I said I’d spam y’all with this every week and forgot, but my friend posted about it earlier and it reminded me.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MG3HK5J/
The protagonist is George, a half-Indian, half Anglo-Irish man, who is camp, arty and socially awkward. George is so closely based on Freddie and the author has used a good selection of sources to create this story, including friends’ recollections of what he was like in college, plus interviews from Brian May, Roger Taylor, Mary Austin and Rose Rose (Rosemary Pearson).
The story begins with young George, an art student who wants to be a musician, but no one will take him seriously, because his raw talents are still undeveloped. His voice isn’t controlled, he’s a novice guitarist, but he secretly has genius music memory skills and can play the piano like a boss (sound familiar?). All the key characters are there under different names. Robin the guitar maestro, Anthony the pretty drummer and a sweet and shy bassist called Neil turns up a few chapters in.
There are two concurrent storylines: one is George’s journey to fame, struggling to find his niche in a series of failing bands amid criticism from everyone around him, including his parents. He really wants to be part of The Blue Murreys (Smile), but they see themselves as professionals and there’s no room for their heckling fanboy friend. Eventually the band breaks up and George coerces them to take him on board. They agree, despite some reservations about his talents. After George hones his skills, the other boys are pleasantly surprised.
The shock death of a major music idol galvanises them to work even harder to honour him and so begins their quest for that elusive recording contract. The industry is a minefield of sharks and a horrible ‘casting couch’ encounter makes the threat all too real (which is very topical right now with all the Weinstein business).
The second plot thread is his love life and is heavily influenced by the events in Rose Rose’s book, (though the author creates her fictional settings scenes to make it her own). A girl named Harryo takes an interest in George and they become intimate, but it soon becomes clear he has abandonment issues and is clingy and somewhat emotionally unstable. Nonetheless, love develops between them as they explore London’s art galleries and attend parties. All is well until George discovers Harryo has a group of homosexual friends and he becomes obsessed with them. I’m not going to spoil anything else, but if you are familiar with Freddie and Rose’s story, you know how it pans out.
Two thirds of the way in, the story will become more familiar to Queen fans, especially when George moves in with a new woman called Nerys who he believes can help correct his sexuality. This part of the story is based on Mary Austin’s interviews.
Book 1 is available on both kindle and paperback.
PAPERBACK: https://www.amazon.com/Virtuoso-Closet-Part-Renata-Caffarelli/dp/1539816222
KINDLE: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MG3HK5J/
