Brush up your Shakespeare, cousin, because there was more to Yorick than being Hamlet’s graveyard chum. When he was above ground, Yorick got wise to what was rotten in Denmark – and knowing the skinny was how the court jester ended up a bloody “not to be.” With various witches, shrews, hunchbacks, kings, queens and knaves making their entrances and exits, this fun tale told by an idiot is hard-boiled Bard skullduggery, spilling the dirt on the Danes and dolls from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Targeted Age Group:: Readers of mystery, humor and mashups
How is Writing In Your Genre Different from Others?
When writing parodies & mashups, you have to take what’s familiar with the trappings of each genera & work hard to make them fit. With Alas, Pulp Yorick, I had to make sure I kept the Shakespeare reference very familiar – too many in jokes and only English Majors would buy it.
What Advice Would You Give Aspiring Writers?
Write every day and write what you would want to read. Don’t try to follow the market and write the next idea of the month. That will have passed by the time you are done and you will have taken time away from writing the book you were meant to write.
Author Bio:
Ken Harmon is an advertising copywriter who has authored everything from headlines to brochures to on-hold messages (yes, he’s the one). He studied English at Lenoir-Rhyne College and spent his early years in front of old movies where tough guys and smoldering dames dished a blue-plate-special of banter with a side of innuendo. Since that kind of talk was frowned upon in corporate meetings, with other parents at t-ball, and especially at the DMV, Harmon decided to create worlds where wry heroes liked their rye, redheads and rubbing out rubes. The result is two detective parodies – The Fat Man – A Tale of North Pole Noir & Alas, Pulp Yorick – the Jester’s Hat Always Ringeth Twice.
I loved watching the old, black & white detective movies, then later reading the pulps & novels they were based on. Projecting that language, character types, & attitudes to different genres always interested in me, & studying Hamlet over the years, I began to wonder – what if someone bumped off Yorick? Did the old jester know something? Did he know what Gertrude was up to? Maybe something was rotten in Denmark long before the melancholy Dane started to go daffy.
Website(s)
Author Home Page Link
Link To Buy Alas, Pulp Yorick – The Jester’s Hat Always Ringeth Twice On Amazon
Social Media:
https://twitter.com/HarmonKen
