Abstract

Preppy Zombies is a novella aimed at skewering the social structures of boarding schools, the notion of an elite population, and the small towns in which they reside. The story positions itself early in the narrative as a work of popular fiction in order to later subvert, and satirize, genres such as the campus novel, romance, and coming of age. A forbidden love between two teenagers at an Ontario prep school is threatened not only by disapproving adults, but—more radically— by an airborne toxic event. A poisonous gas has seeped out from a chemical plant, which the town’s elite have bought and paid for, along with the belief that they will be protected from any harm. The ensuing chaos blends horror and humour to deconstruct family relationships, social hierarchies, and a loss of innocence.