Publisher to sue Pride and Prejudice and Zombies Author

The author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is being sued by his publisher for delivering a manuscript they claim mostly uses public domain work.

Seth Grahame-Smith also wrote Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. He is being taken to court by his publisher Hachette for alleged breach of contract. According to the complaint, which was published online by Publishers Marketplace, Grahame Smith was contracted to write two new works. One, The Last American Vampire, was published in January 2015. The deadline of the second book was extended from June 2013 to April 2016, an extension of 34 months.

Grahame-Smith and Hachette made a deal of $4 million in 2010 for the two new works, and the author was given an initial instalment of $1m. The complaint alleges that the manuscript delivered to Hachette in June of this year:

• “is not original to Smith, but instead is in large part an appropriation of a 120- year-old public-domain work”
• “materially varies from the 80,000-100,000 word limit fixed in the Agreement”
• “is on a subject that was never approved by Hachette in writing
• “is not comparable in style and quality to Smith’s wholly original bestseller Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”

Hachette is suing Grahame-Smith and the company he owns, Baby Gorilla, for at least $500,000.