With an eye on the upcoming San Diego Comic-con, comics publisher IDW Publishing is trying its hand at prose and plans to release an anthology of genre mashups called, Classics Mutilated, featuring novella-length stories by a host of prominent horror and fantasy writers. To highlight the volume at Comic-con, IDW is also making one of the book’s novellas, Dread Island by Joe Lansdale, available for sale as a standalone preview show special, and also has plans to release it in multiple print formats.
Taking advantage of the popularity of mashups of prose literary classics and horror tropes, Classics Mutilated will feature 15 stories by such noted fantasy and horror writers as Nancy Collins, Cody Goodfellow, John Shirley and Thomas Tessier. Joe Landsdale’s Dread Island will offer a twisted take on Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, transformed by his interest in H.P. Lovecraft and Uncle Remus. Lansdale will also be signing at the IDW booth at Comic-con.
The full Classics Mutilated anthology will be published in October (paperback, 320 pages $16.99), but the fans at Comic-con are always interested in unusual collectible books. So IDW is making one story, Dread Island, a preview volume available for purchase at the show as a standalone limited edition (500 copies) 86 page paperback for $15. In addition, in August, IDW will also release a standalone Dread Island edition as a $35, limited edition (400 copies) signed hardcover for sale through the IDW website and as a $100 signed and numbered leather bound hardcover limited edition (100 copies), also for sale only through the IDW website. The book will also be released to all retail channels in October as a $24.99 signed hardcover along with the full Classics Mutilated anthology.
IDW editor Jeff Conner said Classics Mutilated is “our take on this so-called Monster- Lit trend.” But rather than, “foisting zombies and the like onto beloved literary classics or unsuspecting historic figures, we’re challenging an unholy cabal of fantasy and horror writers to use their dark arts on genre-blending.”
