Shakespeare Undead

Zombies and Vampires and Shakespeare, oh my! What more can a well-read romance fan want? Lori Handeland has gone off her usual venue to find a great sidetrack. Told from both the hero and heroine's standpoints, "Shakespeare Undead" explores a unique "what if?" situation. As in, what if the Dark Lady of the sonnets was a zombie hunter, and Will's true love? And what if Will is, well, a vampire? A play writing vampire? Who gazes off into space and has snippets of dialogue or plot flowing through his head at the most inopportune moments? And talks to ghosts? And what more do you need???? This book is entertaining, hilarious, fun, love-struck, and of course, we see where all that amazing genius goes. Not to mention the sword fighting and zombie slaying and poetry and... Get this book, it's a great read. Lori: please know that while I love your NightCreatures and Phoenix Chronicles (both fabulous lines) this one should not become a stand alone. More, Please!

Ghosts and witches and sorcerers - Shakespeare was certainly no stranger to the supernatural. But is it possible his experience with the mystical went a bit deeper than his stories? In //Shakespeare Undead//, Lori Handeland imagines a London where two plagues threaten the populace, the invisible horror of the Black Plague and the unearthly horror of the walking dead. When the playwright crosses paths with the city's resident hunter of all things monstrous, they are both far more than meets the eye. But with zombies descending on London en masse, a sinister plot afoot, star-crossed lovers, a new play to perform, and secrets on both sides, can the bard and the hunter save themselves or the city? //Shakespeare Undead// is a curious hodgepodge of romance, comedy, supernatural mystery, and winking tribute, and it's in this last aspect that the book is most successful. The romance often dominates the story, with varying degrees of success, but the sly references and blatant callbacks to Shakespeare's works are a fun diversion. And with the avalanche of zombie-infused fiction on the shelves these days, the humor, style, and attention to detail of Handeland's book stand out. Reviewed by Glenn Dallas

SHAKESPEARE UNDEAD BY LORI HANDELAND is a Elizabethan paranormal set in 1592 London. It is well written with depth and detail. It is about vampires, zombies,suspense, ghosts, a chasseur(hunter), and Shakespeare. The characters will pull you into the story and keep your attention. It will give you new and different insight into William Shakespeare and his tragic plays. What if.... Shakespeare,who is now a vampire, meets the chasseur,hunter, Kate, while she is hunting zombies. They work together to fight the zombies and find out why there is so many of them. Kate later learns the truth about Shakespeare, she is falling in love with him. He is already in love with Kate. He would give his life for her and she would for him. I would recommend this book especially if you enjoy vampires, zombies, romance, suspense, ghosts and a new look at Shakepeare and his plays. This book was received for review and details can be found at My Book Addiction and More and St. Martin's Press.

To fully appreciate a book such as SHAKESPEARE UNDEAD, one needs to have a warped sense of humor and a high tolerance for obvious and sometimes bad jokes. If you're willing, then you're in for a treat. While many of these re-imaginings have just added fantastical and horrid beasts to perfectly good novels, (think PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES), this one adds a new twist by re-thinking the life of William Shakespeare and how he truly did write all of those plays. Yes, readers, Shakespeare is a vampire with a memory longer than his teeth. Will is not only a vampire, but a vampire that can, and does, talk to ghosts. A necro-vampire if you will. He manages to hide this odd but sometimes inspiring sixth sense by claiming it as a habit of the writer that he is. Will talks out loud to these apparitions but pretends to be rehearsing and trying out lines for poems and plays. In most cases, his excuse works and people leave him to his musings. And these ghosts that keep appearing all want one thing from him --- to have William Shakespeare, the greatest writer of his time, tell their former life stories. Will does his best to tell all their tales, some becoming rather popular plays --- The Two Gentlemen of Verona, for instance --- but with all the zombies roaming London and suspiciously attacking him, writing becomes difficult, not to mention the writing slump he seems to have backed himself into. One night while hunting down one of the newly risen, he almost manages to get his head lopped off by someone he thinks is a young boy. This rather small but very strong boy actually turns out to be the woman of his dreams. When he recovers from the deep neck wound she accidentally inflicted when she thought him a zombie, he tracks her down and it quickly turns into a scene right out of Romeo and Juliet. Doing his best impression of a human, which includes breathing that he doesn't need to do with his being dead and all, Will courts Kate with beautiful words and she falls not only for his words but for him. Their affair (Kate's husband is due to return any day from the Colonies) is fierce and all-consuming for the two. It has also become a rather prolific writing time for Will, who begins filling pages again like the fiend he is with Kate as his new muse. His own Dark Lady in the flesh. Sonnets flow, plays spring forth, and for a short time his dark world becomes blissful, with the exception of the zombies that keep popping up when Will least expects them. Kate, a trained zombie hunter, is right there with her new love dusting zombies and dreading the day her ruthless and loveless husband will return. When another necro-vampire appears in London, it pretty much becomes Will and Kate to the rescue. Yes, there are a lot of Shakespearean references, even a few modern ones that elicited a laugh-out-loud response from this reader, but it's done in such a way that fits. In fact, these little references make it even more fun to read as I found myself trying to place

We are all familiar with William Shakespeare or you have at least heard of him. Though, do you really know the man behind the image? Like, where did William get his ideas and what type of company did he keep in his presence? William Shakespeare did not become famous on his own. No, he had some help. First, Will was a vampire and hung out with zombies. Well, this is not exactly true about the zombies. William could be seen with zombies but this is only because he is trying to find out who is raising the dead. Second Will became enthralled with the beautiful and lovely Katherine Dymond. Katherine was known as the "Dark Lady of the Sonnets" Katherine also is a zombie hunter. Yep....you guessed it...Katherine made some heads roll for William. Mash ups of classic novels or story are becoming quite popular. Author, Lori Handeland is taking her turn with her latest novel, Shakespeare Undead. I have to say that I have read a few mash up novels now and this is the first one that I really liked. Mrs. Handeland brought a fun and new twist to an old, classic story about the famous William Shakespeare. This book was dark in all the right ways. I knew Shakespeare was portrayed as a vampire in this book but I did not expect the twist about him also having another ability. Don't want to give anything away. This other ability make Shakespeare unique and stand out from all the other vampires currently out in the reading world. My only issue I had with this book was that it was told through first person. Usually, I don't have a problem with this but I did ad first with this book. It started with a grown Will but then the story would flash back to when it seemed Will was a little boy. It took my till about a third of the way into the book to get everything straight. Once I did, I was able to sit back and enjoy. Shakespeare Undead will have you come alive for more!