Monday being the Actor Day Of Rest, I got to relax and hang out in Ann Arbor. Did some work on various writing projects, some related to the Mercutio series (as this is rapidly becoming known – Star-Cross’d was my first choice, but it sounds too much like a Romance series, doesn’t it?), and some not.
But everything halted when the post arrived at noon. Dash was down for his nap, so I was free to open the package from the Amazon affiliate. It contained Barbara Reynolds new biography of the infernal poet, entitled DANTE – The Poet, The Political Thinker, The Man.
I cracked it right away. All I can say is, where was this book seven years ago? I’m only three chapters in, but already I’ve found a wealth of detail about the man, the age, and the arts. An exciting read (at least to me), I’m fascinated by her take on the poet and his attitudes. I’m also broken-hearted that Dante will never play a large part in the main story after the first book – though this makes me more determined than ever to write the interquel novel, DXV. I now have more ideas than ever for Dante’s interaction with young Mercutio. I’m gonna need to do something with those ideas, or I’ll split right down the middle.
The other joy, though, in reading this, is so far I have found nothing that directly contradicts my own take on Dante and his family. I may be a little fanciful in my rendering of the Alighieri family, but so far as I know I have stayed true to the essence of their story.
So, if you’re out there counting the days until THE MASTER OF VERONA is released, I would highly reccommend Ms. Reynolds’ book to fill the void.
Cheers,
DB
