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A mash-up novel (also called "mashup" or "mashed-up novel") is an unauthorised non-
canonical The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean "according to the canon" the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, "canonical examp ...
(and not even in-
universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the univers ...
) work of fiction (often
parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...
) which combines a pre-existing literature text, often a classic work of fiction, with another genre, usually horror genre, into a single narrative.


Characteristics

Marjorie Kehe of the ''
Christian Science Monitor Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρισ ...
'' renders this admixture of classic text as "somewhere between 60 and 85 percent original text, with new plot twists added by contemporary co-authors". These "twists" often include horror fiction elements like
vampires A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or dea ...
,
werewolves In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely ...
or
zombies A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in wh ...
.


History

The term
mashup Mashup may refer to: * Mashup (culture), the rearrangement of spliced parts of musical pieces as part of a subculture * Mashup (education), combining various forms of data and media by a teacher or student in an instructional setting * Mashup (m ...
or mash-up originated within the
music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...
. Also called "mash-up", songs within the genre are described as a song or composition created by blending two or more pre-recorded songs, usually by overlaying the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the instrumental track of another. To the extent that such works are "
transformative In United States copyright law, transformative use or transformation is a type of fair use that builds on a copyrighted work in a different manner or for a different purpose from the original, and thus does not infringe its holder's copyright. T ...
" of original content, they may find protection from copyright claims under the "
fair use Fair use is a doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the interests ...
" doctrine of copyright law. Adam Cohen of the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' notes that even before that, "the idea of combining two data sources into a new product began in the tech world" before spreading to other media, including book publishing. The term appears to have first been coined in a review of
Seth Grahame-Smith Seth Grahame-Smith (born Seth Jared Greenberg; January 4, 1976) is an American writer and film producer, best known as the author of ''The New York Times'' best-selling novels '' Pride and Prejudice and Zombies'' and '' Abraham Lincoln, Vampire ...
's 2009 novel '' Pride and Prejudice and Zombies''. Initially calling it a "parody" and "literary hybrid", Caroline Kellogg, lead blogger for ''Jacket Copy'', ''
The LA Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' book blog, later describes the work as "novel-as-mashup". As the popularity of the novel grew and a bidding war commenced over the
film rights A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
to the book, the term spread. Subsequent mash-up novels include ''
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world through the detection of stimuli. (For example, in the human body, the brain which is part of the central nervous system rec ...
'', ''Little Women and Werewolves'' and '' Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter'' (also by Grahame-Smith), the last of which was adapted into a film of the same name. Prior to publication, the artwork cover for ''Pride and Prejudice and Zombies'' depicting a "zombified"
Regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
portrait of Marcia Fox by
Sir William Beechey Sir William Beechey (12 December 175328 January 1839) was an English portraitist during the golden age of British painting. Early life Beechey was born at Burford, Oxfordshire, on 12 December 1753, the son of William Beechey, a solicitor, an ...
altered by
Quirk Books Quirk Books is an American independent book publisher based in Philadelphia. History Before 2002, Quirk Books was a creative studio that would pitch novel ideas to other publishers. Quirk Books was founded as a publishing company in 2002 by Da ...
artist Eric "Doogie" Horner to show her lower face eroded, exposing bone and viscera caught the attention of bloggers, as did the opening line of the novel: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." This is a parody of Austen's original line, "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man, in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."


As a genre

While most works in mash-up genre rely on fictional texts as their basis, other works like ''Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter'' superimpose the same sort of contrasting genre upon historical figures and events. A more recent phenomenon within the genre is the combination of more than two original works, or genres, as in the case of ''Robinson Crusoe (The Eerie Adventures of the Lycanthrope)'', which combines the original novel with elements borrowed from the works of H. P. Lovecraft as well as the popular genre of
werewolf fiction Werewolf fiction denotes the portrayal of werewolves and other shapeshifting therianthropes, in the media of literature, drama, film, games and music. Werewolf literature includes folklore, legend, saga, fairy tales, Gothic and horror fiction, f ...
, and is accordingly attributed to three authors –
Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel '' Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...
, H. P. Lovecraft and Peter Clines.


Exemplars

As previously noted, the novel ''Pride and Prejudice and Zombies'' combines
Jane Austen Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
's classic 1813 novel ''
Pride and Prejudice ''Pride and Prejudice'' is an 1813 novel of manners by Jane Austen. The novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the book who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreci ...
'' with elements of modern
zombie A zombie ( Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in w ...
fiction, crediting Austen as co-author. It was first published in April 2009 by
Quirk Books Quirk Books is an American independent book publisher based in Philadelphia. History Before 2002, Quirk Books was a creative studio that would pitch novel ideas to other publishers. Quirk Books was founded as a publishing company in 2002 by Da ...
and in October 2009 a Deluxe Edition was released, containing full-color images and additional zombie scenes. An earlier novel, '' Move Under Ground'' by
Nick Mamatas Nick Mamatas ( el, Νίκος Μαμματάς) (born February 20, 1972) is an American horror, science fiction and fantasy author and editor for Haikasoru's line of translated Japanese science fiction novels for Viz Media. His fiction has been ...
, was a 2004 novel combining the
Beat Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery (c ...
style of
Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian an ...
with the
cosmic horror Lovecraftian horror, sometimes used interchangeably with "cosmic horror", is a subgenre of horror fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock. It is named a ...
of H. P. Lovecraft's
Cthulhu Mythos The Cthulhu Mythos is a mythopoeia and a shared fictional universe, originating in the works of American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. The term was coined by August Derleth, a contemporary correspondent and protégé of Lovecraft, to identify ...
.


Copyright issues

Mashup novels constitute
derivative work In copyright law, a derivative work is an expressive creation that includes major copyrightable elements of an original, previously created first work (the underlying work). The derivative work becomes a second, separate work independent in ...
s since they include major elements borrowed from an original, previously created work. Most authors of such novels, however, avoid potential legal issues (and the payment of royalties to the original writers) by basing their books on texts that are in the
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired ...
.


Reception

While initially well-received (''Pride and Prejudice and Zombies'' spent eight months on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list and ''Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter'' has already been made into a feature film), at least one reviewer has suggested that the genre has run its course in popularity. Jennifer Schuessler, of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reflects the pessimism of critics of the genre:


Examples

*'' Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter'' *''
Android Karenina ''Android Karenina'' is a 2010 parody novel written by Ben H. Winters based on the 1877 novel ''Anna Karenina'' by Leo Tolstoy. The novel is a mashup, adding steampunk elements to the Russian 19th-century environment of ''Anna Karenina,'' a book ...
'' *'' Move Under Ground'' *'' Pride and Prejudice and Zombies'' *'' Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls'' *'' Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter'' *''
The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer ''The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer'' ( ) is an American sitcom that aired on UPN from October 5 to October 26, 1998. Before it was even debuted, the series set off a storm of controversy because of a perceived light-hearted take on the issue ...
'' *''
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world through the detection of stimuli. (For example, in the human body, the brain which is part of the central nervous system rec ...
''


See also

*
Copyright protection for fictional characters Copyright protection is available to the creators of a range of works including literary, musical, dramatic and artistic works. Recognition of fictional characters as works eligible for copyright protection has come about with the understanding th ...
*
Continuation novel A continuation novel is a canonical sequel novel with continuity in the style of an established series, produced by a new author after the original author's death. Continuation novels may be official, produced with the permission of the late a ...
*
Cross-licensing A cross-licensing agreement is a contract between two or more parties where each party grants rights to their intellectual property to the other parties. Patent law In patent law, a cross-licensing agreement is an agreement according to which two ...
*
Crossover (fiction) A crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, unofficial efforts by ...
– authorised, sometimes
canonical The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean "according to the canon" the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, "canonical examp ...
, mixing of characters or worlds from originally separate
fictional universe A fictional universe, or fictional world, is a self-consistent setting with events, and often other elements, that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed, or fictional realm (or world). Fictional universes ma ...
s for new story. ** Intercompany crossover in comics. *''
Klinger v. Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd. ''Klinger v. Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd.'' was a 2014 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ''(755 F.3d 496''.'')'', in response to an appeal filed by the defendants against the 2013 ruling of the U.S. District Court for N ...
'' *
Parallel novel A parallel novel is an in- universe (but often non-canonical) pastiche (or sometimes sequel) piece of literature written within, derived from, or taking place during the framework of another work of fiction by the same or another author with ...
– non-
canonical The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean "according to the canon" the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, "canonical examp ...
expansions within the
fictional universe A fictional universe, or fictional world, is a self-consistent setting with events, and often other elements, that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed, or fictional realm (or world). Fictional universes ma ...
. *
Pastiche A pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking i ...
*'' The Adventures of Tintin: Breaking Free'' *''
The Lunar Chronicles ''The Lunar Chronicles'' is a series of four young adult science fiction fantasy novels, a novella and a short story collection written by American author Marissa Meyer and published by Feiwel & Friends. Each book entails a science fictional ...
''


References

{{reflist


External links


Quirk Classics website
– imprint of
Quirk Books Quirk Books is an American independent book publisher based in Philadelphia. History Before 2002, Quirk Books was a creative studio that would pitch novel ideas to other publishers. Quirk Books was founded as a publishing company in 2002 by Da ...
dedicated to Mashups.
Sussex Chainsaw Massacre: The horrification of Jane Austen
– overview of genre and review of ''
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world through the detection of stimuli. (For example, in the human body, the brain which is part of the central nervous system rec ...
'',
New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker' ...
, 6 September 2009.
''Pride And Prejudice And Zombies'' Spin-Offs Are Out Of Control! 11 Classic Monster Mashups
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
, 28 April 2010. * - Unofficial adaptations Mashup 2000s fads and trends