David Blixt's Blog, page 23
February 26, 2012
Kit & Tex - A Pair of Birthdays
Today is Christopher "Kit" Marlowe's birthday. He would be 448 years old. The son of a shoemaker, he wrote some of the most provocative plays of his day, always challenging authority - which is perhaps why he was forced to act as a spy for Her Majesty the Queen, to keep his neck from being stretched. In the end he was stabbed in the eye in a tavern in Deptford in a dispute over the bill - or so we're told. The witnesses were all spies as well, making the "death" of Kit Marlowe one conspiracy theory I can get behind.
Coincidentally, Kit Marlowe's spying happens to be the core focus of my upcoming spy / buddy / road novel, HER MAJESTY'S WILL, starring Kit Marlowe and Will Shakespeare before either of them became famous. Seriously excited to share it with you. And the cover is hilarious.
In completely non-Shakespearean birthdays, today in is also the anniversary of Fred "Tex" Avery's birth. A very very good day for art. Blind in one eye due to a paper-clip mishap, he lied his way into the directing job at Warner's and basically created the whole Looney Tunes stable, with help from Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, and Friz Freleng. But he was never comfortable with authority, and walked out on Warner's for MGM. I think he and Kit would have gotten along swell. And just like Kit, others would take his form and style and refine it into timeless art.
In their joint honor, I present the first true meeting of Elmer and Bugs.
February 24, 2012
Guiding Light star to play Brutus in EVE OF IDES
"Guiding Light" star Grant Aleksander will be reading the part of Brutus in David Blixt's "Eve of Ides" Monday March 12, 2012 at 7:00 pm. Directed by Rick Sordelet. Tickets available by calling 973-408-5600 or visiting here.
February 22, 2012
Essays
In addition to the five novels and several short stories I'm releasing on Kindle on April 23rd, I'm also publishing at least five essays on Shakespeare. Early forms of three have been seen here on the blog, and one is based on a guest post I did last year. I'm expanding them all, and my hope is by putting them up on Kindle, I'll open my ideas on the Tomorrow speech, the origin of the Capulet-Montague feud, and the end of Othello to a much wider audience. I also imagine there's going to be a new one about Julius Caesar and Brutus soon, as EVE OF IDES gets its first public read next month.
So I hope that my readers are clearing their calendars for the month of May. An avalanche of Blixtian prose is heading your way. As a preview, here's the early mock-up of the cover for the Tomorrow & Tomorrow essay.
This has been one of the flagship essays here on the blog, but in its retooled form it'll be even better, as I'm co-authoring it with my wife, Jan. She's the Artistic Director of the Michigan Shakespeare Festival. Click here to join the MSF Facebook page. And if you haven't yet, click here to join my own author page on Facebook! I haven't paid much attention to my Facebook presence as of yet. That's about to change...
DB
February 21, 2012
The Short Stories
Along with the five novels coming on April 23rd, I'm releasing several short stories as well. Some are Verona-related, some are just things I've been noodling for awhile. A couple are new, a couple have been floating around (yes, SINCERITY will be among them, with brand-spanking new cover art from an amazing artist whom I will feature in the coming days).
One of my personal favorites is the re-release of VARNISHED FACES. It was published by Amazon just a few months after THE MASTER OF VERONA was released, then vanished when the Kindle came into being and Amazon abandoned their digital shorts. This is an important tale in the Verona series, nestled right into the middle of the action of THE MASTER OF VERONA, but it didn't quite fit into the narrative of the novel. But the tale of Bianca Minola's wedding feast stars so many of Shakespeare's Italian characters, it will only be rivaled by next year's novel, THE PRINCE'S DOOM. And it's a confrontation between Antony Capulletto and Marsilio da Carrara.
Here's the new cover, just to whet your appetites!
February 20, 2012
The Big News
When I announced the EVE OF IDES reading, I said it would be the first of many pieces of news. As promised, here we go!
On April 23, Amazon Kindle will publish five (5!) of my novels, along with three short stories and several essays. I'll give a more detailed run-down of the novels in next two months, but here's the cheat sheet:
THE MASTER OF VERONA - available on Kindle for the first time!
VOICE OF THE FALCONER - the long-awaited sequel to MoV, the second novel in the Star-Cross'd series
FORTUNE'S FOOL - the third in the Star-Cross'd series (yes, I've not been idle)
COLOSSUS: STONE & STEEL - the first in a series on the Roman/Jewish wars of the first century AD, starting with the battle of Beth Horon, through the destruction of Jerusalem, the building of the Colosseum, and the rise of Christianity. This novel focuses on the siege of Jotapata.
HER MAJESTY'S WILL - my Elizabethan spy novel starring young Will Shakespeare and Kit Marlowe. A romp, an Historical Fiction Road Movie, but dealing with the very grim reality of the Babington Plot.
There's so much more to share - cover art, synopses, history, and everything else that went into crafting these tales, as well as the marvelous opportunity to put them all out at once. There will be many, many updates ahead, and a new website launched next month.
As a teaser, here's a mock-up of the new MoV cover:
So stay tuned, and thanks for your patience! I promise, there will never be a wait like this again.
DB
January 25, 2012
EVE OF IDES on the eve of Ides!
The first of many, many exciting announcements:
MARCH 14th at 7pm at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey!
November 29, 2011
St. Nicholas
shanghai low theatricals and the seanachai theatre company
are proud to host the sep production of a play by the
olivier award-winning author of the seafarer
:
at chicago's irish american heritage center
for advance tickets please click here
for the seanachai theatre website
or simply call (866) 811-4111
click the above image for show information
S H A N G H A I L O W T H E A T R I C A L S
being a non-profit arts organization developing
literary adaptations of vigor and distinction
MS AUSTEN - MR BLIXT - MR PICKERING and MR THEIS
November 28, 2011
Holiday, Holy Day
As I return to my desk after the long holiday weekend, I'm thinking of holidays - specifically, about a very significant one. Good Friday, 1327. On that day, an hour after dawn, Francesco Petrarcha first laid eyes on his Laura, sparking a poetic love that would last the rest of his life.
Which is the scene I'm writing today. Or rather, the other events of that fateful day.
Pietro and Petrarch. Cesco and the Emperor Ludwig. Death, and love. Even a fateful engagement. Jousts and melees. Chases - and the inevitable recipe.
FORTUNE'S FOOL. Coming in 2012.
