Planting Shakespeare--the Shakespeare Garden

The Shakespeare Garden at the Huntington Library

William Shakespeare's plays are filled with quotes about flowers, with the most famous probably being "That which we call a rose would smell as sweet" from Romeo and Juliet. Over time, gardeners developed a very special, formal version of an English garden termed a "Shakespeare garden." As the name implies, these gardens feature plants and flowers mentioned in the plays, or typical of the Elizabethan period but not mentioned.
Here in LA, there's a gorgeous "Shakespeare Garden" at the Huntington Library. (For information on the garden, go here.) There's a Shakespeare Garden in Central Park and also in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. for a list of other, public gardens, see the Wikipedia article. Shakespeare's favorite flower (at least in terms of how often he used it) was probably the rose. the Garden Web has a section on Elizabethan roses, and there are lots of forums for gardeners who want to grow heirloom roses in their own gardens.  "Elizabethan Roses" became a popular design motif for china.
Here's an excerpt from Folk-lore of Shakespeare that talks about his knowledge of plants.

Judging a Book By Its Cover

Last year I released Twelve Nights of Christmas, a collection of dark stories themed to the Christmas song "Days of Christmas." Some of the stories had originally been written for the Dark Valentine website promotion for the season, some were written especially for the book. I was pleased with the collection, especially my story "Birds of a Feather," which was my version of the "turtledove" stanza.
Sales were whatever the opposite of "brisk" is. 
(And is there a direct opposite of "brisk" the way "inept" and "adept" are linked?)
I've decided to put out a version 2.0 of Twelve Nights of Christmas (now called The 12 Nights of Christmas)  this year and I'm going to change the cover. the current cover is intriguing but isn't getting it done.I've done that before--the original cover of Toxic Reality was elegant and dark, but when Indie Author Services came up with a more "in your face" image, sales picked up. (Briskly.)
One of the beauties of epublishing is that you can change things up with relative ease. I've edited and revised the copy, I think the new cover more accurately reflect the kind of stories I write.
The new version features an image by Linda Bucklin, with design stylings by (again) Indie Author Services.
I've pulled the book from Amazon's "Select Program," and as soon as the time period of that runs out (mid-September) I'll debut the new version. I'll be very interested to see how it does with the new cover. Thoughts?

Seventy is the New Fifty

The Seventies aren't what they used to be. I don't mean the decade, I mean the age. Case in point. I saw Expendables 2 last weekend. The whole audience exploded when Chuck Norris showed up. He was the Chuck Norris he's always been--and he kicked ass. And he is ... 72 years old. (Stallone and SArnold are both 65.)
I just got back from the Neil Diamond concert in Anaheim. Two hours of beautiful noise without a break and three encores. The Honda Center was sold out. (Floor tickets were $400 a pop.) His voice isn't what it used to be, but he gives one hell of a show. He is 71.
Harrison Ford is 70.  So is Aretha Franklin. So is Stephen Hawking.
Journalist Charlayne Hunter-Gault and designer Betsy Johnson have both passed the big Seven Oh,
Judge Judy, Calvin Klein, and Garrison Keillor are all 70.
It doesn't surprise me that Sir Paul McCartney is 70 but ... Andy Summers of the Police? Monkee Michael Nesmith? Beach Boy Brian Wilson???
Where did the time go?
I was born on the trailing edge of the baby boomer generation and am facing down that first really scary birthday. I hope when I'm 70 I'll be a force to be reckoned with.
To Seventy and Beyond!!! 

Shakespeare and Suicide

R.I.P. Tony Scott.  My condolences to your loved ones.
One of my biggest clients has been in business forever with Scott Free, the production company fronted by directors Ridley and Tony Scott, so Tony Scott's suicide over the weekend hit home. I'd met him (and his wife Donna, a sharp lady) and had worked the development side of some of his projects, including the upcoming Potsdamer Platz.
One of my colleagues posted a lovely tribute to Tony on Facebook and ended it with "See you in the Danger Zone," a reference to Scott's movie Top Gun. (Plans for a sequel were in the works.) He was well liked and the tributes are pouring in.
News reports are now saying that Tony had been diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer. And so the ancient debate emerges again--is suicide an act of dignity or an act of despair?
Speaking as someone who has known people who took their own lives or contemplated the act, I'd say it's complicated and personal but if nothing else, for God's sake leave a note.
The question "why?" will haunt those left behind and an answer to that question will help, if only a little.
Suicide is a dramatic act and Shakespeare used it a lot as a plot device, particularly in Hamlet. I found this article that takes Shakespeare's plays and his fictional suicides as a point of departure to discuss a whole range of topics relating to the act. You can find that article here.

Self-Promotion Sunday--The Poisoned Teat

The Poisoned Teat, my latest collection of short fiction is now up at smashwords and available at all their distribution channels. Whenever KDP gets around to it, the book will also be up at Amazon.com. This new 100-page collection features more than 30 stories, a mix of micro, flash and longer pieces. Most of the stories fall into the noir category, a few are straight up horror, but there are some that really don't have a category.  Check out the samples here.

Death of a Patron of the Arts--Veronique Peck

Veronique Peck, the widow of actor Gregory Peck, has died. You might think that the death of a movie star's wife is less than newsworthy, especially in this day of reality shows about the wives of famous (and infamous) people, but like her late husband, Veronique was both old school and a class act.
Here's a brief statement about her that all the obits are running:  Veronique Peck helped create the Inner City Cultural Center in South Los Angeles, was a founder of the Los Angeles Music Center and a longtime fundraiser for the Los Angeles Public Library. By status, the Paris-born former journalist was a member of the One Percent, but she was someone who lent her money and her prestige and her passion to causes that benefitted the rest of us.
R.I.P. Veronique. See Nikki Finke's obituary of Veronique Peck here.

Shakespeare and Company Bookstore

Shakespeare and Company bookstore is one of the most famous bookstores in the world. In its first incarnation it was opened on the Left Bank of Paris in 1919 and moved to a nearby location in 1922 where it flourished until 1941, when the city was under occupation by the Nazis. The bookstore that now bears the name was opened in the 50s and renamed in the 60s as a tribute to the original, which was a part of the expat life of Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, and Ezra Pound. Here's a link to the store's site, which is filled with great images from its archives. You can follow the store on Twitter (@Shakespeare_Co).