Shawn Levy’s Dolce Vita Confidential gets 4 stars for its breezy, easy tone in describing an exuberant period in modern Italian cultural history. In one sense, the topic is feather light. However, Rome during the 50’s, with its notions of cheerful sensuality, still exerts considerable influence on today’s cinema, fashion, and how we view privacy, celebrity and scandal. Further, Levy has a keen eye for setting, the Roman neighborhoods and, particularly, the Via Veneto which engendered the flowering of creativity across all manner of art and life – though there is a special focus on Fellini’s film La Dolce Vita as the distillation of this era’s effluence.
Dolce Vita’s charm is its focus on the cultural milieu, but it would be illuminating to learn a bit more about how Italy’s post-war economy and politics enabled the burst of artistic inventiveness during the 50’s. Also, being an efficient writer, Levy seems to have used research from his numerous other books to flesh out Dolce Vita; justifiable, I suppose, but sometimes the reader gets the sense that Levy provided extensive detail on a given individual or situation simply because he already had the homework on hand.
I write literary fantasy novels, a genre rather remote from Dolce Vita. Nonetheless, I can certainly learn from Levy’s sense of setting and vivid exploration of an era of exaggeration, when everything was dialed up to eleven. Levy’s descriptions evoke an Italian beauty zipping past the Spanish Steps on a Vespa.
I write modern fantasy novels that are hopefully both exciting and literate. These novels include an on-going series about a near-immortal magician who grew up in Camelot and grew famous in San Francisco's 'Summer of Love'. He's still having adventures to this day described in The Lords of the Summer Season, The Lords of Powder, and The Lords of Oblivion. The books can be read in any order.
As author S Alessandro Martinez has stated about the series:
"Lords of Oblivion
A 1500-year-old wizard. A pair of savage druids raised from the dead. Modern day San Francisco. A wolf that takes no gruff. Blaisdell creates a fascinating world in this magical realism novel with smart writing, complex characters, and clever use of history and mythology. I was sucked in from the very beginning. I look forward to more of Bradan and Tintagel's mystical adventures.
Lords of Powder
Merlin's former apprentice, Bradan, is back! The 1500-year-old wizard, who is sometimes too smart for his own good, returns for another exciting adventure, this time in 70s Miami as he takes on the criminal world of drug trafficking. Blaisdell's smart, fast-paced writing and use of fascinating history and mythology keeps you on the edge of your seat as Bradan uses his wits, charm, and illusions to navigate the modern era and get himself into plenty of trouble.
Lords of the Summer Season
Being Merlin's former apprentice and living for 1500 years is bound to make you a few enemies. Travel back to the 60s with Bradan the wizard and his otherworldly wolf Tintagel. As Bradan juggles careers as a professor and musician, he must defend himself from his greatest threat yet: a literal god. Blaisdell continues with his clever, skillful, and imaginative writing that will keep readers eagerly turning the next page. My favorite of the Bradan books, Blaisdell dives deeper into the Arthur mythology, and brings the reader even more elements of magic and folklore, all the while weaving an entertaining tale of gods, wizards, ghosts, and 60s acid rock. Thoroughly enjoyable!"
Besides the literary side of my life, my background includes membership on a scientific advisory board for a non-profit professional organization promoting the biomedical and digital health business community in the greater Los Angeles area.
I’ve authored both basic research publications and business management articles focusing on the bio/pharma industry. My Ph.D. is in Biochemistry from the University of Minnesota where I also conducted post-doctoral research in microbiology. And my BS is from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) with a double major in chemistry and cell biology.
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Blaisdell Literary Enterprises 