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| Author Falstaff's Big Gamble |
About Hank Quense
Award-winning author Hank Quense writes humorous fantasy and sci-fi stories.His motto is fantasy and sci-fi stories told with humor and satire. He has overforty published short stories and a number of nonfiction articles. On occasion,he also writes an article on fiction writing or book marketing but says thatwriting nonfiction is like work while writing fiction is fun. He refuses towrite serious genre fiction saying there is enough of that on the front page ofany daily newspaper and on the evening TV news. Hank lives in Bergenfield, NJ with his wifePat. They have two daughters and five grandchildren.
Hank’s previous works include Zaftan Enterprises, Zaftan Miscreants and TalesFrom Gundarland, a collection of fantasy stories. Readers Favoriteawarded the book a medal and EPIC designated it a finalist in its 2011competition. His Fool’s Gold is a retelling of the ancientRhinegold myth and Tunnel Vision is a collection of twenty previouslypublished short stories. Build a Better Story is a book ofadvice for fiction writers.
He has a number of links whereyou can follow his work and his occasional rants:Hank’s Blog:http://hank-quense.com/wpStrange Worlds website:http://strangeworldsonline.comFollow him on twitter: http://twitter.com/hanque99Facebook fan pages: https://www.facebook.com/StrangeWorldsOnlinePurchase the book at Amazon
AboutFalstaff’s Big Gamble
This novel is Shakespeare's Worst Nightmare.
It takes two of the Bard's most famous plays, Hamlet and Othello, and recaststhem in Gundarland. There, Hamlet becomes a dwarf and Othello a dark elfand Iago and his wife, Emilia, are trolls.
If that isn't bad enough, these two tragedies are now comedies with Falstaff,Shakespeare's most popular rogue, thrown in as a bonus.
Both Hamlet and Othello are plagued by the scheming Falstaff, who embezzlesmoney from Othello. After Hamlet becomes king (with help from Falstaff)the rogue becomes the dark nemesis behind throne.
About The Strange Worlds of HankQuense
Hank Quense has written about the Strange Worldsthat he has developed as a background to many of the books he has written. Oneof these worlds is called Gundarland, a planet inhabited by humans and fantasycreatures. The second is Zaftan 31B, home world of the alien race known asZaftans. The books contain information on culture, races, religion, politicsand other topics. His latest book in this series is Zaftan Enterprises.
Falstaff’s Big GambleBook Excerpt
Hamlet, Crown Prince of Denmarko,paced the castle battlements late on a clear, cool spring night. He walked with hands clasped behind his backand head down. He had a thin nose withbrown hair and eyes. His scrawny buildand clean-shaven face gave him the appearance of a starving waif.He paused, gazed at themultitudinous stars, sighed and continued his pacing. A breeze brought the smells of the harbor:salt water and rotting fish guts. Atlast, he stopped, thrust one hand to the sky and declaimed, "To bee or notto bee?" He stroked his chin. "Whether 'tis nobler to buy honey fromthe peasant farmer in the market and thus provide him sustenance and income tosupport his brood of brats, possibly keeping him from rebelling over high taxes. . . or to grow my own honey thus, gaining coins to assert my independencefrom my noble family and the sordid court? Hmm."He paced some more, stilltroubled by his vexing question. Nothingless than his future depended upon the answer. Because his uncle, and now stepfather, Clodio, had usurped his right torule the kingdom, he needed a profession and an income."Do you always talk toyourself?" a voice said from the shadows."Who . . . who goesthere?" Hamlet's head snapped fromone side to another while his hand grasped the hilt of his dagger."'Tis I, the ghost of yourfather. I bring a message for your earsalone."Hamlet goggled at the specter whomaterialized in the shadows of a doorway. "You're not my father's ghost. My father was a dwarf and you're the ghost of an elf. You're an impostor and a dead one toboot.""Hey, your father is busyand he asked me to fill in.""Busy? In the underworld? What's he doing?" Hamlet clutched his red tunic and tuggeddownward as if to hide his shaking hands."He met a good-lookin' ghostof a female dwarf and he's wooin her.""Dead not a month, and heforsakes his wife, my mother?"You gotta understand. Life on this side — no pun intended — ispretty borin'. When you gotta a chanceto do somethin' interestin', you gotta go with it."Hamlet ran a hand over hisface. Why me? he thought. "What's the message?""His death was noaccident. It was murder most foul. Here is his exact message. 'But know, thou noble youth, the serpent thatdid sting thy Father's life, now wears his crown.’” The ghost paused then added, "Did yourfather always talk funny like that?""Murdered? By whom?""Didn't you listen? The message tells you who whacked him. Yourfather wants you to send this guy over here so he can talk to him. He doesn't wanna wait until the guy croaksfrom natural causes."Hamlet watched in awe as theghostly figure evaporated. A few secondslater, it popped back into sight. "Oh, I forgot to tell you. Yourfather says, 'Thy mother the queen is to know naught of this nocturnalvisit.’" The ghost disappeared.His father's murder shockedhim. And the murderer had married hismother immediately afterward. Did theworld have no morals?He recalled his first thoughtswhen he'd heard of his father's death. How he admired the perseverance and tenacity his father must have had tocommit suicide by suffocating himself with a pillow. Now all that admiration was wasted; the olddwarf had had help.What to do? He needed to make decisions about bee farmingand now he had to avenge his father. Wasthere no end to the demands on a prince's time? He said to the stars, "To bee-keep or to avenge? That is the question."
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