Dangerous Expectations – Writing Shakespeare
Playing the expectations game is dangerous. You rewrite Romeo & Juliet, you’d best bring something new to the table. You write about the fall of Jerusalem, there had better be something uplifting in that awful story. And if you write a novel about William...
Comic Books – Superman Myths That Began On Radio
10 Pieces Of Superman’s Lore That Started On Radio In addition to Shakespeare, Dante, and Nellie Bly, I am also a comic book aficionado. As such, I am always fascinated on how stories change and transform between mediums. In this case, the cross-pollination of comic...
Shakespeare – A Wordsmith For All Seasons
Shakespeare: A Wordsmith For All Seasons Shakespeare's unmatched linguistic prowess allowed him to coin and popularize a staggering number of words. It's estimated that he introduced around 1,700 words to the English language—at least, his plays are the first recorded...
Recent Posts
Crowdsourcing Typos
One of the things that drove me mad over the printed editions of THE MASTER OF VERONA was that there were typos. I take typos as a personal affront, a judgment on my character, a deep failing. Reading, they make me crazy. So the fact that not only myself, but an...
Guest Post – Historical Boys
There's a really lovely piece written by my wife about our first trip together to Italy while researching THE MASTER OF VERONA. It's put up by my good friend, the amazingly talented author C.W. Gortner at his blog Historical Boys. If you're not a regular...
A Silly Yet Helpful Thing
Just like Facebook, Amazon has "Likes." I don't think I knew that, but they're there, just below the title of the novel. So here's a silly request - can you "Like" my books? I don't know what it does, or how it helps in the world....
Kindle Apps
It's a lovely sign that people are interested in the novels that I'm getting questions every day from readers who want to buy the books, but don't own an Amazon Kindle. Let me share a secret - neither do I. My wife loves her Kindle - it's both...
Avalanche 8 – ORIGIN OF THE FEUD
Longtime readers of this blog will certainly recognize the centerpiece of this collection - my take on the origin of the Capulet-Montague feud which led to the writing of THE MASTER OF VERONA. But I've gone much further in this collection of essays, exploring the...
Avalanche 7 – TOMORROW & TOMORROW
My wife and I have penned several short essays on Shakespeare's MACBETH. Fans of this blog will recognize a couple - our take on the famous Tomorrow & Tomorrow speech has long been a staple here. But we've expanded on that piece, along with several others,...
Avalanche 6 – VARNISHED FACES
Some stories are part of a grand narrative. Some are small, insular, intimate. But no less deserving to be told. Collected here are three short stories from the world outside Verona's walls - Vicenza, Padua, and Avignon. These pieces of Blixt's...
Avalanche 5 – HER MAJESTY’S WILL
Before he was famous, he was a fugitive. Before he wrote of humanity, he lived it.Before he was the Bard of Avon, he was a spy. A very poor spy. England, 1586. Swept up in the skirts of a mysterious stranger, Will Shakespeare becomes entangled in a deadly and...
SORDELET INK and David Blixt join forces!
So now that the books are launched, here's the next phase - raising the money for publicity! I'm teaming with my dear friend, the amazingly talented Rick Sordelet, to help launch his new media company Sordelet Ink. We're starting small, underwriting and...
Avalanche 4 – COLOSSUS: STONE & STEEL
Judea, 66 AD. A Roman legion suffers a smashing and catastrophic defeat at the hands of an angry band of Hebrews armed with only slings and spears. Knowing Emperor Nero's revenge will be swift and merciless, they must decide how to defend their land against the...
