Most mashups are humorous--Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is probably the defining work for the genre. Mashups take an old novel (usually a popular and well-known one, like Pride and Prejudice) and the modern author evokes new life in it--frequently taking the story in an entirely different direction.
The historical romances on which all books in the Upsilon Andromedae serial series are based are period pieces in the public domain. However, as an editor, I am used to taking less than stellar works and improving them. For these, I did not want to take a well-known work and turn it into a comedy. Instead, I wanted to make the romances better.
In doing so, I decided I did not like the traditional 1700s-1800s British and early American settings. What if, I thought, in colonizing new planets, people regressed societally? Although I could have simply upgraded the books, putting them in a different world with different standards appealed to me more.
There may be lines of humor I incorporated, and I hope you will enjoy them, but unlike other mashups, humor is not their sole purpose. You also do not have to know the original story to enjoy these.
I recognize that I am breaking new ground here, so please, feel free to leave me a comment about what you think.
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