Saturday, June 5, 2010

Shakespeare Undead


Coming out on June 8 is a new mashup, Shakespeare Undead, featuring that zany vampire William Shakeapeare (explains everything, but now I'm wondering about Kit Marlowe). From Publishers Weekly, not a great review but I'll put it on my wish list at Amazon.com as it sounds fun and I've read worse:


In this rather clumsy historical mashup, bestseller Handeland (Chaos Bites) pairs zombies and vampires with another perennially popular figure: Shakespeare. Zombies have invaded 1592 London and it's up to William Shakespeare, whose genius with a quill comes from his extended life as a vampire, to stop them. Aided by Katherine, a zombie hunter to whom he is consummately, perilously attracted (and who bears considerable similarity to Viola in the film Shakespeare in Love, down to her horrible fiancé and goofy nurse), Will is soon embroiled in a mysterious plot that endangers all of London. Handeland blends Elizabethan and contemporary language skillfully and mostly unobtrusively, and the romance sizzles between the intriguing leads. Unfortunately, the novel is hampered by excessive shout-outs to the Shakespearean canon and a rushed ending.

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