“I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams,” says Hamlet to Rosencrantz — or is it Guildenstern? — in James Aquilone’s favorite scenes from William Shakespeare. There are numerous lines that have stuck with Aquilone since reading the play in high school, but this particular quote comes out on top. Hamlet, Aquilone notes, is such a Gen Xer “… sarcastic, slacker, procrastinator, indecisive, perpetually hounded by his parents…” Fitting that it’s a play on this play that graces the cover of Shakespeare Unleased, an anthology of horror short stories, sonnets, and comics inspired by the Bard, edited by Aquilone and published by Monstrous Books and Crystal Lake Publishing, crowdfunding now on Kickstarter.
“Shakespeare can be very bloody, especially his tragedies, which usually end with everyone dying,” Aquilone notes when asked what it is that makes Shakespeare’s works suitable for a horror anthology. “Many of his plays feature dark magic, ghosts, witches, and fairies. So it’s not much of a stretch to make horror stories out of the plays. In Elizabethan times, the genres were basically just comedies, tragedies, and histories. But today Macbeth would be classified as horror, and The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream would be considered fantasy.” When Shakespeare was writing his tales, the people of the times believed in the supernatural, so, Aquilone explains, it wasn’t a stretch for him to include witches, ghosts, fairies, and such. “But Shakespeare Unleashed will also take stories without any horror or fantasy elements and horrify them, because that’s what we do.”
Shakespeare Unleashed is the follow up to Monstrous Books’ Classic Monsters Unleashed, which boasts the title highest-funded and highest-backed prose horror anthology in Kickstarter history.
Shakespeare Unleashed features an all-star roster of horror writers including Joe R. Lansdale (Moon Lake) and Kasey Lansdale (Terror Is Our Business), Ian Doescher (William Shakespeare’s Star Wars and William Shakespeare’s Avengers), Cullen Bunn (Tales From Harrow County), Seanan McGuire (Every Heart a Doorway), and Jonathan Maberry (Kagen the Damned). Other contributors include Lee Murray, Gemma Files, Tim Waggoner, John Palisano, Lisa Morton, Geneve Flynn, Hailey Piper, Philip Fracassi, Linda Addison, Alessandro Manzetti, Jessica McHugh, Sara Tantlinger, Stephanie M. Wytovich, Gwendolyn Kiste, and Lucy A. Snyder.
“A few [creators] came from the first book in the series, Classic Monsters Unleashed,” says Aquilone, pointing to Joe Lansdale, Jonathan Maberry, Lisa Morton, Seanan McGuire, John Palisano, Geneve Flynn, Tim Waggoner, Lucy Snyder, Linda Addison, and Alessandro Manzetti. “Others are writers and artists that I have been wanting to work with like Cullen Bunn, Ian Doescher, Gemma Files, and Philip Fracassi.” Creators like J.K. Woodward, the anthology’s cover artist, and David Avallone worked with Aquilone on his Kolchak The Night Stalker 50th anniversary graphic novel anthology. Woodward is also doing the interior art for the anthology, which features four illustrations accompanied by iconic quotes from the bard’s work.
And you could be part of the project too! “In late July, we’ll start taking submissions for stories and sonnets,” says Aquilone. “Some of the best stories come out of the slush pile.”
On top of all of this, the Shakespeare reimaginings include a separate black-and-white manga-sized comic, featuring three stories:
- “Bloody Thou Art” (Richard III) by David Avallone and Helena Masellis
- “Romeo and Juliet: Afterlife” by James Aquilone and J.K. Woodward, with letters by Tom Napolitano
- “Exit Pursued by Bear” by James Aquilone and Zac Atkinson
“‘Romeo and Juliet: Afterlife’ is about what happens to the star-crossed when the friars try to revive them,” explains Aquilone. “The Romeo and Juliet story has been something I’ve wanted to write for a long time, so I just had to do it for this project. And I did a little story based on Shakespeare’s infamous stage direction from The Winter’s Tale: “Exit, pursued by a bear.”
Shakespeare Unleashed marks Aquilone’s fourth Kickstarter — and it’s already a success, with several days to go — but it’s the first project from Monstrous Books. “I’m hoping to build upon this campaign and put out more anthologies as well as graphic novels and prose novels. I have a few projects in mind. It’s just a matter of scheduling them and getting to work. Next year should be a big one for Monstrous Books. So stay tuned.”
