A few months back, I posted a chapter of a novel I had started and put in a drawer to focus on the new Roman one. Well, the Roman one is progressing, but there are other projects looming. One of them is the launch of the Shanghai Low Theatricals website. 

As most everyone knows, I’m an actor, director, and fight choreographer. This year has seen me step back from those roles to focus on the novels, though I will be directing Romeo & Juliet for Eastern Michigan University this Fall. But I still truck with the theatre community, and a year ago I joined Steve Pickering and Kevin Theis as a member of the newly-reconstituted Shanghai Low, a playwriting collective which adapts classic works of literature to the stage.

Steve is the brain-trust behind this, and I’ve had the pleasure of working with him twice onstage. Kevin and I have worked together more frequently, getting together every couple of years for him to direct me in a show. Right now we’re all playing well together, and Steve is getting this massive web-launch for the site set up.

Now, one thing about adapting great books to the stage is that often one must pay to secure the rights. So Steve was wondering if there was any work of mine that Shanghai Low couls serialize on their site to earn a little dough. After consulting my agent, I ran through a list of projects that were available. When Steve heard me say, “Shakespeare and Marlowe spy novel,” he flipped. So, starting in either August or September, I’ll put up the link to the Shanghai Low site so that everyone can jump in and read my first attempt at a serial novel. I have a head start, as there are five or six chapters finished. But the thing will be twenty chapters, give or take, so it’ll force me to take a few days each month and hammer out the next bit. Should be fun, and I work well with deadlines.

Meanwhile, the title is up in the air. Then it was PLAYING SPY. Right now it’s IN THE QUEEN’S NAME, which is an awful pun. I’m thinking of holding a contest as I’m writing it, so readers can decide the name.

Stay tuned!