Grand Prize Winner of the 17th Annual Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Awards

 Marlowe's Ghost

"Bronze Medallist, Best Regional Non-fiction, Canada (East)" 2008 Independent Publisher Book Awards

"A worthy take on the fascinating debate over Shakespeare’s true identity." Kirkus Discoveries Review

"Marlowe’s Ghost is not the first to make these claims, but it makes a strong case." Foreword, Clarion Review

"A fascinating blend of solid writing and meticulously constructed arguments."  Zach Petit, Managing Editor, Writer's Digest 

"Pinksen's book is a dangerous dose of delight." Mike Rubbo, Director, Much Ado About Something (2002) 

"A highly readable story, full of interesting unusual insights." Roger Hards, Editor, The Marlowe Society Newsletter

Excerpt: "On the morning of May 30, 1593, Christopher Marlowe met with three associates in the English intelligence network. Days earlier, a list of charges against him that included heresy, blasphemy and treason had been delivered to the Privy Council. Later that evening, the Queen's Coroner was summoned to their meeting place. A body lay on the floor. After an inquest, the dead man was taken to a nearby churchyard busy at the time receiving victims of the plague. According to the official report, England's foremost playwright was interred without fanfare or marker.

Soon, plays attributed to William Shakespeare began to appear on the London stage, plays so undeniably similar to Marlowe's that noted scholars have since declared that Shakespeare wrote as if he had been Marlowe's apprentice.

Marlowe's Ghost explores the possibility that persecution of a writer who dared to question authority may have led to the greatest literary cover-up of all time." 

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Marlowe's Ghost has been chosen as the Grand Prize Winner of the 17th Annual Writer's Digest International Self-Published Book Awards, beating out over 2000 other entries. A feature article will appear in the March/April 2010 print edition of Writer's Digest, with a longer article featured online.

THE GRAND PRIZE WINNER will be awarded $3,000 cash and promotion in Writer's Digest and Publishers Weekly. The editors of Writer'sDigest will endorse and submit 10 copies of the Grand Prize-Winning book to major review houses such as The New York Times and The Washington Post. In addition, Book Marketing Works, LLC will provide a one-year membership in Publishers Marketing Association, guaranteed acceptance in a special-sales catalog providing national representation through 5000 salespeople selling to non-bookstore markets, guaranteed acceptance by Atlas Books (a top distributor to wholesalers, chains, independents and online retailers) and six hours of book shepherding from Poynter Book Shepherd Ellen Reid.

 

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Was Robert Greene’s “upstart Crow” the actor Edward Alleyn?

By DARYL PINKSEN

“The first mention of William Shakespeare as a writer occurred in 1592 when Robert Greene singled him out as an actor-turned-playwright who had grown too big for his britches.”

Such is the claim made by all Shakespeare biographers. However, a closer look at the evidence reveals what appears to be an unfortunate case of mistaken identity.

(Read the full article here . . .)

MONDAY, AUGUST 17, 2009

Who Wrote Venus and Adonis, and Why?

By DARYL PINKSEN

There has always been some mystery surrounding the writing of Venus and Adonis. Why was it written? What was the poet's connection to the Earl of Southampton? Did Shakespeare really write it?

(Read the full article here . . . )

TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2009

Philip Yordan: A Modern-Day Shakespeare?

By DARYL PINKSEN

In Marlowe’s Ghost, I argue that Shakespeare, as a shareholder in the theatre company that performed the plays attributed to him, used his position to act as a front for Christopher Marlowe, a writer I speculate had fled from prosecution and was in hiding.

(Read the full article here . . . )

Read more articles at

The International Marlowe-Shakespeare Society