The Last Renaissance Man [Paperback]

Michael Guy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 2005

London's leading composer in 1694 is on a perpetual motion machine, a frantic season of theatre performances. Sir Henry yearns for one more Shakespeare-inspired opera that will revive his 'Glory Days'. With his Patroness dead, his income slashed, an alienated and suspicious wife, his agent arranges yet another tour of cheap venues. But the specter of Plague arises, and Henry stressed by grief, fears contagion. Hallucinogenic from the wrong cure he flees to sunny Madeira. Once southbound, his 'Sea Adventure' unfurls unpredictably. Do things resemble the opera he's composing? Stay aboard for book two, when the nautical nightmare grows menacingly real!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael Guy has combined his love of music and the tropical sea into unique historical fiction. A composer, he’s written orchestral, jazz pieces and played piano since his New York City days in the 1980’s, where he worked in music publishing. He was a music and literature major in college. His first novel, published on cassette, “The Golden Flute” was a mythological tale featuring his synthesizer music. He’s currently completing Book 2 of this series. Since moving to Florida, he’s fished, surfed, and tracked every major hurricane. His new CD: contains music to accompany “The Last Renaissance Man.” Available soon.

Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: Infinity Publishing; 1st edition (October 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074142696X
• ISBN-13: 978-0741426963
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,060,472 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a nice "sail" but waiting for book two, December 14, 2005

By 

bkristopher (Bermuda (for Holiday)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Renaissance Man (Paperback)

Discovered on the publisher website while searching another rec. When I went to Amazon site and searched, it was marked down (US Amazon site)

GREAT COVER! Took a chance; it took a while to get but its not bad and definitely an ENGLISH read. Is this "Guy" an English "American"? The beginning's a bit theatrical, but since I'm English I enjoyed it and do know who Purcell is (the model for his main character). The Shakespeare references are very appropriate but the main story takes some time. Can't imagine American readers having patience, yet it is interesting history along the way. Everything from the great Renaissance inventors and scientists, to an extensive excerpt from Daniel Defoe's "Journal of the Plague Year" about the Great Black Death of London 1665-66.

Almost seems he would have liked to have a CD included with excerpts of the music of Purcell that he refers to. He doesn't overdo description of music and other things, but uses dialogue to to do the talking, alternating with journalizing narratives in the first-person. If you don't know any of Purcell's music, the first chapters are visual and bring the composer to life, though more interesting to music lovers. The plot thickens a bit from chapter 6 on, but overall it's not a plot heavy book. Chapter seven: "St. Michael's Flower" is very interesting, set in old rural England. It's like a combo of a horror storm scene with a Fly-fishing misadventure (complete with quotes from Izaak Walton's 'The Compleat Angler'). The main character gets partial amnesia after being struck by lightning and surviving, hit while caught out fishing in the dark woods as night and the storm overtook him. The character of the "witch" who rescues him and later seduces him (she's a young good-looking witch) is fascinating and not stereotypical.

From here it has him fleeing in a hallucinogenic state on a ship across the Atlantic and the parallel to Shakespeare' Tempest is obvious if you know the plot. The scene of tossing him off the ship, while lashed to a lifeboat is darkly done, complete with Biblical and Shakespearean references. Ending in the Caribbean on Barbados the new characters that parallel The Tempest enter. There are action scenes between slave-owners and the second main character that parallels Prospero in The Tempest, a Lord Willoughby. He's a nautical guy who ends the book telling a very realistic Fateful Tale of his fleet having been sunk in a Hurricane off of Guadeloupe in 1666. Good sea-action, a real 'Rum Tale'. The book ends in the mood of a Romance novel, with Henry parting from the brief companionship of Miranda, the Admiral's daughter, and then sets up book two--which you'll have to await to get the resolution to this Shakespeare influenced drama.

Lastly, I like the use of first-person and the unusual form of alternating chapters, heavy in dialogue with pure narratives by his protagonist, as though he were reading from his journal. The narratives are written in a very 17th-century feeling prose and offer philosophic reflections.
I recommend it. Give it a chance for the 'story' to take shape. The real "Renaissance Men" and their history in the opening chapters makes the diversions educational. An original story, with unusual setting and plot; if this is the author's debut, it's at least imaginative. He didn't fall into the trap of writing his autobiography like many first authors. The back-cover blurb says he's a composer. Couldn't find the CD he mentions on the net though.