Overview

A charming and indispensable tour of two thousand years of the written word, Shady Characters weaves a fascinating trail across the parallel histories of language and typography. Whether investigating the asterisk (*) and dagger (+)--which alternately illuminated and skewered heretical verses of the early Bible--or the at sign (@), which languished in obscurity for centuries until rescued by the Internet, Keith Houston draws on myriad sources to chart the life and times of these enigmatic squiggles, both exotic (�) and everyday (&). From the Library of Alexandria to the halls of Bell Labs, figures as diverse as Charlemagne, Vladimir Nabokov, and George W. Bush cross paths with marks as obscure as the interrobang (?) and as divisive as the dash (--). Ancient Roman graffiti, Venetian trading shorthand, Cold War double agents, and Madison Avenue round out an ever more diverse set of episodes, characters, and artifacts. Ranging across time, typographies, and countries, Shady Characters will delight and entertain all who cherish the unpredictable and surprising in the writing life.

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Keith Houston is the author of Shady Characters and the founder of shadycharacters.co.uk. He lives in London. Elliot Fitzpatrick studied acting at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire before going on to appear in theater in London's West End, at Shakespeare's Globe, and with the Rose Theatre Kingston, as well as in international tours across Asia. As an audiobook narrator he has read over fifty titles, including books by Bear Grylls and mountain-climber Nims Purja, and in 2021 was nominated for an Audie for his work on the mystery thriller The Midnight Man by Caroline Mitchell. His voice can be heard in the video games Kings Bounty II and War Tales, as well as commercial work for Starling Bank.

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