Now with ultraviolent zombie mayhem

[adelagia]

Was recently just telling someone that I can't bring myself to overlook incorrect dialogue punctuation or blatant misspellings, no matter how popular or well-recced a fic is, though I vaguely recall a time when stuff like that didn't bother me as much (misuse of your/you're, however, has always, always felt like a sucker-punch to the soul); I think this may be due to doing the submission queue at FIA for a few years now, and now that I'm a lot more finely attuned to catching SpaG mistakes I see them everywhere. Which is much worse when it's an actual, published book rather than a fic.

Which brings me to:

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I was already predisposed to enjoy this book because a) Pride and Prejudice, classic, and b) who doesn't like a little zombie action every now and then?

It was a fairly entertaining book, though I don't think I'd read it again in a hurry. The zombie-related bits are actually inserted into the original text pretty seamlessly, and some parts are laugh-out-loud funny and others totally gross (which seems on par with what you'd expect of zombies in general), but nothing actually happens with them for the most part; they feature in the background, mostly, and have no real story arc of their own, which gives rise to a lot of questions as to why they're there and how they should be dealt with. Also, most of the fun stuff happens in the first half of the book, leaving the zombies as dead weight for the rest of it, especially after the novelty factor wears thin after a while.

My biggest problem with the book, though, was the shoddy proofreading work done with the new scenes (which was probably apparent, given the way I started this post). There is a constant mix of American and British spelling, confusion with place names and egregious spelling errors, like bails of hay and a coy pond. A COY POND. COME ON! [/Gob Bluth]

To sum up: Borrow it from the library and read it for a few laughs, though you might be left wanting to read the original instead. (Or, if you're me, wondering where to send a letter of complaint about the coy pond.)

Comments

[blankmeridian.livejournal.com]

(I cringed so hard when I read "coy pond") My basic feeling is that the book could have been a lot more awesome if just a bit more effort had been involved; it was such an awsome premise.

[adelagia.livejournal.com]

Yep, you're right, that's it exactly. Great premise and meh execution.

[embe11ished.livejournal.com]

Do you think the "coy pond" could have been a reference to what I understand is the next book in the series, "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters"? Okay, maybe not. I haven't read either book, but I have to admit to being somewhat intrigued. Though if there really are that many SPAG errors, maybe I'm not that interested, after all!

[adelagia.livejournal.com]

HA, home to a coquettish giant kraken, no doubt.

Well, the saving grace is that about 90% of it is original Austen, so you know you're getting that much quality, at least! And I think the "coy pond" was really the worst of it (and also the insistence of referring to sweat as "exercise moisture"); the other stuff was mostly minor enough that it didn't ping my "WHERE IS YOUR BETA?" reflex too often :)

[7veilsphaedra.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I would much rather have a coy pond than a blatant and forward pond, one which sloshed its scum about indiscriminately.

As for those bails of hay, I've always known those scoundrels would head straight for the border the minute they were unstrung.

[adelagia.livejournal.com]

*snerk*

Of course, with the forward ponds at least you know where you stand. Those coy ones are always giving off mixed signals.

[accordingtomel.livejournal.com]

My biggest problem with the book, though, was the shoddy proofreading work

I'm not a fan of errors in fanfic either, but usually if it's the odd one here or there I don't really care. Afterall, these are not professional by any stretch of the imagination.

But DUDE....when it comes to published books, I can't handle it at ALL. And I most definitely will and HAVE stopped reading a book if I notice a lot of spelling/grammatical errors in it. It completely and absolutely turns me off. I'm 100% positive that I refused to keep reading a book some time in the last couple of years for that exact reason, though I can't for the life of me remember which book it is.

Anyway, for someone who claims to love to read a lot (and I really, genuinely do), I haven't read like ANY of the classics. I've never read Pride & Prejudice before, so I'm thinking I should probably read that first. Though if you say the whole zombie aspect of it just seems like it was thrown in there for cheap thrills, then I'm not really sure what the point of reading this book is. I, personally, would want them to have some sort of story arc. Otherwise, what the hell is their purpose in the story?

Anywho, I end this comment by saying: GOB!!! (And I need more AD icons, I really do! OMG, we should totally do an AD marathon when we hang out *nods* :D It'd be EPIC! That and Futurama! And Merlin too, I suppose, LOL ;) *starts plotting*)

(And clearly I did not go to write, like I said. I came back to my addition -- LJ ;) Night!)

[adelagia.livejournal.com]

For fanfic, a few mistakes here and there are fine, but I'm big on getting things beta-ed; I think if you've put all this work into something, you'd want the best possible version of it for people to see, you know? I don't understand people who say things like, "This idea came to me last night, I wrote it in 20 minutes and didn't have time to find a beta, so sorry if it sucks."

Like blankmeridian said above, the premise for P&P&Z sounded really cool, but the execution could've been a lot better. But yes, do read P&P! Heh, I love to read, too, but I think other than what I've had to read for school, a lot of the classics have passed me by.

HEE, I am so up for doing a marathon of any of those shows with you! And then you can teach me how to play D&D. Yay! :D

[ems.livejournal.com]

I rarely get a beta because a) I never imagine anyone could be bothered to do it and b) my fanfiction really doesn't seem important enough for a beta. I probably would for a long piece, though.

Mind you, I am a trained proof-reader so I would hope to spot most errors myself...!

[adelagia.livejournal.com]

Tbh, for drabbles and little things I tend not to bother with betas either, but for me it's an absolute must when it comes to long, srs bsns fic. I think in general I'm pretty good with SpaG, but there's always the chance that I wouldn't catch my own mistakes simply b/c I'm too familiar with my own work.

Also, I'd be happy to beta for you if you ever need it :)

[idreamofdraco.livejournal.com]

I bought it during the summer but never finished reading it, because I had just finished rereading P&P right before buying it. The parts that I did read were pretty funny though. :)

Bad SpaG is a nightmare, ESPECIALLY IN A BOOK!

[adelagia.livejournal.com]

Bad SpaG is a nightmare, ESPECIALLY IN A BOOK!


IKR? Fanfic is one thing, but with books people are PAID to pay attention to these things.

[humbuggirl.livejournal.com]

I liked it but I didn't love it. I don't actually plan to read it again. I enjoyed Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters much more. The sea monsters in question aren't inserted into the plot like the zombies are. The plot seems to form around the sea monsters. There's a lot more original content in it.

[adelagia.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's good to know. I was wondering whether I should give Sea Monsters a shot, since it has a different author. Will put it on my library hold list!

[persephone33.livejournal.com]

I don't guess the pond was feeling a bit shy, then? How disappointing.


The your/you're mistake has always hit me like that, too.

[adelagia.livejournal.com]

Yes, it probably didn't want to exert itself too much lest it work up lots of unsightly "exercise moisture" <-- the new author's inexplicable euphemism for "sweat". It about killed me every time I read that term!

*draws hearts around your icon*

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

I'm an unforgiving grammar and spelling nazi also. That's why I can't even do what you do for FIA, it'd make me too crazy. I have P&P&Z on my library hold list and have for a long time, but if that's what I have to look forward to I might just take it off. Eugh.

[adelagia.livejournal.com]

Well, on the upside, sometimes when submissions come back with the mistakes all fixed and pretty, it feels like you've helped alleviate the world's horrible SpaG problems a tiny little bit :)

Honestly, I don't think you'd be missing a whole lot if you didn't read P&P&Z. I'm going to give Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters a shot, though, since it has a different author and humbuggirl's said it's better than Zombies.

[helva2260.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. I've been dithering over whether to read that one, because I'm not a big zombie fan, but it's such a fun idea. Picking it up from the library is probably a good plan of action *g*

I too have found my tolerance for typos diminishing over the last few years. The one that gets me hopping up and down in fury and moving away from the computer before I send scathing comments, is people trusting the spell check above everything and ending up with the wrong word for the context (like discreet/discrete).

As far as stuff I've read goes, my nomination for the Where On Earth Was The Editor Award is one of the Dark Hunter books by Sherrilyn Kenyon, in which the demon Kimi "literally inhaled" her plate of food in about 10 seconds. Literally, huh? She breathed it in? Her biology allows for absorption and digestion of food through the lungs? OK...

[adelagia.livejournal.com]

Ha, yes, misuse of 'literally' is always great fun. "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." :)

As for the all-mighty spellcheck, oh dear. The one gets me is when a young lady applies 'rogue' to her cheeks. HA.