BURNING SHAKESPEARE

In BURNING SHAKESPEARE, Robert Bliss, business man, hates Shakespeare, hates him so much, in fact, that when the Boston college of which is he is a trustee refuses him to pull the Bard from the curriculum he takes drastic steps; he sells his soul to a devil - Belial - in order to go back in time and remove the plays from history entirely.

This action is countered by an angel named (for reasons too complex to explain but entirely in keeping with a general cluelessness about human affairs) Gladys, who selects three humans united by a tragic accident when they are killed by the same train. One of them who she mistakes for a Shakespeare professor is actually a petty crook, one is a young female student from the college, and the third is a black investment banker. None of them are especially keen on saving Shakespeare from Bliss's demonic clutches, though their attitude shifts somewhat when Gladys convinces them that if they are successful in thwarting the agents of Hell, they'll get their lives back. Our three heroes are thus plunged back into Renaissance London, tasked with hopping from year to year to ensure the survival of each play. Needless to say, the demonic team get wind of this counter action and take steps of their own in making things as difficult as possible for them, and matters get trickier still when it turns out that neither angel nor devil are acting with approval of their superiors. If that wasn't enough, their incursion into the past has apparently triggered a curious domino effect rooted in Shakespeare's own creative genius: one of his characters seems to be growing beyond the confines of his play, stepping into the real world and - since it's Iago - spreading the worst kind of poison and devastation. With their lives on the line and the state of the future in serious jeopardy, everyone involved has to come up with fast and clever strategies while also figuring out what they believe about the place of art in general and Shakespeare in particular. Whether they can do so in time for it to make a difference, is another question entirely. Author AJ Hartley dips into the tradition of Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (think Good Omens meets The Good Place) for this time travelling romp through literature and history which is as smart and reflective as it is suspenseful and funny. A.J. Hartley is the international bestselling author of a dozen novels, including several archaeological thrillers, the Darwen Arkwright children's series, the Will Hawthorne fantasy adventures, novels based on Macbeth and Hamlet, and the Steeplejack series with Tor Teen. He is the Robinson Distinguished Professor of Shakespeare at UNC Charlotte.