ORIGINAL TRADE PAPERBACK – URBAN FANTASY. Sequel to Draw One in the Dark and The Gentleman Takes a Chance.Sequel to Draw One in the Dark and The Gentleman Takes a Chance—a new entry in Sarah A. Hoyt’s celebrated Shifter contemporary fantasy series!For years, Rafiel Trall, one of Goldport's finest, has been walking the fine line between enforcing human law and protecting the shifters who come his way.  A lion shifter himself, he's found this duty onerous.  Lately it's been lightened by his friendship with Tom Ormson, a dragon shifter, and Kyrie Smith, a panther shifter.  This should make it easier for him to find a solution for the crimes of a feral shifter—but not when an as yet unnamed entity takes out the Great Sky Dragon, the head of all dragon shifters.  With his power devolving on Tom Ormson just as Kyrie finds that a mysterious ailment prevents her from shifting, Rafiel must rely only on himself, a seductive dragon girl and an even more seductive and unreliable old shifter to solve the crimes, maintain shifters hidden and keep his best friend in the world from becoming a dragon of unimaginable mass destruction.About the Sarah A. Hoyt: “[Three Musketeers creator] Alexander Dumas would give [Sarah A. Hoyt] a thumbs up.” —Steve Forbes “[F]anciful and charming.” —Library Journal"First-rate space opera with a moral lesson. You won't be disappointed."—Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit.com“[A] tour de force: logical, built from assumptions with no contradictions . . . gripping.” —Jerry Pournelle“Exceptional, wonderful and enormously entertaining.” —Booklist

About the Author

Sarah A. Hoyt is the author of a dozen novels in various genres, including the Darkship science fiction adventure series and the Shifter saga including previous entries Draw One in the Dark, and The Gentleman Takes a Chance, as well as her acclaimed Shakespearean fantasy series, which started with the Mythopoeic award finalist, Ill Met by Moonlight. An avid history buff and longtime reader of sci-fi, fantasy, and mysteries, Hoyt has published over three dozen short stories in esteemed magazines such as Asimov's, Analog, Amazing, and Weird Tales, as well as several anthologies. She lives in Colorado with her husband, two teen boys and a pride of cats.

From Publishers Weekly

The final book in Hoyt's magical fantasy trilogy about William Shakespeare and the land of Faerie (after Ill Met By Moonlight and All Night Awake) brings the series to a theatrically satisfying close. Will knows in his heart that he could never have become the most successful playwright of his time without the influence of his dealings with the Elven King Quicksilver and his unwilling involvement in Fairyland intrigue. Haunted by his friend Kit Marlowe's premature death, Will is also (literally) haunted by Marlowe's ghost-who urges him to return to Fairy to aid Quicksilver, who has dispatched the usurper Vargmar, only to rouse the enmity of Vargmar's son, Proteus. With the unwitting aid of his innocent lover, Miranda (served by the brutish but faithful troll Caliban, of course), Proteus kidnaps Will's young son Hamnet, and Will has no choice but to return to Fairyland, to the very heart of its magic, to set things right. With its tangled plot loosely based on The Tempest, Hoyt masterfully builds a dramatic story of misplaced loyalties, dark ambition and human desperation and love. Readers new to the series will have no trouble getting swept up in the story. Written with a sharp ear for the rich lyricism and mood of Shakespeare, Hoyt's novel is a literate, entertaining fantasy in which all's well that ends well.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-This enchanting and canny concluding volume in Hoyt's Shakespeare trilogy opens with a prologue in which the mysterious Hunter is introduced and the scene is set; indeed all of the chapters are called Scenes. The story begins three years after Marlowe sacrifices himself in the fairy kingdom, saving his son, the world, and his own soul. Now trapped between heaven and hell, he haunts Shakespeare, who has been brought to despair by the idea that he is merely a conduit for Marlowe's words. Meanwhile, in Fairyland, King Quicksilver has won the rebel war and beheaded the traitor Vargmar. But Vargmar's son, Proteus, is devising a plot to get revenge, and TheTempest is the inspiration for the rest of the novel. When Will's son is kidnapped by Proteus, he must return to the Arden Forest to save Hamnet. Hoyt's language is so evocative and lyrical that readers are instantly involved with the characters and story. While purists may cringe at the way the Bard's language is bandied about, the references are expertly done and only serve as subtext for a highly original and imaginative fantasy. Ill Met by Moonlight (2001) and All Night Awake (2002, both Ace) relate how Shakespeare and Marlowe originally came to Fairyland; this book can stand alone. With fantasy and historical fiction becoming increasingly popular with teens, this "historical fantasy" trilogy is sure to become an instant classic._-Jane Halsall, McHenry Public Library District, IL_
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

ORIGINAL TRADE PAPERBACK – URBAN FANTASY. Sequel to Draw One in the Dark and The Gentleman Takes a Chance.Sequel to Draw One in the Dark and The Gentleman Takes a Chance—a new entry in Sarah A. Hoyt’s celebrated Shifter contemporary fantasy series!For years, Rafiel Trall, one of Goldport's finest, has been walking the fine line between enforcing human law and protecting the shifters who come his way.  A lion shifter himself, he's found this duty onerous.  Lately it's been lightened by his friendship with Tom Ormson, a dragon shifter, and Kyrie Smith, a panther shifter.  This should make it easier for him to find a solution for the crimes of a feral shifter—but not when an as yet unnamed entity takes out the Great Sky Dragon, the head of all dragon shifters.  With his power devolving on Tom Ormson just as Kyrie finds that a mysterious ailment prevents her from shifting, Rafiel must rely only on himself, a seductive dragon girl and an even more seductive and unreliable old shifter to solve the crimes, maintain shifters hidden and keep his best friend in the world from becoming a dragon of unimaginable mass destruction.About the Sarah A. Hoyt: “[Three Musketeers creator] Alexander Dumas would give [Sarah A. Hoyt] a thumbs up.” —Steve Forbes “[F]anciful and charming.” —Library Journal"First-rate space opera with a moral lesson. You won't be disappointed."—Glenn Reynolds, Instapundit.com“[A] tour de force: logical, built from assumptions with no contradictions . . . gripping.” —Jerry Pournelle“Exceptional, wonderful and enormously entertaining.” —Booklist

About the Author

Sarah A. Hoyt is the author of a dozen novels in various genres, including the Darkship science fiction adventure series and the Shifter saga including previous entries Draw One in the Dark, and The Gentleman Takes a Chance, as well as her acclaimed Shakespearean fantasy series, which started with the Mythopoeic award finalist, Ill Met by Moonlight. An avid history buff and longtime reader of sci-fi, fantasy, and mysteries, Hoyt has published over three dozen short stories in esteemed magazines such as Asimov's, Analog, Amazing, and Weird Tales, as well as several anthologies. She lives in Colorado with her husband, two teen boys and a pride of cats.

Amazon.com Review

The adventures of the Elizabethan teacher and poet Will Shakespeare continue in All Night Awake, the sequel to Sarah A. Hoyt's debut novel, Ill Met by Moonlight. Seeking his fortune, young Will has come to London, but his only fate looks to be death, by either starvation or plague. All hope seems lost--then Will meets Kit Marlowe, the most acclaimed playwright of the age. Marlowe offers to help Will find work on the stage, and Will accepts, never dreaming that Marlowe is a treacherous tool of Queen Elizabeth's secret agents. Will believes his fortune has turned--until his Dark Lady, Silver, the ruler of Elvenland, finds him. Believing she seeks only to seduce him away from his wife, Will sends Lady Silver away. He refuses to believe her story that the plague afflicting London is caused by her villainous brother. But Silver speaks the truth. Her brother, the ex-king of Elvenland, seeks vengeance on those who overthrew him: the Lady Silver and her ex-lover, the mortal Will Shakespeare.Like its prequel, All Night Awake is a suspenseful and entertaining fantasy. However, you probably shouldn't read this series if you don't like the idea of Shakespeare as a character in fiction, or if you don't want to see any fantastic explanations of Shakespeare's staggering talent. --Cynthia Ward

From Publishers Weekly

In this ingenious but plodding historical fantasy, a sequel to Ill Met by Moonlight (2001), in which a young William Shakespeare had to cope with the supernatural, Will has failed to make any mark as a poet, until he is taken up by flamboyantly successful wordsmith Christopher Marlowe. Regrettably, Marlowe is also a frightened secret agent who is desperate enough to save his own neck by implicating naive Will in a fake plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth. In Fairyland, meanwhile, the spirit of the murderous elf Sylvanus, having escaped captivity, heads for London with a plan to reshape reality under his eternal rule. The elf king, Quicksilver ("Silver" when in his female aspect), also races to London, where he tries to get the help of his/her former lovers, Will and Kit, in averting magical disaster-if the parties involved can trust or even listen to each other. A fine plot, however, suffers from flaws in execution. For one thing, the supernatural machinery is unfamiliar enough to require intrusive explanations that seem improvised for the author's convenience. For another, bland presentation undercuts the supposedly dramatic events. In particular, the frequent Shakespearean quotations, spoken here by Marlowe, make an unfortunate contrast with Hoyt's own serviceable but earthbound prose. Writing about both Shakespeare and the supernatural, as Neil Gaiman does so well in his Sandman saga, requires a bit more magic. Fans of the first book, though, won't be disappointed.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Amazon.com Review

It takes a lot of guts to write a novel about William Shakespeare, and Sarah A. Hoyt has what it takes. The deed inherently invites comparison, and of course Ill Met by Moonlight falls short of the work of the greatest writer in the English language. However, the prose is solid; the story lines are involving, tough-minded, and sexually charged; the characters are interesting and sympathetic; and echoes of Shakespeare's work ring through the novel. If you like good fantastic fiction, you will enjoy Hoyt's debut novel. If the idea of turning Shakespeare into a character in a book bothers you, or if you don't like fictional explanations of where a real person got his inspiration or ideas, then steer clear.Young schoolteacher Will Shakespeare, struggling to support his new wife and baby daughter, is not entirely surprised to come home and discover they are missing. Believing his wife has returned to her family, he ventures into Arden Forest, heading for her village--and beholds a fine palace where no dwelling should be, with dancing lords and ladies of unearthly beauty, and his own dear wife dancing with them. He believes he is dreaming, until an impossibly beautiful young noblewoman steps forth to converse with him--and kiss him. The Dark Lady will help Will rescue his captive wife and child--if he will aid her in a soul-damning plot to kill the fairy king. --Cynthia Ward

From Publishers Weekly

"To be or not to be?" This is a conundrum posed not by the immortal Bard of Avon but, in newcomer Hoyt's quirky novel, by Quicksilver, heir proper to the Elven Realms Above the Air and Beneath the Hills of Avalon. William Shakespeare, who has yet to begin his career as a playwright, suffers a terrible personal blow when Sylvanus, evil king of the Elven realm, kidnaps his new wife, Nan, and their baby, Susannah. The young Shakespeare vows to get them back, but just how he'll go about it he doesn't know. Enter Quicksilver, the elf who was tricked out of his inheritance by his brother, Sylvanus. In the form of the Dark Lady (Shakespeare's supposed muse), Quicksilver allies himself with Shakespeare to bring about the downfall of Sylvanus and return Nan and Susannah to Will. Much treachery, romance and elvish behavior follow. Hoyt's Will Shakespeare makes an engaging main character, and the book generally romps along as a straightforward fantasy. Numerous references to the plays and a number of direct quotations mixed in with the text add to the fun. In her epilogue, the author discusses her sources and makes a plausible case, given the meager evidence, for assuming that the playwright was happily married. This is a literate first novel with the promise of good things to come. (Oct. 9)Forecast: The Pre-Raphaelite blonde on the jacket scarcely fits the image of the Dark Lady, but she does serve to signal that this is a quality item with crossover appeal to Shakespeare fans.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.