By Any Other Name

Chapter One CHAPTER ONE
JUST SOUTH OF the river Thames is a theater called the Rose.

The name is misleading, for a persistent fog of London's foulest stenches perfumes the stage. Should a man find himself there alone, he's like to be relieved of his purse at best or have a knife slipped betwixt his ribs at worst. 'Tis a question of when, and not if, a carelessly lit pipe poofs the building into a pile of ashes. Then the good people of London would cheer to see it dashed from the earth because the Rose Theatre is beyond a doubt one of the most disreputable places in all of Queen Elizabeth's England.

But I love the piss-sodden place because it pays me to do the thing I do best: pretending to be someone I'm not.

The Rose is where I am, on an April afternoon, a crowd thickening before the stage like milk before it spoils. Today we are performing The Tragedy of Dido, Queen of Carthage. We've reached the part where Queen Dido laments the loss of her lover, and it's supposed to be very tragic. Usually I can muster up a few tears from the crowd for this bit. But today the tears shall not come-no, instead the audience is laughing at me.

"I'll frame me wings of wax like Icarus, / And o'er his ships will soar unto the Sun, / That they may melt and I fall in his arms..." My voice cracks, and titters ring out in the first rows of the audience. A drop of sweat-heavy with the white lead paint plastered on my brow-rolls into my eye and stings something fierce.

"Aye, she's got the stones for the part all right!" someone crows.

The laughter swells like an ugly pimple. A sprinkle of roasted hazelnuts bounces off my skirts. I swallow and tug down the bodice of the dress, revealing a tuft of the itchy hay that serves as my tits. A woman in the front row points and whispers to her friend, both laughing.

I turn away from them. Good God, keep it together, man! One wrong step on the rain-slick boards and I'll be on my arse and truly give the crowd something to

Erin Cotter writes young adult fiction. Originally from Buffalo, New York, she currently calls Austin home. When not writing, she spends time with her partner and pets, eating tacos, and searching for Golden-cheeked Warblers in the Texas Hill Country.

"By Any Other Name is a high-stakes, high-drama mystery set in a vividly rendered Shakespearean London. Erin Cotter takes readers on a journey from the slums to the theaters to the palaces of Elizabethan England, led by a plucky, determined hero I would have followed anywhere. I devoured this romantic, delightful romp!" Mackenzie Lee, New York Times bestselling author of A Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue