Mischief, Magic, Love and War.�
It is the Year of Our Lord 1601. The Tuscan War rages across the world, and every lord from Navarre to Illyria is embroiled in the fray. Cannon roar, pikemen clash, and witches stalk the night; even the fairy courts stand on the verge of chaos.�
Five stories come together at the end of the war: that of bold Miranda and sly Puck; of wise Pomona and her prisoner Vertumnus; of gentle Lucia and the shade of Prospero; of noble Don Pedro and powerful Helena; and of Anne, a glovemaker's wife. On these lovers and heroes the world itself may depend.�
It is the time of Shakespeare. Storms rage, armies clash, magics are done - and stories are made. Five new great and terrible tales reshape the Bard's vision, a new set of stories that will be told and retold down through the centuries. In the Year of Our Lord 1585, all the major powers of the Mediterranean are at war. The throne of the Grand Duke of Tuscany is the prize, and every lord from Navarre to Illyria is embroiled in the fray. Prospero, the feared Sorcerer-Duke of Milan, is under pressure to choose a side, and witches stalk the night, steering events from the shadows. Even the fairy courts stand on the verge of breaking down. With wars and romances, magics and deceptions, discover five stories he never told, but could have. Stories of what happened next or what went before, of the things unseen or simply elsewhere in the world as Shakespeare's own tales unfolded on the stage.
These are the stories Shakespeare never told. Five of the most exciting names in genre fiction today - Jonathan Barnes, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Emma Newman, Foz Meadows and Kate Heartfield - delve into the world the poet created to weave together a story of courage, transformation and magic.
Including an afterword by Dr. John Lavagnino, The London Shakespeare Centre, King's College London.
�Centuries before The Lord of the Rings, Londoners were trooping to the Globe and the Curtain to watch stories of the fantastic: stories of fairies, magic, witches and potions, of wars won and lives changed by capricious Fate and uncertain Fortune. Monstrous Little Voices summons Shakespeare�s heroes and heroines, four hundred years almost to the day after the Bard�s death, to tell new stories of magic and mayhem, with the aid of five incredibly talented men and women. Foz, Kate, Adrian, Jonathan and Emma are wonderful storytellers, and the tale they�ve woven between them will utterly delight.�
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