Literary Monster Mashup

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Seth Grahame-Smith started it. He wrote a monster mash-up of Jane Austen and his own imagination called “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.”

It sold a million copies and set off an avalanche: "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters" ... "Emma and the Werewolves" ... "The War of the Worlds Plus Blood, Guts and Zombies" ... "Alice in Zombieland" ... "Jane Bites Back."

Now Grahame-Smith is back with his follow-up — "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter."

Literature and zombies. History and vampires. Selling like hotcakes. What’s going on?

This hour, On Point: the monster mash-up craze.

Guests:

Seth Grahame-Smith, author of New York Times bestseller "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies."  His new book, out today, is "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter."
Read the first chapter of "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter."
Elizabeth Richmond-Garza, professor of English and director of the comparative literature program at the University of Texas at Austin.  She teaches a popular course called “The Uncanny,” which explores how the bizarre and unexpected feature in the art, music, literature and film of the last hundred years.

Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Lincoln biographer.  She's author of "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln."