Looking For a Good Book

It is so far into the future that humanity is extinct. Evidence of humanity, however, still exists – primarily through the machines that continue to operate and have developed a complex form of intelligence. The machines have been able to create – or rather ‘re’create – civilizations based on information it/they have managed to gather. It is the surprising discovery of the works of William Shakespeare that has shed new light on ancient humanity.

In an effort to learn more about humans, the machines understand that the best way to make sense of Shakespeare’s works is to stage the plays through a simulation that is indistinguishable from reality. Entering into the plays is J-9 – a machine construct that is human-like. J-9 prefers to be identified by the more human-like name: Janine.

Along with a mechanical owl, Janine observes the play from inside the performances, commenting on the events and the behavior of the different characters. Based on Janine’s experiences and impressions of humanity (as presented by William Shakespeare, the machine-run civilization will determine whether humankind was worth saving

Wow. This was so very different and quite incredible. Of course 85-90% of it was written by Shakespeare.

(Co) author Ted Neill  gives us this book mostly in script format. For some readers this might prove to be an obstacle, but anyone picking up a book titled Othello should probably come to expect a script. Unlike Shakespeare’s original works, this script offers up plenty of stage directions in addition to the dialog. (Is there a percentage of the book that needs to be unique in order for someone to be considered a new author on the work? If so, that might explain the stage directions.) There is also new dialog from both Janine and the mechanical owl with Janine commenting on the action. It felt a bit like having Spark Notes or Cliffs Notes right on stage.

I’ve heard, many times (I used to work with a Shakespeare festival), that no one wrote about what it means to be human better than Shakespeare, and here, through Neill’s sci-fi concept, that idea is put to the test.

This is really clever and well thought through. I’d love to see this staged (it might be challenging) and I can’t help but wonder if anyone’s tried it yet.

Fans of Shakespeare and fans of sci-fi really need to give this a read. I’m most definitely planning to read the first volume in the series and I hope there’ll be more.

Looking for a good book? Ted Neill’s sci-fi adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello is a remarkable must-read.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

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Othello

author: Ted Neill and William Shakespeare

series: Post Apocalyptic Space Shakespeare #2 

publisher:  Tenebray Press

ISBN: 9798288989223 

paperback, 255 pages