Today we see an example of a stylistic homage paid in brilliant coin. Jane Austen’s long-lost vampire novel.
What I gleaned about the story: Catherine Morland is that most inauspicious of heroines, born without benefit of sign or portent. But in the waning days of the last vampires of England, young Catherine is about to prove that heroines are not anointed by heavenly displays. They forge themselves in the harsh furnaces of danger.
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Details: The preface, attributed to a dry and stuffy scholar, does a wonderful job of both mimicking Enlightenment-era fiction, and introducing the book’s two central conceits: that what you hold in your hands is a long-lost Jane Austen novel. And that it’s about hunting vampires.
Details: To this point, I’ve only ever read a Jane Austen parody, so my opinion on the matter is only weakly informed, but the tone and subtle humor of the first chapter seems right on the money.
Analysis: This might be the first time I’ve ever charged an echo against chapter headwords, or in this case, head phrases. The faux preface, written by the august historian, begins in homage to Austen herself, with “It is a truth universally acknowledged that…” Clearly an homage to Austen’s own witticism about well-heeled men being in need of a wife. While it is a rather flagrant re-use of that introductory phrase, it can be forgiven, since the fictional historian writing the introduction would be expected to be familiar with Austen’s work, and would no doubt find it charming to make such a conspicuous homage in his essay. But when Chapter Five begins with: It is a truth not to be contradicted, this goes too far for my tastes. It shocked me out of the story and called attention to itself.
Final note: After the treadmill, I went on to read the whole thing and loved it. I may have to investigate Jane Austen now. Or I can wait for more of Anderson’s reinterpreted versions.
“Note: advantaged vantages? Ick.”
Wordplay FTL. I’ll chalk this up to the “you don’t miss the shots you don’t take” principle. :)
As for “a truth universally acknowledged,” I’m working on Pride & Prejudice & Pneumatics now, where I’m pretty much obliged to use the line for reals. So… umm… you have that to look forward to.
Thanks again for your kind words and support
I am pretty excited to read this one. Just grabbed the Immerse or Die storybundle.
Excellent, Lauren. Thanks! I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. Plus, now you’ve got 8 more great books to check out.
Definitely :)
Mr. Smith,
Your authority is in question with this post, seeing that your “What I gleaned … ” paragraph has three instances of missing capitalization and one of missing terminal punctuation.
Had I seen this as the first paragraph in any book I was considering for purchase, that would have counted as *four* WTFs and an instant reject.
I’m not giving up on this blog just yet; just make sure you’re properly caffeinated before hitting the “Submit” button.
You’re absolutely correct, Curtis. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. An early draft of the article got posted by mistake the other day and with all the chaos of the StoryBundle launch, I didn’t correct the problem as diligently as I had thought. Fortunately, errors as glaring as that one are very rare here. At least, I THINK they are. :-)