Norilana Books

Northanger Abbey and Angels and Dragons
by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

In the wake of her MANSFIELD PARK AND MUMMIES, author and publisher Vera Nazarian will write NORTHANGER ABBEY AND ANGELS AND DRAGONS, another hilarious Jane Austen parody in which romantic heroine Catherine Morland must not only decrypt the mystery of the Udolpho Code but win her true love Henry Tilney, while beset by all the Gothic horrors known to Impressionable Young Ladies -- idiot ghosts, bumbling Angels and Nephilim, Regency suitors, and a terrifying ancient Dragon who has hidden a treasure hoard somewhere in the depths of Northanger Abbey.

The title is forthcoming in May 2010, in trade paperback, from Curiosities, an imprint of Norilana Books.

This illustrated edition will feature hilarious scholarly Footnotes and Appendices similar to the Mansfield Park and Mummies volume.


Norilana Books is a Los Angeles-based new independent publisher, owned and operated by Vera Nazarian since 2006. With over 250 books in print, Norilana Books specializes in beautifully packaged hardcover and trade paperback classics of world literature, quality fantasy, science fiction, romance and women's fiction, and young adult titles. For more information visit http://www.norilana.com/

Contact:

Vera Nazarian, Publisher
Norilana Books, P.O. Box 2188, Winnetka, CA 91396
service (at) norilana.com - http://www.norilana.com/
Catalog of Books in Print:
http://www.norilana.com/norilana-catalog.htm
Blog: http://norilanabooks.livejournal.com/

The Billion Light-Year Bookshelf gives a scholarly thoughtful review in a historical context to Mansfield Park and Mummies by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian.

"Earlier in 2009 we were asked to imagine an alternate world in which the early nineteenth century was marked by the sudden rising of England's dead from its graves to shamble through the countryside half-rotting and mindlessly hungry for brains. As a result, the redoubtable Bennett family was compelled to seek training in ancient and secret Japanese martial arts as a way of battling this hideous menace. This intrusion of the zombiepocalypse cultural meme into a classic of English literature, entitled Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, took off like wildfire and has enjoyed astonishing success.

Seeing the wild popular acclaim it was receiving, writer and independent publisher Vera Nazarian decided she could do it one better, and set forth to write her own Jane Austen mashup in which poor put-upon Fanny Price must deal with not only the social traps to which a proper young lady may fall victim, but reanimated Egyptian mummies. And quite honestly, I think that she has succeeded far beyond merely telling a more entertaining story. For while in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies the zombiepocalypse simply thrusts itself on Regency England as an alien cultural element, Mansfield Park and Mummies actually draws upon the period's role in the development of Egyptology from merely the collection of curiosities to a science that would be foundational to modern archeology..."
-- Leigh Kimmel, The Billion Light-Year Bookshelf

Read the rest of the review here...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Norilana Books is proud to present Mansfield Park and Mummies: Monster Mayhem, Matrimony, Ancient Curses, True Love, and Other Dire Delights by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian, a hilarious "comedy of monsters and manners."

This stylish and clever parody of the Austen classic Mansfield Park, comes complete with "scholarly" Footnotes that harangue the reader, amazing Appendices, back cover fake blurbs by Regency ladies and gentlemen, illustrations (by the author), a genuine romantic sub-plot that involves an Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh who takes on the form of a sexy Regency gentleman... and of course the mummies!

Oh, and there's a vampire, a werewolf or two, and an unspeakable monstrosity known only as the Brighton Duck!

Mansfield Park and Mummies:
Monster Mayhem, Matrimony, Ancient Curses, True Love, and Other Dire Delights
by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian


Spinsterhood or Mummification!

Ancient Egypt infiltrates Regency England in this elegant, hilarious, witty, insane, and unexpectedly romantic monster parody of Jane Austen's classic novel.

Our gentle yet indomitable heroine Fanny Price must hold steadfast not only against the seductive charms of Henry Crawford but also an Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh!

Meanwhile, the indubitably handsome and kind hero Edmund attempts Exorcisms... Miss Crawford vamps out... Aunt Norris channels her inner werewolf... The Mummy-mesmerized Lady Bertram collects Egyptian artifacts...

There can be no doubt that Mansfield Park has become a battleground for the forces of Ancient Evil and Regency True Love!

Gentle Reader—this Delightful Edition includes Scholarly Footnotes and Appendices.


Mansfield Park and Mummies:
Monster Mayhem, Matrimony, Ancient Curses, True Love, and Other Dire Delights
by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian
Norilana Books Fantasy
November 16, 2009
Trade Paperback
Retail Price: $16.95 USD - £12.50 GBP
ISBN-13: 978-1-60762-047-1
ISBN-10: 1-60762-047-2
568 pages

Click for more information...

Order Your Copy:

- Amazon
- Barnes & Noble
- Amazon UK
- Amazon CA
- Amazon FR
- Amazon DE
- Amazon JP

Norilana Books is a Los Angeles-based new independent publisher, owned and operated by Vera Nazarian since 2006. With over 250 books in print, Norilana Books specializes in beautifully packaged hardcover and trade paperback classics of world literature, quality fantasy, science fiction, romance and women's fiction, and young adult titles. For more information visit http://www.norilana.com/

Contact:

Vera Nazarian, Publisher
Norilana Books, P.O. Box 2188, Winnetka, CA 91396
service (at) norilana.com - http://www.norilana.com/
Catalog of Books in Print: http://www.norilana.com/norilana-catalog.htm
Blog: http://norilanabooks.livejournal.com/

Sneak Peek Cover...

Mansfield Park and Mummies:
Monster Mayhem, Matrimony, Ancient Curses, True Love, and Other Dire Delights
by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian

Available November 16, 2009 from the Curiosities imprint.
(Coming by the end of the week to Amazon et al!)

Visit the Official Mummies Website!

Click on images to see full-size...




Trade paperback cover flat:

At last!

It's coming in a matter of days from the Curiosities imprint of Norilana Books!

MANSFIELD PARK AND MUMMIES:
Monster Mayhem, Matrimony, Ancient Curses, True Love,
and Other Dire Delights

by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian

(Here is yet another unedited snippet from the work-in-progress, subject to revision in the final version...)

EXCERPT 4...

The butler cleared his throat.

“Begging pardon, Sir Thomas -- at this late hour, the Lady Bertram sends to inform -- there are -- baboons in the ballroom.”

Sir Thomas was somewhat weary of interruptions but duly unperturbed. “Baddeley -- be so kind as to remind Her Ladyship, every ballroom has its share of baboons. There is nothing one can do, when those of inferior breeding are allowed to mingle with the better set. One need but revise the regular invitation list to omit the undesirables next time. Do remind me on the morrow --”

“Begging pardon again, but one does not mean to speak in metaphor. There are actual baboons in the grand ballroom. Flesh and blood, simian. As early as this noon, perfectly inanimate and on display in this household, together with the other fruits of the Nile, as mummified objets d'art. At present, actively consuming the supper buffet spread. And tossing their own excrement at the serving staff.”


Sir Thomas became rather still.

“In addition,” Baddeley informed his master, “I am told there is a crocodile. A decidedly non-metaphorical one. Also initially mummified and hailing from the African Continent. Last seen in the drawing room, gnawing -- apparently something one would rather not venture to guess. But, I am told, the divan is in shambles.”

“What of -- the guests?”

“Bedlam, Sir.”
...

MANSFIELD PARK AND MUMMIES:
Monster Mayhem, Matrimony, Ancient Curses,
True Love, and Other Dire Delights
by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian

Read additional excerpts here...

Forthcoming November 10, 2009 from the Curiosities imprint of Norilana Books.

(Here is another unedited snippet from the work-in-progress, subject to revision in the final version...)

EXCERPT 3...

“No,” cried Edmund, “you must step away from him!”

“I am afraid I am perfectly incapable of moving,” replied his sister. “Oh, his glorious song fills my head, till I see sapphire skies over the Nile and the brilliant golden sun over the pyramids, the perfume of the temples and the falcon in flight, his dark exotic, non-British eyes -- Oh, it is perfectly intolerable, I simply cannot!”

“But you must! Make haste, Maria, before it is too late!”

But the Mummy was looking at her with his mesmerizing gaze.

Maria began to tremble. “Is it not too late for me already, Edmund? Is it not a spinster’s life for me? No one will have me now; I am tainted, relegated to paltry livelihood alone or as someone’s pitiful companion --”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, think, Maria! Your choice is spinsterhood or mummification!”

Maria wailed. “Spinsterhood is mummification! Can you not see, brother, at least with him I will be loved, I will be forever his! A blissful eternity!”

The Mummy’s gold-braced hand rose, beckoning.

In that moment the parlor door came crashing open and Mr. Rushworth burst into the chamber, half-man half-wolf, a terrifying half-transformed state, similar to having forgotten to put one leg in his pantaloons before quitting one’s bed chamber. “Halt! Grrr!” he snarled. “Not another step, scoundrel! Arrrr! Grrr! HOWL! You will not lay hands on my wife! Wretched and deceitful she might be, but she still carries my -- Grr! Argh! -- honorable name!”

Mrs. Norris came right behind him, singlehandedly yelping like a pack of hounds. “Maria! Stop this nonsense and get down here this instant!” she managed, and then began to transform before their eyes.

Lady Bertram, clutching the imperial scepter in one hand and the whip of the pharaoh in the other, fainted.

Fanny Price took up the Eye of Horus and raised it like a pistol to point at the one who had once been a beautiful young pharaoh. “Enough! In the name of all the Gods of Egypt I demand you desist.”

...

MANSFIELD PARK AND MUMMIES:
Monster Mayhem, Matrimony, Ancient Curses,
True Love, and Other Dire Delights
by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian

Read additional excerpts here...

Forthcoming October 15, 2009 from the Curiosities imprint of Norilana Books.

To whet your appetite, here is an opening chapter excerpt:

MANSFIELD PARK AND MUMMIES:
Monster Mayhem, Matrimony, Ancient Curses, True Love, and Other Dire Delights,

by Jane Austen and Vera Nazarian

Chapter I

About three thousand years ago, an Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, with infinite riches of his kingdom surrounding him, had the dubious luck to die, be embalmed, mummified and then sealed up in his great tomb among the sands of Lower Egypt, and to be thereby raised to the rank of eternity and, quite possibly, deity.

About thirty years ago Miss Maria Ward, of Huntingdon, with only seven thousand pounds and nary a kingdom or sand granule in sight, had the good luck to captivate Sir Thomas Bertram, of Mansfield Park, in the county of Northampton, and to be thereby raised to the rank of a baronet’s lady, with all the comforts and consequences of an handsome house and large income.

With the former, all Egypt mourned. With the latter, all Huntingdon exclaimed on the greatness of the match, and her uncle, the lawyer, himself, allowed her to be at least three thousand pounds short of any equitable claim to it. The deceased Pharaoh had two royal siblings who immediately benefited from his elevation to the Afterlife. Miss Maria Ward had two sisters to be benefited by her elevation -- not to the Afterlife, to be sure, but to the even grander state of AfterEngagement -- and such of their acquaintance as thought Miss Ward and Miss Frances quite as handsome as Miss Maria, did not scruple to predict their marrying with almost equal advantage. But whether three thousand or merely thirty years ago, there certainly are not so many men of large fortune in the world as there are pretty (and decidedly unmummified) women to deserve them.

While the venerable Pharaoh mummy continued to desiccate in secret splendor for thousands of years, far into the future, our Maria’s one sister, Miss Ward, at the end of half a dozen years, found herself obliged to be attached to the Rev. Mr. Norris, a friend of her brother-in-law, with scarcely any private fortune, and the other, Miss Frances, fared yet worse. Miss Ward’s match, indeed, when it came to the point, was not contemptible: Sir Thomas being happily able to give his friend an income in the living of Mansfield; and Mr. and Mrs. Norris began their career of conjugal felicity with very little less than a thousand a year. But Miss Frances married, in the common phrase, to disoblige her family, and by fixing on a lieutenant of marines, without education, fortune, or connexions, did it very thoroughly. Short of marrying the mummy of a deceased ancient Egyptian pharaoh, she could hardly have made a more untoward choice. But, speaking of mummies, dear Reader, we are getting somewhat ahead of ourselves --

Sir Thomas Bertram had every intention -- from a general wish of doing right, and a desire of respectability -- to gladly assist Lady Bertram’s sister in her relative destitution. But her husband’s profession was such as no interest could reach; and before he had time to devise any other method of assisting them, an absolute breach between the sisters had taken place. It was a breach of tremendous proportions, a crevasse, a grand canyon, or possibly, a pyramid of sorts -- a truly monstrous and rather angular coldness, or maybe a heat, but most likely a thing lukewarm and therefore utterly indifferent, as though brought forth out of the grave, spurred on by royal dead ancients. It was the natural result of the conduct of each party, and such as a very imprudent marriage almost always produces. To save herself from useless remonstrance, Mrs. Price never wrote to her family on the subject till actually married. Lady Bertram, who was a woman of very tranquil feelings, and a temper remarkably easy and indolent -- one might say, placid to the point of being simultaneously deceased and yet walking upright -- would have contented herself with merely giving up her sister, and thinking no more of the matter; but Mrs. Norris had a spirit of activity, not to mention a vaguely wolfish streak, which could not be satisfied till she had written a long and angry letter to Fanny, to point out the folly of her conduct, and threaten her with all its possible ill consequences -- palsy, the poor house, rabid creature bites, the cut complete. Mrs. Price, in her turn, was injured and angry; and her bitter answer to her sisters put an end to all intercourse between them for a considerable period.

Their homes were so distant, and the circles in which they moved so distinct -- Lady Bertram, for instance was always surrounded by Egyptologists, famous exotic doctorate-endowed visiting professors du jour, and attended instructional lectures that would have bored the other to tears -- as almost to preclude the means of ever hearing of each other's existence during the eleven following years, or, at least, to make it very wonderful to Sir Thomas that Mrs. Norris should ever have it in her power to tell them, as she now and then did, in an angry wolfish voice, that Fanny had got another child and it was neither bitten by anything wild nor stunted in limb or brain development. By the end of eleven years, however -- a mere blink of an instant to a drying mummy, but quite a different matter to a robust living female; but oh, mustn’t get ahead of ourselves -- Mrs. Price could no longer afford to cherish pride or resentment, or to lose one connexion that might possibly assist her. A large and still increasing family, an husband disabled for active service, but not the less equal to company and good liquor, and a very small income to supply their wants, made her eager to regain the friends she had so carelessly sacrificed....

. . . . . . . . .

And here is another excerpt from later on, with some other supernatural surprises:

EXCERPT 2:

So perfectly suitable was Mr. Rushworth indeed, to Mrs. Norris's notions of ideal matrimony that she forgot herself a certain full moon, and shared a short carriage ride with the young gentleman, while singing praises to Maria, and managed to just barely miss a certain break in the clouds and the revelation of a certain bright nocturnal celestial object that had such a regular and dire effect on her.

Mr. Rushworth never knew what hit him. Indeed, he never remembered the incident, but the bite was there, on his forearm, right through the fine linen shirtsleeve, and things got a bit bloody and rather dizzy, from there on. He was certain, out of nowhere there had been a monstrous big dog, or maybe a wolf, in the carriage; it growled and bit him, then bounded outside, and he barely managed to get home and retell the tale to his mother, forgetting all about the presence and indeed, role, of the venerable Mrs. Norris in the whole incident.

Mrs. Norris may have been forgotten that night, but the impression of her transformed teeth remained in a certain portly young gentleman’s forearm. And though it healed well and soon enough, unfortunately Mr. Rushworth was never to be his former self again. . . .

After dancing with each other at a proper number of balls, the young people justified everyone’s expectant opinions, and an engagement, with a due reference to the absent Sir Thomas, was entered into, much to the satisfaction of their respective families, and of the general lookers-on of the neighbourhood, who had, for many weeks past, felt the expediency of Mr. Rushworth's marrying Miss Bertram -- especially considering how restless the young gentleman seemed to become lately, and how much additional vermin turned up dead, and how domesticated small livestock went missing in the surrounding countryside.

. . . . . . . . .

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Norilana Books has acquired MANSFIELD PARK AND MUMMIES: Monster Mayhem, Matrimony, Ancient Curses, True Love, and Other Dire Delights, a hilarious and witty mashup parody of Jane Austen's classic novel in which Fanny Price must hold steadfast not only against the seductive charms of Henry Crawford but also an Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, while Edmund attempts Exorcisms, Miss Crawford vamps out, Aunt Norris channels her inner werewolf, the Mummy-mesmerized Lady Bertram collects Egyptian artifacts, and Mansfield Park is a battleground for the forces of Ancient Evil and Regency True Love.

Publisher and author Vera Nazarian will herself pen this novel for the Curiosities imprint.

The title is scheduled for a trade paperback release in October, 2009.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Norilana Books presents the elegant, groundbreaking novel James Fairfax by Jane Austen and Adam Campan, a remarkable re-envisioning of Jane Austen's world, where gay marriage is commonplace and love is gender-blind.

A new term is coined: Marriage a la mode -- current and relevant to today's social issues.

It's same-sex marriage in Jane Austen's Regency England!

James Fairfax by Jane Austen and Adam Campan



In this stunning, gender-bending, stylish dance-of-manners version of Jane Austen's beloved classic novel Emma -- an alternate Regency where gay marriage is commonplace and love is gender-blind -- matchmaking Emma Woodhouse tries to find a suitable spouse for her lover Harriet Smith, and is embroiled in the secrets of the relationship between the mysterious and accomplished James Fairfax and the handsome Frank Churchill....

Adam Campan has been associated with universities on three continents over as many decades.

James Fairfax by Jane Austen and Adam Campan
Norilana Books
Trade Paperback (First Edition)
August 1, 2009
Retail Price: $16.95 USD - £14.00 GBP
ISBN-13: 978-1-60762-038-9
ISBN-10: 1-60762-038-3
504 pages

Click for more information...

Order Your Copy:

- Amazon
- Barnes & Noble
- Amazon UK
- Amazon CA
- Amazon FR
- Amazon DE
- Amazon JP

Norilana Books is a Los Angeles-based new independent publisher, owned and operated by Vera Nazarian since 2006. With over 240 books in print, Norilana Books specializes in beautifully packaged hardcover and trade paperback classics of world literature, quality fantasy, science fiction, romance and women's fiction, and young adult titles. For more information visit http://www.norilana.com/

Contact:

Vera Nazarian, Publisher
Norilana Books, P.O. Box 2188, Winnetka, CA 91396
service (at) norilana.com - http://www.norilana.com/
Catalog of Books in Print: http://www.norilana.com/norilana-catalog.htm
Blog: http://norilanabooks.livejournal.com/

There's an excellent writeup in The Telegraph, (Calcutta, India edition) on the forthcoming Norilana Books same-sex marriage stunner James Fairfax by Jane Austen and Adam Campan.

In his "Eye on England" column, journalist Amit Roy writes, in the article "Love that dare speaks its name":

Imagine Jane Austen had started Pride and Prejudice, written in 1813, slightly differently: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of another man to marry."

In fact, an experiment substituting gay love for heterosexual has been attempted by "re-envisioning" another of Austen's novels....

Read the rest of the article...

Wow!

I just checked Barnes & Noble and looks like the fantastic JAMES FAIRFAX by Jane Austen and Adam Campan is already available for pre-order! :-)

And it is waaaaay cheap!

James Fairfax by Jane Austen.

Coming August 1, 2009, from Norilana Books.

Click on images to see full-size... (Note, this is the ARC edition, not the final cover.)




Cover jacket flat:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Norilana Books announces the acquisition of James Fairfax by Jane Austen and Adam Campan.

In this stunning, gender-bending, stylish dance-of-manners version of Jane Austen's beloved classic Emma -- an alternate Regency where gay marriage is commonplace and love is gender-blind -- matchmaking Emma Woodhouse tries to find a suitable spouse for her lover Harriet Smith, and is embroiled in the secrets of the relationship between the mysterious and accomplished James Fairfax and the handsome Frank Churchill...

Due to high demand and urgent relevance to current issues, the title is scheduled for trade paperback express release on August 1, 2009, from the general Norilana Books imprint.