprofessionals at my library rotate through the various information desks, I’ve noticed that one very popular genre which I find mystifying is also not an easy area for many of them. It’s a fear factor thing for some, a hatred of some of the scantily clad cover subjects for others. Our readers can be as hesitant to ask for help as we are afraid we won’t be familiar enough to help them. Barry Trott (2009) describes the concerns of “reference librarians” dealing with fiction questions as “grouped in four areas:

• “I don’t read fiction so how can I do readers’ advisory work?
• “I don’t like genre X (be it horror, romance, mystery) so I cannot help someone find a book in that area.
• “I don’t know how to talk about books with a reader.
• “Readers’ advisory does not have any real answer; unlike a reference question, there are too many possibilities.”

As with any anxiety creating communication: the best response is a good offense. Not that we need to read all the styles of fiction books ourselves but we do need to get familiar with some of the language they may use and the appeals found in different genres so we can avoid the “deer in the headlights” look and hook the reader into continuing the conversation. We need to value them as fellow readers first. Readers’ Advisory is one of those areas where practice and familiarity with the tools of the trade are can improve our ability to serve the public. It never hurts to have bookmarks to a few genre related websites in easy reach, also.

One particular genre is called “street fiction” or “urban fiction.” It has gritty, course, street toughened characters. Situations often surround stories with drug use or dealing, prostitution, money laundering. Most is written from an African American or Latino perspective. It’s hugely popular with adults in their 20s to 30s. Popular to the point we ask patrons to put hold requests on the books so that we might be able order more copies of the most popular authors. There are many online resources to help librarians satisfy the reading interests of this group. Further complicating the genre: urban fantasy is the paranormal/horror/evil stepbrother of urban fiction so there are appeals within the subgenre which may or may not suit the taste of the main genre fans and vice versa. It’s highly unlikely that the same person would be a fan of Jim Butcher’s Wizard for hire, Harry Dresden, and Kiki Swinson’s “wifey” heroine, Kira, for instance. Part of delivering personalized service to this audience could entail keeping an annotated cheat sheet of appeal factors for various common authors or titles at the fiction desk or some bookmarked pages in GoodReads or NoveList.

Older Adults and the Impact of Health and Mobility Decline
While many of our traditional reader’s advisory methods serve adults over 55 well, it is when age begins to rob some eyesight or mobility that we may need to establish other methods to support their reading appetites. Ellen Forsyth did a literature survey prior to commencing her own study and found, “that much readers’ advisory work, other than some targeting of children and young adults, does not target specific age groups or agilities.” (2009: 128) She also found that while 75% of the libraries she surveyed offer book groups, not many offer intergenerational groups which she thought would strengthen the community and improve trust between age groups. Forsyth’s survey also found that there were not many age-targeted groups offered for fit over 65 year olds- More than 80% of libraries who completed her survey didn’t intentionally offer book discussion groups directed toward this group.

Service to older adults will need to focus on two types of patrons: those with sufficient mobility to come to the library and those who need home access to resources. The homebound will likely use a mix of physically delivered and electronically downloaded materials. As more baby boomers age into this group they bring with them computer, internet and mobile device skills which we can capitalize on in several ways to better serve our elder patrons. Making these booklists available through web browsers and mobile web browsers is a simple way to improve access for this age group. Simple fixes such as changing the font size to a larger type version can make a printed book list more accessible to anyone with age-caused vision impairments. Using personal interviews and large type format reading preferences forms can help both in-library and homebound patrons. Keeping abreast of what our patrons with eyesight limitations would like to have in audio, eBook and large type formats can help our collection and resource sharing remain relevant to our community. We also need to keep in mind any senior centers and assisted living or care centers as potential areas for outreach and offsite lending libraries.

There were several opportunities which Forsyth thought libraries could answer with creative use of newer technologies. As our population ages, the numbers of frail community members will rise and there will be a greater emphasis on distance service and utilizing technology advancements to more completely meet their needs. One easy to adapt technology are eReaders which allow for text scaling and text-to-speech options.
Forsyth also proposes that we get familiar with video chat software as a potential tool to give personable service to our homebound customers. Using that example I could see a case for using videophone applications like Face Time and Skype to speak with our customers. Sites like GoodReads could also be an outlet for homebound readers looking for conversations around books of common interest. A recent comparative review of video chat tools can be found at http://video-chat-im-software-review.toptenreviews.com/.

Another interesting proposal was using online gaming interfaces like Second Life or World of Warcraft as meeting spaces for book discussion groups. Since one desire noted by libraries was that their older patrons wanted to participate in intergenerational groups, operating through a gaming portal could open some interesting possibilities for members of different generations to interact.

For the mobile and lower tech desiring patrons, finding common interests could facilitate intergenerational groups. I know of a group of middle school boys who calls themselves “Knitting Ninjas.” Imagine if they worked together with retirees on a knitting project for a local children’s hospital or shelter. Imagine they used the library as their meeting place to work on or organize their project.

Language Barrier or Opportunity?
Another service area challenge in a metropolitan library that serves a substantial ESL and immigrant population is providing Readers’ Advisory and reference help for patrons wanting resources in their own language. Keren Dali identifies several gaps in public library readers’ advisory: “the…interview with an immigrant reader who is not a native English speaker, locating suitable books in languages other than English to suggest to a reader, and finding books in English similar to those enjoyed in readers’ native languages.”(Dali, 2009: 217). Dali points out that a reader advisor interview with this population can be successful even if the library doesn’t own the suggested material. What is most desired by the immigrant is the opportunity for a social connection with personal interaction. “What readers would appreciate is a chance to talk to an interested, sympathetic, and professional individual in the library….” (Dali, 2009: 218). Some assumptions we should guard against:

• Immigrants may not all want their leisure reading to be in their native language.
• Some will want materials in English, but be overwhelmed by the available choices.
• Don’t assume they only want to read only “their culture’s” authors.
• Having genre specific lists of popular English works translated into major languages a library serves is a thoughtful gesture that the immigrant will notice—even if your library doesn’t own all of the titles on the list.
• Immigrants are often interested in the works of local and regional authors, from whom they can gather more understanding of the culture around them.
  (Dali, 2009: 218-219).

Because I have some deciphering issues with certain accents, I’m sensitive to the barrier that creates for me to help someone. Crusty Germanic, lyrical Welsh and Irish, thick Scottish, French-Canadian, and British-Indian and Pakistani, I muddle through well, with others I’m tragically inept. I hate the thought of someone being frustrated far from the information desk and our foreign language books are both a good distance and out of sight from the main desk. Spanish is one of the accents that I tend to have a really hard time understanding, so maybe I should have just gone on my merry shelving way. Instead, I paused and asked the friendly patron I’d run across if they needed any help finding something. They tried to tell me what they wanted to find, I tried to point them to an area in the non-fiction to see if that was what they wanted. I’m not totally sure if I showed him the right thing or not. He tried to ask me for something else, I showed him something else. It basically devolved into he and I couldn’t find word combinations we could both understand. I apologized and suggested he talk to someone at the information desk.

For a new-to-English speaker, it might be helpful to have a bilingual readers’ advisory form with native language descriptive and appeal terms translated into English so both librarians and patron can communicate. Major nonfiction categories would be handy to have on this form to assist ESL patrons seeking nonfiction materials. Of course making such a form would be best accomplished through working with fluent bilingual booklovers from the immigrant community.

Stepping Outside Our Comfort Zone is the Skeleton Key
Much like old skeleton keys could open many doors, the one commonality between reaching the aging, the immigrant and the street lit reader is stepping outside our comfort zone and looking for ways to assist them in finding their next good read or an interest group to join. In serving these diverse groups, the most important is the willingness of the library staff to take the time to get to know the readers and familiarize themselves with tools and media that could enhance the readers’ library experiences. Extending our value-added services beyond the limits of our walls is just part of being a vital community resource. This requires a mindful process of self-education and getting to know our customers likes and wants. The payoff for our communities is expanded person to person services. The return for our libraries is increased value perception within the community.

________________________
References:
Dali, K. (2010) Readers’ advisory interactions with immigrant readers. [Article]. New Library World, 111(5/6), 213-222.
Forsyth, E. (2009). Readers advisory services for older adults. [Article]. APLIS, 22(3), 128-140.
Trott, B. (2012). Reference, Readers' Advisory, and Relevance. [Article]. Reference Librarian, 53(1), 60. doi: 10.1080/02763877.2011.596367