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A 16th-century Divinity student at Wittenberg University, Horatio prides himself on his ability to argue both sides of any debate--but does not fully believe in anything. Then he meets the beautiful, provocative, and quite possibly mad Prince of Denmark, who teaches him more about both earth and Heaven than any of his philosophy books.

But his patroness, the dark and manipulative Lady Adriane, employs her own seductive wiles to test whether the "platonic true-love" described in Horatio's poetry is truly so platonic--or so true. And when a mysterious rival poet calling himself "Will Shakespeare" begins to court both Prince Hamlet and his dark lady, Horatio is forced to choose between his skepticism and his love.

Laced with quotes, wordplay, thespian in-jokes, bed-tricks, cross-dressing, and a steamy bisexual love-triangle inspired by Shakespeare's own sonnets, this witty, sexy new novel will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about the Bard.
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Trailer Credits
Design: Myrlin A. Hermes
Music: Kevin MacLeod

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critical praise for

The Lunatic, the Lover, and the Poet


"This witty, erudite, and decidedly sexy novel stands all of the usual questions about Shakespeare on end.[...] Combining famous lines of dialogue and plot from several plays, Hermes manages to create both a moving story that stands on its own, and a giant in-joke for Shakespeare lovers."
-- Booklist

"Hermes' counterversion of the 'true' tale of Elsinore is based on a deep and perceptive reading of the conflicts and mysteries inside the play. [...] Hermes writes with insight and understanding about the passion of a man for another man, and of the difference between physical and emotional satisfaction. [...] She's imagined, most entertainingly, how such an astonishing artist might have come to be."
 -- Bob Hicks, The Oregonian

"Myrlin Hermes delivers the kind of wit, creativity, and verbal eloquence which is rarely seen in contemporary novels in The Lunatic, the Lover, and the Poet. This remarkable book can be enjoyed by just about anybody who likes the English language and a good story; however, it is so rife with Shakespearean in-jokes and puns that advance knowledge of Shakespeare's plays makes the experience of reading all the more enjoyable. [...]

Hermes blends history with fiction and makes nimble use of Shakespeare's characters for her own story with a shameless audacity comparable to Tom Stoppard...Like Shakespeare, the author's love for language and its possibilities shines through on every page. Hermes is truly a master of the bawdy double entendre." --Zachary Stewart, TheaterMania

There's a whole lotta shakin' goin' on in Hermes's innovative take on Shakespeare's Hamlet. A novel most wondrous strange, The Lunatic, the Lover, and the Poet holds up a fun-house mirror to nature with wit and originality. Hilarity, thy name is Myrlin Hermes!"
--Marc Acito, author of How I Paid for College and Attack of the Theater People

"While evoking Hamlet's Wittenberg, Elizabethan London and the interior landscape of Shakespeare's sonnets, The Lunatic, the Lover and the Poet creates its own sexy, intriguing, and singularly literary world. Myrlin Hermes’s unique voice—a hybrid of the Shakespearean with an utterly modern sensibility—deserves the very highest praise: intelligent, witty, and worthy of the Bard himself."
--Tahmima Anam, author of A Golden Age

"A whirlwind tour of an imaginatively deconstructed version of Hamlet which would have delighted the Bard as it is sure to delight his admirers."
--Charles Marowitz, Director/Critic/Playwright


"An audacious mélange of scholarship and imagination, THE LUNATIC, THE LOVER, AND THE POET is a brilliant deconstruction not only of Hamlet, but of the major plays, the sonnets, the identity of “Shakespeare” and what it means to be a writer. With dazzling wit and sly erudition, Hermes works a sea change on familiar lines and iconic scenes, muddling them into a hilarious—and moving—rich and strange new masterpiece."
--Ann Herendeen, author of Phyllida and the Brotherhood of Philander

“A witty, original, and highly intelligent novel: a Shakespeare comedy turned upside down and inside out in a bawdy, bi-sexual world. Quotes from the bard are hidden on every page for the reader to discover. We watch the madcap story as if we sat in the corner of an Elizabethan tavern in 1593, laughing at the fast-paced comedy which, like all comedies, has touches of deep sadness and regret.”
--Stephanie Cowell, author of The Players: a novel of the young
Shakespeare, Nicholas Cooke and Marrying Mozart

"An unusual and refreshing look at the early years of Shakespeare´s tragic hero, as seen through the eyes of a besotted poet. With irreverent wit and a scholar´s eye for detail, Ms. Hermes brews a heady entanglement of unrequited passion, ambition, and genius set in the chaotic brilliance of the Renaissance."
-- C.W. Gortner, author of The Last Queen


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