"CHORUS:
As our scene to space, so deep and dark,
O’er your imagination we’ll hold sway.
For neither players nor the stage can mark
The great and mighty scene they must portray.
We ask you, let your keen mind’s eye be chief –
Think when we talk of starships, there they be."

 

"LUKE:
Friends, rebels, starfighters, lend me your ears
Wish not we had a single fighter more,
If we are mark’d to die, we are enough
To make our planets proud. But should we win,
We fewer rebels share the greater fame.
We have all sacrific’d unto this cause.
[...]
For with the Force and bravery we win.
O! Great shall be the triumph of that hour
When Empire haughty, vast and powerful
Is fell’d by simple hands of rebels base,
Is shown the might of our good company!
And citizens in Bespin now abed,
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here.
For never shall rebellion see a time
More glori’us then our strong attack today!"

Well, of course Doescher channels the Bard's great speeches, but this is not just parody (of either Shakespeare or Star Wars); it's a cleverly-executed synthesis, transposing the complete screenplay(s) into Shakespearean iambic pentameter -- and somehow managing to remain faithful to both.

I am glad that I opted for the audio version, though: Just as Shakespeare's plays are best experienced in performance (and, well, George Lukas wrote movie scripts, not novels), Doescher's synthesis of the two really comes to life when performed.  And I have to give huge kudos to the actors who, while they are clearly having more fun than should be permitted, take the work seriously and give it their full attention, all the way from R2-D2's "beep, squeak, squeeeaak"s (Death of Rats, anyone?) and Han Solo's "hey, I'm just here for the money" attitude to the weightier interactions between Obi-Wan, Luke, Leia, and Darth Vader.  (Interestingly, the total length of Doescher's text also falls squarely within the average range of that of a Shakespearean play.)   I'm not one of those who can do Star Wars marathons, nor will I typically watch more than one play by the Bard at a time, so I don't see myself bingeing on Doescher's syntheses of the two sources. But I'm glad there is more than one of these -- they just may turn out to be the things to turn to when my life needs a bit of brightening up.

Well, at least I didn't DNF my last 2 reads (but then, at least with the Christie I didn't expect that to happen anyway).  Still, since I collared another double, let's play it safe (again) in this round ...

by William Hope Hodson

This is an old sea story with the tone of the nineteenth century style of relating such tales. It tells of a ship reported to be haunted and the protagonist's experience of seeing shades on deck that seems to prove the tales are true.

Nineteeth century writers often put in a lot of detail and the story can drag a bit, but at the same time it's an interesting ghost story and the sort of thing that has a lot of atmosphere. Fans of traditional ghost stories won't be disappointed!

The story is relatively short, under 200 pages, and plenty happens to keep the reader interested despite the apparently slow pace. The characters are especially well defined and readers should not miss the Appendix at the back!

Nope.  Even if we ever get to the scary part I probably wouldn't notice.  I swear he was paid by the word.  

How many different ways did he think he repeatedly needed to say/describe/explain the same thing over and over and over.  Pages apparently.  

YES!  We know you love her.  

YES!  We get it! You're strong and vain over it.

YES!  We get that your are seeing the dream from 2 different perspectives at the same time. Current and future even though in the future you are younger.  At least that's how it appears.

Your readers aren't as stupid as you seem to think they are.

Next!

Friends, rebels, starfighters, lend me your ears. ~Luke Skywalker, Act V, Scene 4

My friends, I have made a tactical error. I should have read these books in the order in which they were written (4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3) instead of chronological order. If I had, I probably wouldn’t have noticed the huge difference in quality between Part the Third and Verily, A New Hope. It was rather jarring, like descending a staircase and not realizing I had one step still left to go instead of level ground. It’s a bit clumsy in comparison to the prequel novels, with more noticeable errors and an over-reliance on the Chorus. It’s still rollicking good fun, but I feel like Doescher and Quirk Books hadn’t quite hit their stride when this was produced.

Learn from my folly! 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3. And then 7, which I think is out now. And eventually 8 and 9. And possibly 10, 11, and 12, but now we're getting way ahead of ourselves.