Nellie Bly: In A Diet Kitchen
The New York World - Sunday, December 23, 1888 The Sad Procession of Invalids Begging For the Simplest Food. Nellie Bly Visits the Wretched Homes of Some of the Sufferers. A Charity that Dispenses Nourishment to the Afflicted Poor with Liberal Hand and Irrespective of...
Captive Colours – Prologue
I'm a long way from finished. It'll take me all year, probably. But you've been so very patient. So here's something to tide you over. I love you all. CAPTIVE COLOURS Prologue Pavia, Italy 14 August 1329 “Where is he?” The question echoed throughout Italy,...
My Darling Sharon
This is going to be a little raw. I hope you'll forgive me. In the summer of 2012, my wife was directing me in Richard III at the Michigan Shakespeare Festival, flipping the script from twelve years earlier when I had directed her in the show. I was playing King...
Recent Posts
THE MASTER OF VERONA – In Stores Now
No more tomorrows. Tomorrow is here, today. The Master Of Verona is in stores (though I hear it's actually been on the shelves since Saturday in Borders). I may stop by to visit it. Just to say hello. Today is also my first book-signing at Nomad Bookhouse in Jackson....
Best Synopsis Ever
Okay, I should be focused on the book today, but I just read a preview of the MichShakesFest shows in the Toledo Blade, and I cracked up. This is, by far, my favorite synopsis of Macbeth ever. Ev-er. Can you tell why? Basically, Macbeth is about a heroic man who...
Interview at “Reading The Past”
Over at readingthepast Sarah Johnson has posted the first part of an interview I did with her some months back, right after she read the novel. So, technically, this was my first interview about the book. And, other than one oblique spoiler-y comment on my part, it's...
A2 News Interview
From today's Ann Arbor News: Old feud retold: 'Verona' dives into tragic love story's intriguing prehistory Sunday, July 22, 2007 BY LEAH DUMOUCHEL News Arts Writer A debut novel that dives headfirst into the territory of a storyteller whose works are canonical texts...
Thanks For My Life *
I always hated Shakespeare. They made me read him. In junior high, it was Julius Caesar. In high school, first it was Romeo & Juliet, which was cool only because we wasted a week watching the movie – the Zefferelli, not the DeCaprio version. The next year it was...
2 10-of-12s
It's a theatre term, the ten-of-twelve. Under the union rules, actors cannot be called more than eight hours a day without incurring overtime. EXCEPT when teching the show, when the theatre is allowed to call for the actors to be there for ten hours in a twelve hour...
Review from the Historical Novel Society
From the forthcoming August issue of the Historical Novel Society quarterly review: THE MASTER OF VERONA David Blixt, St. Martin’s Press, 2007, $27.95/£18.99, hb, 608pp,9780312361440 How much of life is determined by the stars? How much by the choices...
Birth Day, Death Day, Wedding Day *
July Twelfth. Today in the year 100 BC, Julius Caesar was born. His mother, Aurelia, already had two daughters living. Their births were uncomplicated, but Caesar was trouble from the start. Still, both mother and son survived, though Aurelia had no more children...
Unintended Consequences
At the beginning of June, the Historical Novel Society held its annual conference in Albany, NY. I wasn't there, sadly, but evidently there was a fair amount of buzz about my book. I think this is due to Sarah Johnson, one of the society's editors,...
Cad
I confess. I'm a cad. I bought this t-shirt. I wear it. And I don't care who knows it. Because it fills me with awe. And terrible, terrible power. DB