Despite my own personal experience otherwise, it seems as if we’re seeing a bit of a boom in Shakespeare books. There’s LOL Shakespeare, Star Wars Shakespeare, Lego Shakespeare … you name it. Every time I see a new one (assuming it’s any good), I bang my head against the wall for a little while wondering why I didn’t think of that first.
Not all of the best ones will show up on the shelf of your local Barnes and Noble, however. For the smaller independent efforts we must turn to Kickstarter, where this week we find Death by Shakespeare.
My first thought was, “Hey, this looks a lot like the Deaths in Shakespeare infographic (by friend of the blog Caitlin S. Griffin).” But is that a bad thing? That’s the joy of public domain, that two different people can take the same source material and go in two different creative directions. I don’t really have the space or the decor to put up a poster, but there’s always room on my bookshelf or coffee table for a nicely illustrated hardcover.
The authors are close to their goal, which is a good thing, but sometimes it’s all about the stretch goals. They’ve got plenty of rewards and add-ons for you to customize exactly what you want. Check out the “Thou Getst Art” rewards, where you can get a special individual print of your favorite character’s demise. Joan of Arc? Bardolph? Adonis? Looks like they didn’t just stick to the classics we read in high school.
If you want to help support more such independent Shakespeare publishing projects, go check it out!