Lady with an Alien: An Encounter with Leonardo Da Vinci

Art Encounters

by Mike Resnick

• Sci-fi author Mike Resnick has won more awards than Ray Bradbury or Isaac Asimov


• Leonardo da Vinci, star of the best-selling The Da Vinci Code, is hot


• Time travel, adventure, humor— Lady with an Alien is an Art Encounters tour de force!


Lady with an Ermine , Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of a patron’s mistress holding the symbol of her lover’s family, is perhaps his most beautiful painting. But…is that what ermines really look like? Mike Resnick, the author of Hugo Award winners Kirinyaga and Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge , presents an exciting reimagining of this great painting in his first-ever book for young adults. The time-traveling hero, Mario Ravelli, develops a unique friendship with Leonardo da Vinci during a vacation from 2523 A.D. The story of how Mario’s pet becomes the lady’s ermine makes for an intriguing, entertaining journey to Renaissance Italy, and gives a unique look at the work and the creative process of a great master.

Genres: Science Fiction

176 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

Michael "Mike" Diamond Resnick, better known by his published name Mike Resnick, was a popular and prolific American science fiction author. He is, according to Locus, the all-time leading award winner, living or dead, for short science fiction. He was the winner of five Hugos, a Nebula, and other major awards in the United States, France, Spain, Japan, Croatia and Poland. and has been short-listed for major awards in England, Italy and Australia. He was the author of 68 novels, over 250 stories, and 2 screenplays, and was the editor of 41 anthologies. His work has been translated into 25 languages. He was the Guest of Honor at the 2012 Worldcon and can be found online as @ResnickMike on Twitter or at www.mikeresnick.com.

Reviews

[Paul Weiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Tell me of all the wonders the future holds!”

“Do men still fight wars? Have we conquered disease? Does the church still dominate the minds of men?”

A young adult time traveler from the 26th century has a conversation with Mr Renaissance himself, Leonardo da Vinci. And, even allowing for the paradoxes of time travel and the rules which would constrain interactions (were time travel to actually exist), it is obvious that they have much to learn from one another. I found it interesting that Mr Resnick thought to have da Vinci express the hope that, if churches and organized religion had not disappeared outright, they had at least lost their grip on society, culture and control of man’s thinking and the scientific process. Paints and painting, the ruling class and patronage of the arts, hygiene, technology and inventions, mathematics, astronomy, exploration … lots of topics to touch on!

It’s a short, quick read but I’d say it was just about the right length for such a tightly defined theme.

Paul Weiss

[Thomas Phetmeuangmay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great storytelling and combination of elements to bring all points closer to home for younger audiences. 10/10

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Granted, my opinion is tainted by having read an early copy of the book so there were copywriting errors that probably weren’t in the published version. But anyway, it just felt a little too forced trying to fit all the things we know about da Vinci into the storyline. I didn’t like how both da Vinci and Mario kept either saying or asking about things they shouldn’t. The timing thing was a bit convoluted and messy. I will say, though, that the idea of writing the story behind a famous painting (even a made up one) is cool, and I’ll never forget that painting or think of it the same again.

[Carol Krueger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting concept, but I did not enjoy the way it played out.

[Glorianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

what an odd book. it would be a good book to teach kids concepts of art.