The Master of Verona

HER MAJESTY'S WILL - Chapter 2

The second chapter of HER MAJESTY'S WILL is up and posted at the Shanghai Low Theatricals site.

Continuing the misadventures of young William Shakespeare as he falls into the company of failed-gentleman-turned-spy Kit Marlowe, this chapter finds them on the road to London, friendless and hunted by papists. It behooves them to emply guile and skill to acquire transport.

The thrills never stop with Shanghai Low! Come for the novel, but check out the plays, bios, art, and theatrical reccomendations!

Cheers, DB

At Last! The first chapter of the serial novel is up!

DC Adventures - 2

...and LEAR is open! The reviews are fantastic, in that even when they hate it, they HATE it. There is no middle ground in this production. It's balls-out, literally. No one can walk away without strong feelings. The Washington Post loved it, the Washington Times hated it. Fun fun fun.

The show's actually been open for a week, but I've been busy with a) family, visiting from Chicago; b) understudy/put-in rehearsals; c) moving over to Foggy Bottom for the week; & d) performances.

With the family in town, I've done my first tourist-y jaunts. I went to the Mall for the first time. Visited the Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington, and FDR memorials. Like FDR a lot - well designed. Lincoln is amazing, of course, but I had never noticed that he is posed as a classical Roman consul - right hand open, left hand closed, right foot forward, left foot back. Man, every time I begin to doubt our Roman roots, they're shoved in my face.

Dash was pretty wiped by the time we got to the Jefferson Memorial, so he and I sat on the floor behind Jefferson's statue and hung out. He pointed to the writing on the walls, and asked me to read it to him. It was the Declaration of Independance. I dutifully read it to him. When I finished, he looked at me and said, "That's a good story, Daddy."

The National Zoo is pretty fantastic, though how they managed to design it so that everything is up-hill is a wonder. Pushing a double stroller all day, I was feeling it. But the pandas were great, the hippo was cool, and Dash loved the alligators.

In famous political people sightings, I seemed to have hit the quota my first week. But I've been hanging with several Broadway stars, which has been fun. And I heard that Christopher Hitchins came to see the Saturday show - Ed Gero ran into him at the Chophouse after the show, and they had drinks. He apparently loved it, which is gratifying, if predictable - it's a rather bleak show, displaying on stage what he's seen first-hand.

Now that the family is home and the show is up, it's time to write. Steve and I are doing Shanghai Low work today, and I finished editing another chapter of the Roman novel. Then it's off to the gym, the bar, and bed.

More soon.

DB

D.C. Adventures - Part 1

I arrived in the nation's capitol a week ago today, which is to say Monday the 18th. It has already been a great ride, and I have the rest of the summer ahead of me.

As a reminder, I'm in D.C. to work on the remount of Bob Falls' KING LEAR starring Stacy Keach at the Shakespeare Theatre here. We did this show in 2006, and I remember working on the proofs of THE MASTER OF VERONA while backstage at that show, and arguing about the cover design. I'm one of ten original cast members invited to come along, though my invite has mostly to do with violence work in the show.

Off the bat let me say, Stacy looks great. You may have read about his stroke. Well, he's clearly embraced health and is fitter than he was three years ago. The cast as a whole is delighted to be back together, and I have the joy of working not only with Bob again, but with Rick Sordelet, fight director to the stars. My first real D.C. story has to do with Rick.

We were out to dinner after rehearsal at a little Italian place down the street from the rehearsal hall. I wanted Italian because I'm on the hunt for some Volpolicella wine (so far, no luck). It being a lovely night, we sat outdoors. Dinner was wonderful, and I introduced Rick to limoncello, which we were sipping daintilhy when a party sat at the next table over. I look up and see Representative Dennis Kucinich and his (dear god, lovely!) wife Elizabeth, as well as Representative Corrine Brown and her military legislative assistant. Dennis looked up as I noticed him, and I toasted him with my limoncello. He nods and toasts back. Then the conversation went something like this.

ME: Come see King Lear at the Shakespeare Theatre. It stars Stacy Keach, the best Lear you're ever going to see.

REPRESENTATIVE KUCINICH: Really?

ME: Yes. You'll like it. Our director, Bob Falls, has set it in Serbia, in the 1990s.

(All heads at the table turn towards me)

KUCINICH/BROWN: You're joking.

ME: Ah, no.

MRS. KUCINICH: You know what they did?

ME: Uh, no.

MRS. KUCINICH: They're the ones who flew into Sarajevo to negotiate the cease-fire.

ME: Really? Then the play will seem very familiar. Bob was looking for a modern setting where the whole world was falling apart. He even has us drinking slivovich. It's beautiful, but terribly bleak and haunting.

REPRESENTATIVE BROWN: That's what it was like.

At which point cards were exchanged. Rick fielded the question of what we were doing in the show, and was kind enough to mention my novel. Then everyone settled back to their meals. But before Rick and I left, I went over to shake the representative's hand. He looked at my card and asked me what THE MASTER OF VERONA was about. I told him, and his (astonishingly gorgeous!) wife actually stood to shake my hand. It was a lovely end to the evening.

That's one of the D.C. stories so far. I have several more, including a fabulous (free) meal at a Belgian restaurant, and meeting Ernest Borgnine just this morning at the Navy Memorial down at the other end of E street. But I think I'll save those for another day.

Prolific

Except here, I guess. The last six months have been a testament to devoted work. The Roman novel is not yet finished, but it's going to be massive anyway, and I'm in the home stretch. Meanwhile, with my partners at Shanghai Low, I've worked to complete three play scripts, plus two more on the way. The secret project is still rattling around, though the one and only company that could have bought it have passed for the time-being. The on-line syndication of the Shakespeare Spy novel has been delayed by a couple weeks, due only to logistics - both Steve Pickering and myself are caught up in a whirlwind of travel before we land in Washington D.C. for a remounting of Bob Falls' KING LEAR with Stacy Keach. If you're in the area, check it out - it'll be grand.

The good news is that while I'm in D.C., I'll have more time for things like blogging. So stay tuned.

Cheers, DB

Myth Conceptions

Next week, over at the Shanghai Low blog THE PENNY DREADFUL, we begin serializing HER MAJESTY'S WILL. It's an experiment on my part, as I close in on the end of the Roman novel and work on a silly pirate thing, to see if I can write a serial novel a la Dickens or Doyle. I'm not being paid by the word, however, so never fear.

HER MAJESTY'S WILL is an Elizabethan spy/adventure novel starring William Shakespeare and Kit Marlowe, and deals with the Babington Plot. I'll talk more about the story itself later. But I want to take a moment to acknowledge a major influence in the conception of this tale. 

Twenty-five years ago (or thereabouts) I was a kid wandering into the local comic book store, The Eye Of Agamotto. I remember it as the same summer The Dark Knight Returns hit the stands. The owner, Norm, sold me a copy that I still treasure. Perusing the stands, I found an oversize black-and-white comic with the shadow of a giant demon and a blond kid on the cover.

I picked it up, and the one after it, took them both home, and fell in love. It was the most freneticly-drawn, hysterically dialogued thing I had ever read, and the title was MYTH ADVENTURES.

The next day, I went back to the Eye and asked Norm, "When's the next Myth book coming out?"

Norm looked up, smiled, and pointed to a man standing just behind me. "Ask him. He wrote it."

And that's how I met Robert Asprin.

I'm sure I was huge pain in the ass to the man. I got him to come talk to my grade school class, I called him, I went to his house at Halloween dressed as Aahz, with my friends dressed as his other characters. Always I was rewarded. That Halloween we each got posters for his new novel, HIT OR MYTH, and saw other concept art by Phil Foglio. And always there were stories, and puns, and possible future plots and titles, including one still unused, M.X. Mythile.

In the course of this, I read all his books, the ones the comic had been based on. It took me awhile to see all the Ann Arbor references (Hell being the yearly Art Fair, the Big Game that determined the fate of a world being the Michigan/Ohio State game, etc.), but I was smitten. The books were borderline dirty (so I was getting away with something), and culturally literate, and very very honest. The main character, while often naive to the point of stupidity, also had a heart the size of a mountain. It was like Bob split his personality between his two main leads - the gruff, cynical, worldly, caustic demon Aahz, and the sweet, generous, instinctively moral Skeeve.

Bob often told the story about how he wrote the first one as a lark, something to take his mind off other more serious work. He turned fantasy conventions on their head, making the human an apprentice to a demon. And he was highly influenced by the Hope & Crosby Road Movies, after watching a marathon of them one week.

In creating my own buddy adventure, I went back and read the first MYTH book, ANOTHER FINE MYTH - though by now I could probably recite it from memory. The structure and pacing were exactly what I wanted for Will and Kit. We'll see how it goes.

I wish I could share all this with Bob, but Robert Lynn Asprin passed away on May 22, 2008, lying in bed reading a new Terry Pratchett novel. The last two decades had been personally hard for him, and we lost touch when he left Ann Arbor for New Orleans. But he remains one of the biggest influences on me and my writing. I don't write anything like him, nor could I. But his early MYTH books are one of my touchstones, and I'm delighted to be able to take inspiration from his structure and timing, the way he took it from Hope and Crosby.

Bob, this one's for you.

And the secret project takes a hit.

For a year, Jan and I have been working on a proposal for a very cool book. Just yesterday I mentioned it in my post about the serial novel. Because of its ties to another entity, we needed a lot of permissions to go ahead with it. Well, we just found out that our best chance to get those permissions has just passed. It does not mean the death of the project, but it certainly means it will be a long time before the "secret project" is a long way from coming to pass. Sigh.

On the other hand, we're no longer writing for any but our own sensibilities. And with all the projects on my plate, it affects my workload not at all. Onwards.

HER MAJESTY'S WILL: A Novel In Serial Format, Starting Next Month!

While I toil on through the Roman novel (and await word on the secret project), I'm also dabbling with a new novel. I've had the first few chapters written for a year, but it's not the book my agent wants, so he's given me his blessing to serialize it.

Normally, this is not something I would consider. But through a confluence of events, this is a golden opportunity. You see, one of my literary hats is as part of the three-man team of Shanghai Low Theatricals. With old friends and collaborators Steve Pickering and Kevin Theis, I help to adapt classic pieces of literature to the stage.

The company is growing, and in an effort to help raise funds, we tossed around the idea of serializing something. I had an incomplete novel in a drawer, which I forwarded to them. My e-mail was brief:

Hey, guys. I've got this half-written story of Will Shakespeare and Kit Marlowe as spies during Shakespeare's "lost years."

Steve was the first to respond, and he was really tickled by the idea. Kevin rolled his eyes at me via cyberspace, then gave his blessing as well.

Thus, starting in May 2009, Shanghai Low Theatricals will be publishing a new novel by my, entitled HER MAJESTY'S WILL: THE BABBINGTON PLOT. My first foray into Tudor England, it's great for me because it forces me to finish the novel, one chapter at a time. Serial deadlines, if you will. (Heh. If you Will.)

So keep an eye on the Shanghai Low site for more details! And see you all soon!

Tanzanite Review

I've been so caught up in the politics of 69 AD that I honestly thought I had already put upthis link. Last month, as part of the Historical Fiction Online Book of the Month, one of the many frequenters of that site posted a review on her own site, Tanzanite's Shelf & Stuff. It's a lovely review, and I hope you'll stop by and check out the rest of the site. Especially if you have a taste for the Tudors. 

Birthday Boy

Three years ago today, Jan and I stopped off at the hospital, and at around noon were introduced to a handsome young fellow who decided to lodge in our spare room. He's still there, and seems to enjoy our company. Moreover, he's more charming than ever, and has both a great imagination and a wonderful sense of humor. A little stubborn at times, but brave as hell, and tremendously curious. The fact that he loves puzzles so much scares me a little, but he shows none of Cesco's darker tendancies, and he dotes on his baby sister. We're all lucky to have him around. 

Happy birthday, Dash! Your father thinks you are the best thing in the world.