Authorpreneur Dashboard – Mark Victor Young
Once Were Friends
Literature & Fiction
If you think it’s hard to win back the one that got away, try doing it while you’re taking over her family's company. To save the firm his father built, ambitious CEO Hal Mercer has to initiate a hostile takeover of industry giant D'Arville Industries. Owned by the family of the only woman he's ever loved, Kate certainly isn’t going to stand by and let him destroy her family's empire. If only she’d have dinner with him, he could make her understand his intentions. If Hal fails, it's his family’s company that's doomed, his employees who'll lose their jobs. He can't let that happen, but Hal isn’t used to having everyone counting on him like this. Problem is, it’s becoming less clear which is more important to him—winning the corporate battle of his life or the heart of the woman he loves.
Book Bubbles from Once Were Friends
The Bard meets the Boardroom
The Archbishop of Canterbury is scheming with the Bishop of Ely. Enter the King. Once Were Friends is a scene by scene modernization of Shakespeare’s Henry V, which you probably guessed from all the quotations from that play. I’ve added some new, original scenes, but in essence the whole play is recreated here. First and foremost, I wanted to write a novel that would be an entertaining read even for someone unfamiliar with the source material. At the same time, I felt that understanding the connection of the plot and the characters to the original play would enrich the reader’s experience.
Soliloquies Solved?
“What infinite heart’s ease must kings neglect that private men enjoy!” - Act IV, Scene 1 It’s not easy being King. It was difficult to conceive of a soliloquy in a contemporary context as anything other than a dude talking to himself. The idea of the sympathetic bartender as a sounding board may be a hoary cliché in movies and television, but it felt more dynamic than simply reporting on Hal’s internal monologue would have.
All's fair in love and war...
I was at a friend’s bachelor party years ago, figuring out what paint ball is all about while trying to keep my gun from jamming and not get shot, when I saw a big troop from a local office marching by for a team-building exercise. It seemed weirdly appropriate that they were relying on an inherently war-like activity to better prepare themselves for their inherently ruthless and combative roles in the corporate world. The entire concept of the novel came to me in that instant, right down to the Shakespearean framework and the theme of business as metaphor for war. It is impossible to miss the parallels between the language (“chain of command,” “front lines,” and “rising through the ranks,” etc.), the attitudes and the hierarchies of both war and business, and I had fun with this throughout.
