I’m sure, by now, you’ve thought, “I’ve read Othello and The Merchant of Venice, and try as I may, I do not remember the part about a fool knobbing a dragon; perhaps I should give them another look.” If you decide to go in that direction, and there are certainly worse ways to spend your time, you may be somewhat disappointed to find that Shakespeare left that part out. The Serpent of Venice was inspired by and draws upon three works of literature: The Cask of Amontillado, a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, and The Merchant of Venice and Othello: The Moor of Venice, by William Shakespeare. Also, there is no little contribution from Shakespeare’s King Lear, which was the inspiration for my previous novel Fool, in which Pocket, Drool, and Jeff first appear. I’ve also quoted or paraphrased lines from about another dozen or so of Shakespeare’s plays; right now I couldn’t tell you from which. Trying to reconcile a story built from so many diverse sources, while also trying to accommodate history, can lead, I’m sure, to some confusion, so I hope I can clear up a few details about history, characters, and attitudes here . . .

HISTORY

As the preface states, The Serpent of Venice is set in a mythical late thirteenth century. This was necessary to continue Pocket’s story, which ends in the same period in Fool, so I set Serpent several hundred years earlier than the source materials. Othello is set during the time when the Venetian Empire is at war with the Ottoman Empire, which was throughout much of the sixteenth century. In the play, Othello is sent to Cyprus to thwart an invasion by the Turks (Ottomans). The Turks took Cyprus from the Venetians in 1570, so I assume that Shakespeare is working in a time contemporary to his own. It’s estimated that Othello was written around 1600–1601. The Merchant of Venice (approximately 1596–1598) is also set in a time contemporary to Shakespeare’s, and one assumes that the conventions and mores of his time would at least resonate with his London audiences. (More about that later.)