Grahame-Smith got a little (read: a lot) behind on his latest deadline and Hachette Book Group is suing for a breach in contract.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter are two of Seth Grahame-Smith’s most popular novels. He’s certainly capable of hammering out interesting twists on public domain stories, but right now it sounds like he’s been struggling to churn out something to make his publisher happy.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Grahame-Smith’s most recent contract was fairly simple. In 2010, the author was paid $1 million in advance and expected to deliver two books in return.

The first book turned out all right — it was meant to be a sequel or spinoff of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and thus The Last American Vampire was borne into existence. The book was published in 2015.

The second part of that deal was for a book on a subject determined by the author, withstanding Hachette’s written approval for the topic. The due date was June 3, 2013.

Grahame-Smith asked for two extensions in order to finish the manuscript, and Hachette granted them, meaning the author had an additional 34 months to complete this second project under this most recent contract.

The author did finally turn in a manuscript, but that is why Hachette is now suing for half of the previously allotted $1 million. The publisher is claiming that the manuscript is sub-par and “in large part an appropriation of a 120-year-old public-domain work.” It’s also on a subject that Hachette never approved to begin with.

Seth Grahame-Smith has not issued a statement about the lawsuit, but I would definitely be interested to hear his side of the story.

It’s hard to argue with the clearly defined rules Hachette put forth, and the obvious breach of contract, but fans certainly deserve an explanation of what’s been going on for the author behind the scenes.

Unfortunately, this seems like a rather bad turn after a series of not-so-spectacular projects for the author.

The movie based on his book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies did not go over well in the box office, and he recently left the director’s chair of DC’s film The Flash due to creative differences.