Epic "Bourbon Street" portrays the rise of a gifted, young and penniless photographer named Aeneas who wanders Bourbon Street to photograph in black-and-white the images of ancient, legendary jazz players. Discovered by an Uptown debutante, Aeneas transforms into a portrait photographer of New Orleans' aristocracy. "Bourbon Street" is a gallery of vivid portraits of the chimeras of Aeneas. Illuminating, white hot comedy and dark, existential contrasts blend pixels into fine prose about the quest for a better life based upon one's dreams. "Bourbon Street" beckons you to the gallery of the dreams of Aeneas in the French Quarter of New Orleans. "Told through the vehicle of the tale, it is like a street-car rattling past the bars and drunks and jazz and creeping vegetation, the lonely souls, the nectar-draw of sex, the steaks and bourbons, that combine to make 'Bourbon Street' a wonderful book and cement the place of Lentz as a writer of formidable scope and ability." - Bruce McLaren, Author of "The Plain of Dead Cities" "Lentz has a talent for blending a compelling story line with pathos and humor, a measure of literary and historical allusion, and vivid imagery. The result is the literary equivalent of high definition -- the reader is bombarded with rich text that infuses the senses." -- The Greenwich Post "His pixilism is a sort of 21st century, digital metaphor that has similarities to French Impressionist paintings. Each sentence represents an idea, image or treatment of the big picture." --The Redding Pilot "Lentz especially likes to explore how creative people survive and contribute in a large and often impersonal environment. What is the role of a talented individual, an artist for example, in a complex, vast society?" -- New Canaan Advertiser "His writing is different because he does not manufacture cookie-cutter best-sellers." -- The Wilton Bulletin "Lentz's approach to writing is soul driven." -- The Weston Forum "A journey: if you know what it means to miss New Orleans, then you really should read this book." -- Yvonne LaFleur "Hot as a New Orleans' summer." -- John A. Taylor, Jr., CLU
Born in Woburn, Massachusetts, David B. Lentz graduated from Bates College and has written professionally for more than 35 years as an executive for global, financial corporations. He has lived in Boston's Back Bay, the Garden District of New Orleans, Houston and Philadelphia's Main Line. Currently, he resides with his family in Greenwich, CT. In addition to "Bourbon Street," Lentz has published five other literary novels -- "For the Beauty of the Earth", "AmericA, Inc.", "Bloomsday", "The Day Trader" and "The Silver King." He wrote a tragicomic stage play, as an American sequel to James Joyce's "Ulysses", entitled "Bloomsday", and a dark comedy, "AmericA, Inc.", as a satire on the intrusion of big business into everyday life. Lentz has published two volumes of poetry in "Sonnets from New England: Love Songs" and "Old Greenwich Odes." He is a Member of the Academy of American Poets, the Poetry Society of America, Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association, the Center for Fiction in New York and the Royal Society of Literature in London. His collected literary works published as "Essential Lentz" with excerpts from his novels, stage plays and poetry. He has served Bates College as an Alumnus-in-Admissions, the Board of Directors of the New Orleans Ad Club, the Philadelphia Mayor's Council for Literacy, Stamford-Greenwich Literacy Volunteers of America, Healing the Children (Board), Midnight Run for New York City Homeless, Hurricane Katrina JazzAid: New Orleans (Founder), Hope + Heroes Children's Cancer Foundation, St. Baldrick's Foundation for Children's Cancer Research and as a Volunteer in St. Paul's Chapel at Ground Zero.
