Shakespearotica: Queering the Bard

Frolicking in gender play and sexual diversity, the nine authors collected in this volume offer a dazzling array of queer erotica and romance. Stories range from comic to tragic and historical to fantastic, taking up textual hints overt and subtle as they engage with the power of lust and love. By Any Other Name introduces the beautiful young Renaissance thespian Anthony, who faces a challenge for the women's roles he covets. Then, The Buttboy of Nicomedes: A Masque in Eight Scenes offers a gay farce built upon an original chorus of gossiping guards who crassly comment on the gay exploits they witness unseen. For Love or Duty explores a complex affection between Iago and the Moor in, while The Ills We Do reveals their wives' secret attractions.

All Pucked Up: A Midsummer Night's Romp shows new ways the four lovers of A Midsummer Night's Dream can be paired and grouped... with the right magical intervention. Next, A Well-Placed Pinch shows three young contemporary women rehearsing and improvising well beyond the script of Twelfth Night . Improvisation is also at the heart of a passionate encounter between two members of an all-gay cast in Much Ado About a Kiss . A meager Romeo proves the perfect fit for an irresistible beast with three backs when he practices swordplay with his Mercutio and Tybalt in A Tight to Remember . Finally, As We Like It: A Romance brings a science fictional future in which we learn how the trans desires of Ross (née Rosalind) can best be filled.

Whether you're a devotee or just Bard-curious, Shakespearotica has something for every lusty reader.