Celebrate Shakespeare Week

By reading three strange tales (and a bonus "Drabble") inspired by the Bard. Shakespeare Noir.

Shakespeare Swag

Is this bracelet cool or what? I snagged it from the RareJewelbyKathy shop and it's just perfect for the promotion I'll be doing of my Shakespeare Noir collection (out this fall)!  And right now, if you pin three items from the shop, and send her the link, she'll give you a coupon. So it's awin/win. (And really, you should have a Shakespeare board on Pinterest.)

Welcome Year of the Snake!

Or more formally, the Year of the Water Snake. Celebrate by dropping in on The Mysterious China Blog to learn a little Chinese history, legend and lore.
Or pick up a copy of Kelli Stanley's first Miranda Corbie mystery, City of Dragons, which starts out with a murder on Chinese New Year.
Treat yourself to a Chinese movie marathon. (Get some inspiration here at Watch Culture.)
Don't forget to read the predictions for the year ahead. Tradition states that years designated by the Snake are marked by twists and turns.
Wuldn't it be cool to do an anthology with all the stories inspired by a zodiac animal? You could have more than twelve stories because each of the animals has variations on elements--water, fire, earth, etc. Hm.  That's going to have to go up on my possibility shelf, along with the Shakespeare Noir idea.

Shakespeare Noir

I knew there had to be a website called Shakespeare Noir and there is. (Here.) I wasn't sure what I would find there--reimaginings of plays as short, hard-boiled stories? Deconstruction of the drama from a noir-ish lens?
It turns out to be a site celebrating all sorts of manipulations of words, including poetry. Here's ow it's described on the home page:

Spoken Word,

Lyrical expression.

Verbal manipulation

Of thoughts and words

Which create thoughts and images

Which takes you to another world

Which it creates, but doesn’t really exist

Except within the poets mind

Thus leaving you blind

To the truth of it all.

Definitely worth checking out if you're a word-lover.