At Nerdist, we believe that Pride Month extends beyond just the 30 days of June. We also believe that, wherever possible, any and every piece of media should become more queer. And that’s why we’re especially excited to share this special cover reveal of Thoughts Be Bloody, a queer, trans retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet by Auden Patrick, with fan-favorite Horatio at its center this time. Of course, on top of all the queer and Shakespearean goodness, we have to mention there’s also dark academia, magic school, and deep yearning to look forward to in this book. We literally cannot wait. And if you can’t either, we also have an exclusive excerpt below to welcome all of you into the gothic and haunted halls of Elsinore, where there’s fantasy, murder, and bone-rattling love.
(Spoiler alert, it’s Horatio/Hamlet. Yes, all your English class fanfic dreams ARE coming true.)
Thoughts Be Bloody Exclusive Cover Reveal
If the words trans Hamlet retelling, or (more overtly) queer Shakespeare book, were not enough to get you excited, our exclusive cover reveal for this tome sure should be. It was love at first sight when we first laid eyes on Thoughts Be Bloody‘s poetic, dark, and absolutely stunning cover. Forgetting everything else, we want to own this book just so we can display it as an art piece on our shelves. A big round of applause to artist Aykut Aydogdu and cover director Jenna Stempel-Lobell. We know there are many gimmicks in book releases these days, gilded edges, 3D printing, it does go on, but the gorgeous grace of Thoughts Be Bloody‘s cover does it all effortlessly.
This Thoughts Be Bloody cover also gives us queer Hamlet energy in spades, hinting at the haunted nature of the tale, the blood to be spilled, and the fragility of life, love, and sanity. Of course, Shakespeare adored some good bird imagery, and we’re excited to see that fluttering to life here. Also, Horatio is, dare we say it, okay, we’ll say it, hot on this Thoughts Be Bloody cover. And we know we’ll be keeping this cover image with us as we read. (Leak the Hamlet visuals!)
Thoughts Be Bloody Exclusive Prologue Excerpt
Speaking of reading… Who is ready for a taste of this dark academia debut by Auden Patrick? The book is described by the publisher as a “queer and trans retelling of Hamlet at magic school that will capture the hearts of every theater kid and leave readers looking apprehensively over their shoulders for hungry ghosts following in their wake.” Then, of course, there’s the yearning, as we meet practical Horatio Bithersea and golden boy Carson Hamlett during their years at the magic school known as Elsinore. And who doesn’t love a magic school meet-cute, with a side of murder? We’ll let you decide for yourself in this excerpt from Thoughts Be Bloody, which is actually its prologue:
Prologue
I wasn’t the first to find the body, but I was the first to find Carson Hamlett.
Elsinore’s campus can house a thousand students, but only two hundred attended when I started, and even less stayed over break. The summer between my first and second year simmered, but I couldn’t go home—those of us who lived a normal, humdrum life before coming to the university were the only people allowed to stay, us and the professors with their families in their little cottages down the road from my dorm. I liked to get up early, those days, and wander the empty campus. Seeing it for the first time without those hundreds of students unnerved me. I could probably have spent my summer there alone, without running into or seeing another soul, if I didn’t go to the kitchens for lunches. I liked to walk the stacks of the library and was on my way to find something new to read when I heard it—a wail, ragged, high and piercing.
Then I saw the bloody handprints on the doors. They creaked when I pushed them open, heavier than the pit of dread that formed in my stomach.
Blood stained the hardwood floor—too much blood—it made the bottoms of my shoes wet and slick as I ventured inside, my feet carrying me forward without my consent. I followed the trail of blood to the center of the library, where Carson Hamlett knelt, cradling the body, which I would later learn had already gone cold and stiff.
I must refer to it as the body. If I do not refer to it as the body, I must acknowledge it was once more than a body, a man with hopes and dreams and a world of emotion—and a son.
There is still a stain there. You remember it. Carson Hamlett held the body to his chest.
He wept like someone had ripped his very heart out. He wept, his hands an inky red as he pressed his fingers to the body’s face, begging him to come back, begging me to do something. I couldn’t do anything. No one could, not that late. I found myself just as stiff and frozen as the body.
I must refer to it as the body; to acknowledge it was once something else, something human, would be to acknowledge that, for Hamlett’s father, this was an end, when for me it was only a beginning.
Hamlett, my soon-to-be-roommate, held the body and screamed with all the air in his lungs.
I remained frozen until a medic from the infirmary pushed me out of the way, and everything rocketed into action. The world tilted on its axis and I realized one thing: Hamlett was no longer perfect. Hamlett was missing a piece. Hamlett was—just a little bit—more like me.
Something had been taken from him, making him less godlike. Now he was mortal, like the rest of us.
Grief is a funny thing. You think you know it until you’re met with it. I thought I knew grief then. Whatever I felt then, it is nothing to what I feel now. I thought it was pain, I thought it was a dagger in your chest, something short and sharp that would hurt hot and fast, but would pass. Now I know grief is an ocean. You breathe it in, it fills your lungs, it drags you down. You can kick and struggle and you might get a breath of air but the grief, the ocean, it will overwhelm you. Eventually, you won’t know which way is up anymore. You’ll find yourself swimming deeper, thinking you’re fighting it when you’re just going further down. The weight of it, all that water, all that pain, will eventually crush you unless you learn to breathe underwater. After his father’s death, Hamlett was drowning for a long, long time.
Forgive me, everything that comes before is a blur. Or is it everything that comes after? Whatever comes next, it’s all a mess. I can’t untangle it, I am trying. I am trying to lay out the events exactly as they happened, so you will remember.
Understand? Please listen. It starts like this:
Gothic? Check. Haunted? Check. Our bones rattling? Check. The beginnings of a good love affair? Check and check. Yep, Thoughts Be Bloody has it all, including our breath, because we certainly feel breathless after reading that prologue. In just a few paragraphs, the story has totally immersed us in its world. We have a feel for the energy of the school, a taste for the aching eeriness of the story, and just a glimpse of Hamlett and Horatio’s relationship. The story has us, in a word, hooked.
We especially feel taken with the gorgeous prose and resonating imagery of this section of Thoughts Be Bloody’s prologue. “Now I know grief is an ocean. You breathe it in, it fills your lungs, it drags you down. You can kick and struggle, and you might get a breath of air, but the grief, the ocean, it will overwhelm you. Eventually, you won’t know which way is up anymore. You’ll find yourself swimming deeper, thinking you’re fighting it when you’re just going further down. The weight of it, all that water, all that pain, will eventually crush you unless you learn to breathe underwater. After his father’s death, Hamlett was drowning for a long, long time.” Can Horatio be Hamlett’s life jacket? We hope so.
To read or to read? That is the question.
Thoughts Be Bloody‘s Full Synopsis, Release Date, and Pre-Order Information
Now that you have a vision of Thoughts Be Bloody through its book cover and you’ve gotten to peer into its world with its prologue, here’s everything else you need to know about this Hamlet retelling. Thoughts Be Bloody will release on March 24, 2026. It is available for pre-order now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and more.
You can read Thoughts Be Bloody‘s full synopsis below:
The summer before his sophomore year, Horatio Bithersea walks into the university library to find Carson Hamlett, resident golden boy and master magician, cradling his father’s dead body. Life at Elsinore, one of the most prestigious universities in the secretive magical world, simply goes on when the professor’s death is ruled an accident—despite the mysterious circumstances and the bloody scene.
A year later, Horatio is keeping his head down, attempting to graduate without his out-of-control magic harming his classmates. That changes when the ghost of Hamlett’s father appears and places a curse on Horatio and Hamlett: avenge his death by destroying Elsinore and its heart, lest the ghost robs them of their minds, memories, and their very souls.
Elsinore has given Horatio everything—knowledge of his magical ability, an escape from his abusive family, and freedom to pursue his life as a transgender man—and now he’s to be its doom. As the two uncover more of Elsinore’s secrets Horatio finds himself becoming more and more ensnared in Hamlett’s dark but charismatic web.
The question is not if Horatio will manage to destroy Elsinore. The question is if Hamlett will destroy him first.
Magic school, queer Hamlet—here we come!