Hank’s previous works include Zaftan Enterprises, Zaftan Miscreants and Tales From Gundarland, a collection of fantasy stories. Readers Favorite awarded the book a medal and EPIC designated it a finalist in its 2011 competition. His Fool’s Gold is a retelling of the ancient Rhinegold myth and Tunnel Vision is a collection of twenty previously published short stories. Build a Better Story is a book of advice for fiction writers.
He has a number of links where
you can follow his work and his occasional rants:
Hank’s Blog:http://hank-quense.com/wp
Strange Worlds website:http://strangeworldsonline.com
Follow him on twitter: http://twitter.com/hanque99
Facebook fan pages: https://www.facebook.com/StrangeWorldsOnline
About
Falstaff’s Big Gamble
This novel is Shakespeare's Worst Nightmare. It takes two of the Bard's most famous plays, Hamlet and Othello, and recasts them in Gundarland. There, Hamlet becomes a dwarf and Othello a dark elf and 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 embezzles money from Othello. After Hamlet becomes king (with help from Falstaff) the rogue becomes the dark nemesis behind throne.
Falstaff’s Big Gamble
Book Excerpt
Hamlet, Crown Prince of Denmarko,
paced the castle battlements late on a clear, cool spring night. He walked with hands clasped behind his back
and head down. He had a thin nose with
brown hair and eyes. His scrawny build
and clean-shaven face gave him the appearance of a starving waif.
He paused, gazed at the
multitudinous stars, sighed and continued his pacing. A breeze brought the smells of the harbor:
salt water and rotting fish guts. At
last, he stopped, thrust one hand to the sky and declaimed, "To bee or not
to bee?" He stroked his chin. "Whether 'tis nobler to buy honey from
the peasant farmer in the market and thus provide him sustenance and income to
support his brood of brats, possibly keeping him from rebelling over high taxes
. . . or to grow my own honey thus, gaining coins to assert my independence
from my noble family and the sordid court?
Hmm."
He paced some more, still
troubled by his vexing question. Nothing
less than his future depended upon the answer.
Because his uncle, and now stepfather, Clodio, had usurped his right to
rule the kingdom, he needed a profession and an income.
"Do you always talk to
yourself?" a voice said from the shadows.
"Who . . . who goes
there?" Hamlet's head snapped from
one side to another while his hand grasped the hilt of his dagger.
"'Tis I, the ghost of your
father. I bring a message for your ears
alone."
Hamlet goggled at the specter who
materialized 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 to
boot."
"Hey, your father is busy
and he asked me to fill in."
"Busy? In the underworld? What's he doing?" Hamlet clutched his red tunic and tugged
downward as if to hide his shaking hands.
"He met a good-lookin' ghost
of a female dwarf and he's wooin her."
"Dead not a month, and he
forsakes his wife, my mother?
"You gotta understand. Life on this side — no pun intended — is
pretty borin'. When you gotta a chance
to do somethin' interestin', you gotta go with it."
Hamlet ran a hand over his
face. Why me? he thought. "What's the message?"
"His death was no
accident. It was murder most foul. Here is his exact message. 'But know, thou noble youth, the serpent that
did sting thy Father's life, now wears his crown.’” The ghost paused then added, "Did your
father always talk funny like that?"
"Murdered? By whom?"
"Didn't you listen? The message tells you who whacked him. Your
father wants you to send this guy over here so he can talk to him. He doesn't wanna wait until the guy croaks
from natural causes."
Hamlet watched in awe as the
ghostly figure evaporated. A few seconds
later, it popped back into sight.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you.
Your father says, 'Thy mother the queen is to know naught of this
nocturnal visit.’" The ghost
disappeared.
His father's murder shocked
him. And the murderer had married his
mother immediately afterward. Did the
world have no morals?
He recalled his first thoughts
when he'd heard of his father's death.
How he admired the perseverance and tenacity his father must have had to
commit suicide by suffocating himself with a pillow. Now all that admiration was wasted; the old
dwarf had had help.
What to do? He needed to make decisions about bee farming
and now he had to avenge his father. Was
there 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."
About The Strange Worlds of Hank Quense
Hank Quense has written about the Strange Worlds
that he has developed as a background to many of the books he has written. One
of these worlds is called Gundarland, a planet inhabited by humans and fantasy
creatures. The second is Zaftan 31B, home world of the alien race known as
Zaftans. The books contain information on culture, races, religion, politics
and other topics. His latest book in this series is Zaftan Enterprises.
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