While in the middle of writing a book of study notes for Pride and Prejudice, the author took a break and amused herself by writing a short story in the style of Jane Austen entitled A Night at Pemberley. She submitted it to a Jane Austen Fan Fiction web site and it was well received, encouraging her to attempt other, ever wilder, flights of Jane Austen-based fantasy - Darcy as a vampire, Darcy falling in love with Ann Radcliffe's Emily instead of Elizabeth, ghosts at Pemberley (from Mrs De Burgh's comment about the "shades of Pemberley", and many more. Darcy fans should note that these stories celebrate the gothic, rather than the romantic, in Jane Austen's oeuvre. They are the kind of gothic burlesque which Jane Austen herself enjoyed writing in her early work, particularly Northanger Abbey. The author also expresses some scepticism about the relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth - which is heresy to many Jane Austen fans - you have been warned! She has also written several other Jane Austen inspired works, including Wicked Wickham, Darcy's Daughters and Sex and Sensibility, and enjoyed it so much that the study notes are still unfinished.
