The Secrets of Casanova
Greg Michaels, 2013
Booktrope Editions
350 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781620151785
Summary
Paris of 1755 is bloated with opportunity. That’s the way Jacques Casanova, an unredeemed adventurer with an ever-surging appetite for pleasure, needs it.
But times, men, and gods are changing—and Jacques luck is fading. When he is thrust to the center of a profound mystery, he doesn’t care if vice or virtue leads him onward. “After all,” he declares, “a man who asks himself too many questions is an unhappy man.” But as Jacques’ challenges mount, what questions will he ask? What price must he pay to uncover a treasure of inestimable value? (From the author.)
Author Bio
• Birth—June 27, 1948
• Where—Texas, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Texas, Austin
• Currently—lives on the West Coast, USA
After Greg Michaels received his BA in anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin, a chance experience thrust him into a career as a professional actor and fight director. To date he's acted in fifty theater productions, more than forty television shows, and choreographed dozens of fights for stage and screen. In The Secrets of Casanova, Greg again proves his skill at telling a theatrical story. He lives with his wife, two sons, and Andy the hamster.
In his words:
If your scrapbook includes a souvenir photo of a hairy barbarian from Universal Studios Hollywood, there's a good chance that I'm the hairy barbarian in the photo. I performed the role of swordsman Kobad Shah in the live stunt show, "Conan the Barbarian: A Sword & Sorcery Spectacular." Wielding a broadsword in each hand, I fought to the death over 5,000 times—always to my death, never the big guy's.
Yep, I've been an actor my whole adult life. I've lived and worked in New York, Los Angeles and parts in between, performing mostly in theater and television. Onstage I've pleased audiences in the title role of Cyrano de Bergerac, been booed as the bad guy, Teddy, in When Ya Comin' Back, Red Ryder? I brought audiences to tears in The Cherry Orchard, and playing Custer's Native American scout, Bloody Knife, was a personal triumph.
As for TV, I've acted in nearly 40 productions—from the silly to the significant, including The Dukes of Hazzard, X-Files, and Amber's Story. If you were a viewer of General Hospital many years ago, you might have seen my characterization of Van (the villain). (From the author.)
Visit the author's website.
Book Reviews
(See helpful customer reviews of this book on Amazon.com.)
Michaels’ debut novel puts a brilliantly original spin on an historical figure whose very name is a cliche. This Casanova must wrestle not only with falling hopelessly and passionately in love, but embarking on a mysterious quest that is as much a spiritual awakening as a swashbuckling adventure...so erotic and so sensitively written, I found it difficult to believe its author was a man.
—Robin Maxwell, national best-selling author of The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn
More colorful than 50 Shades of Grey, more playful than the Crossfire series, this debut novel limns the life and times of Casanova. Peopling his story with fascinating characters from Voltaire to the pope of the hour, Michaels deftly evokes the sights, sounds, and the all-too-pungent scents and stenches of eighteenth-century Europe.
—Vicki Leon, author of The Joy of Sexus & other nonfiction histories
Discussion Questions
1. What was your early impression of Casanova? Did he change through the course of the book? In what ways?
2. What seems to be the author’s view on religion and spirituality?
3. Most of the main characters in the book have some association with religion. Discuss their views.
4. Was Casanova a calculated seducer? Name some ways he says he seduced women.
5. Are there parallels between France in 1755 and the United States, present day?
6. What did you know about the republic of Venice before reading this book? What do you know now?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)