This is my stop during the blog tour for the Merlin’s Shakespeare series by Carol Anne Douglas. This blog tour is organized by Lola's Blog Tours. The blog tour runs from 3 till 16 September. See the tour schedule here.
Merlin’s Shakespeare (Merlin’s Shakespeare #1)By Carol Anne Douglas
Genre: Fantasy/ Time Travel
Age category: Young Adult
Blurb:
Beth loves Shakespeare's plays, but does she want risk her life for them?
The immortal wizard Merlin transports high school actor Beth Owens to Shakespeare's London and the worlds of Shakespeare's characters in search of a missing play about King Arthur. Mercutio guides her and flirts with her, but Richard III threatens her sanity, her friends' lives, and the integrity of Shakespeare's plays.
You can find Merlin’s Shakespeare on Goodreads
You can buy Merlin’s Shakespeare here:
- Amazon
- Barnes & Noble
- Kobo
Excerpt:
“If you are Merlin, why would you come to our school?” she asked.
“I have my reasons. Can you imagine that Merlin would explain himself to you? Or to anyone?”
He frowned. “Can you prove that you are Beth Owens?” he asked scornfully.
“I have lots of papers that say so, and my teacher will agree that I am,” Beth said,
though it was clear that he already knew the answer.“But may I ask why you honor
us with a visit?” Ms. Capulet’s voice was reverent. She gazed at him as if he were
the combination of a movie star and a religious leader.
Apparently the teacher’s manner was humble enough to mollify Merlin. “
I came to teach Beth how to channel her magic,” the wizard said. He turned to
Beth. “You have magical powers, and you love Shakespeare. That is a
combination I need. I could use you as a researcher on Shakespeare’s plays.”
If he needed something from her, Beth wasn’t going to be speechless. “Was
Shakespeare really Shakespeare?” she asked. She had heard that some people
believed he wasn’t the one who had written the plays.
“Did William Shakespeare really write all those plays?”
“Of course Shakespeare was Shakespeare.” Merlin looked at her as if she had
said a pig was a chimpanzee.
“Some people say an actor couldn’t have known enough about kings or court
life to have written the plays.”
“Of course he didn’t know enough. That was why I helped him,” Merlin said.
“I saw that he had great ability as a poet, and I helped him travel to worlds where
he would get the experience he needed. His plays are magic. He provided the art;
I provided the magic.”
“Oh.” Beth paused to take in this information. A genius and a wizard working together.
That made sense to her. “But how can you still be on this earth?” Merlin didn’t look like
a ghost. “Are you dead or alive?”
“I am immortal,” Merlin said, looking down at her though he wasn’t much taller than Beth
. “But I allow only a few people to see me.”
“Why do you think I could help you?” Beth asked.
Merlin rubbed his beard. There was a gleam in his eye. “Not just because you have
a talent for wizardry,” he said. “It is better to call you a wizard than a witch, I think.
Safer for you.”
“Even today it is,” Ms. Capulet agreed. “Men who can do magic are seen as potentially
great, but people too often think that women who can do the same thing are evil.”
“I have a task for you, Beth,” Merlin told her. He sat down on one of the auditorium
seats near hers. “There is one great lack in Shakespeare’s writings. I helped him for a
reason. I wanted him to write a play about King Arthur.” He paused.
“But there isn’t any Shakespeare play about King Arthur,” Beth said.
“There is not. Or there does not seem to be.” Merlin frowned. “I gave Will all he
needed. Knowledge of kings, knowledge of battles. But he used bits and pieces in
other plays, and never wrote the one I most desired. Or he did not appear to. There
may be such a play, but it may be hidden.”
“A lost Shakespeare play!” Ms. Capulet gasped. “That would be incredibly valuable.”
“Beyond measure,” Merlin said, “especially to me. Not just any play, but the one that
was to be his crowning glory.”
Beth wanted to giggle, because “crowning glory” in this instance sounded like a pun,
but she refrained because Merlin intimidated her.
“If you, who are so powerful, can’t find it, why do you think I could? I’m just a teenager.”
“People might tell you things that they would not tell me,” Merlin said. “You have some
magical powers—untried and unschooled, it is true—and you love Shakespeare and learn
the lines quickly. You also have some talent for acting.”
“Thank you.” Beth felt proud. If she had impressed Merlin, she must be good. “But what
people would know anything about this play, if it exists?”
The Mercutio Problem (Merlin’s Shakespeare #2)By Carol Anne Douglas
Genre: Fantasy/ Time Travel
Age category: Young Adult
Blurb:
High school actor Beth Owens faces a new challenge: She needs to bring a Shakespearean character she loves back from the dead. But she has to become a man and risk her life to do it. Richard III still menaces her.
You can find The Mercutio Problem on Goodreads
You can buy The Mercutio Problem here:
- Amazon
- Barnes & Noble
- Kobo
About the Author:Carol Anne Douglas has loved Shakespeare since she watched A Midsummer Night's Dream when she was a child. She identifies with the character Nick Bottom because she wants to play every part, which only a writer can do. She is an avid reader of Arthurian and Shakespearean literature. Her previous fantasy novels, Lancelot: Her Story and Lancelot and Guinevere, feature Lancelot as a woman in disguise. When Douglas isn't reading or writing, she spends as much time as she can in the national parks, hiking and watching wildlife. She lives in Washington, D.C.
You can find and contact Carol Anne Douglas here:
- Website
- Goodreads
- Amazon
Giveaway
There is a tour wide giveaway for the blog tour of Merlin’s Shakespeare. These are the prizes you can win:
- One set of paperback copies of both Merlin’s Shakespeare and The Mercutio Problem (US Only)
- Two winners will each win a set of e-copies of both Merlin’s Shakespeare and The Mercutio Problem (International)
For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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