Merveilles des Morte (book series)
 Merveilles des Morte globe icon | |
|
| |
| Author | |
|---|---|
| Country | Sierra |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Alternate history |
| Publisher | Markov Press |
| Published | June 26, 1966 – present |
Merveilles des Morte (abbreviated as MDM or shortened to simply Morte) is an alternate history media franchise written by a collaboration of authors, including Nathan Adrian, Rene Javant, and Marry Bore, beginning with the 1966 novel Merveilles des Morte.
Originally written as a fan fiction of another alternate history book, Adrian has published five out of ten planned volumes. The fifth and most recent volume, The Rise of the Deltans, was published in 1991. An untitled sixth novel is currently being written.
The series follow an alternate history timeline that spans four continents: Kolumbia (the Americas), Europe, Africa, and Asia, across seven centuries (1000 to 1600). The first three books are set mainly in Europe, as well as Africa and Asia between the 15th and 17th centuries. The two most recent books are prequels which deal primarily with events occurring in Kolumbia, namely Vinland (Newfoundland) and Oasisamerica (Precolumbian Sierra) between the 10th and 16th centuries.
The books have sold 100 million copies worldwide as of November 2021, and has been translated into 48 languages. The series has been adapted into a film, a television series on Webbox, and several card, board, and video games.
History
Synopsis
Fictional chronology
List of books in the series
| # | Title | Pages | Chapters | Words | Author(s) | KS release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | The Saga of Vinland | 732 | 25 | 317,392 | Nathan Adrian, Kuupik Jensen | June 26, 1987 |
| 5 | The Rise of the Deltans | 1,048 | 36 | 601,216 | Nathan Adrian, Nate Vandenhoek | June 15, 1991 |
| Total | TBD | TBD | TBD | – | 1966–present | |
Reception
Critical response
Sales
Fandom
Awards and nominations
Derived works
Film
In 1972, the rights to a film adaptation of the book Merveilles des Morte was acquired by Tom Sawyer, a producer and friend of Rene Javant, under the condition that he create a film adaptation within the next nine years. However, the Sawyer-led project was aborted less than six months later after Sawyer's death. The project was instead passed to rookie film director Martin Scorsese, who was at the time in production of only his second feature film, Mean Streets, released the following year. Although still relatively unknown, Scorsese's previous films deeply impressed producer Gary Kurtz, who agreed to bankroll whatever Scorsese's next project would be. In the summer of 1973 the film entered pre-production, with Scorsese envisioning a highly ambitious project utilizing an enormous cast to convey the immense scale of the original novels. Scorsese would spend months reading the completed novels up to that point, as well as numerous other historical books on the time period. His research also included screenings of the 1965 Russian epic The Agony and the Ecstasy, which he reportedly did not enjoy. In addition to scenes filmed on extensive sets in Sierra, Scorsese also scheduled to film in Italy in cooperation with the Italian People's Army, who agreed to commit 50,000 active soldiers to the film for costumed battle sequences. For casting, the artist Pablo Picasso was approached to play the Thin White Duke, who agreed to the role at an enormous price of 100,000 dollars per hour, while the then-retired Orson Welles was approached to play Henry VIII. Other castings included Marty Feldman as the patriarch of the Lenzburgs, Jack Nicholson as Edmund Alwin, Robert Redford as Wolfgang, Diana Rigg as Agnes of Hesse, and Alec Guinness as Engelbert II of Saxony. Scorsese was also in talks with the band The Landing to create a soundtrack for the film.
In late 1973, Scorsese set up a pre-production unit in Paris that involved a number of special effects experts and artists, having rewrote the film's script to include a number of surrealist elements. Whereas the original script revolved around the Lenzburg-Premyslid War and other similar events, Scorsese sought to expand the role of Peter Meise and incorporate more of his cult's mythos that appears in the latter half of Merveilles des Morte. Special effects supervisor Dan O'Bannon would be brought in to oversee the creation of numerous practical effects Meisid-inspired monsters. Scorsese later leaned heavily into the novel's implied science fiction and post-apocalyptic elements, envisioning the film as explicitly taking place in the distant future. After several months of planning it was discovered that pre-production had already eaten up a large portion of the film's budget, an estimated $2 million and counting, and Scorsese's script had expanded into a multi-film epic that would likely be several hours long once filmed. Additionally the project was delayed by the sudden death of Pablo Picasso and controversy over alleged ties to Landonist Italy. In 1974 Scorsese removed himself from the project and the production was shelved, with the rights to the film being sold once more. Several of the collaborators of the aborted Merveilles des Morte project would go on to use their designs in future projects, such as the 1975 science fiction film Foreigner, which involved Dan O'Bannon. Director William Friedkin would later be contracted to replace Scorsese as director, beginning work on a vastly trimmed version of the script which focused more on the inherent murder mystery of the first novel, as well as potential supernatural and horror elements. However, only a few months later Friedkin pulled out of the project due to the death of his son, again leaving the project to be shelved.
In late 1975 the project was again reconsidered, with new rights holder Scott DeSantis approaching up and comer director George Lucas to lead the project, after DeSantis was impressed by the director's film THX 1138. Lucas signed onto the project and decided to write his own screenplay, even though he had not read the books, nor was his interest primarily in historical fiction. Lucas kept many elements inherited from the previous attempts, but increased the emphasis on otherworldly elements. Several cast members previously considered would be brought on once more, with the eccentric Marlon Brando cast as Peter Meise, and Barry Gibb as Henry VIII. For the role of the Thin White Duke, Dylan Davies of The Landing would be cast and portrayed the character as a young and slick smooth talker, despite the original character being much older. Lucas also emphasized a love triangle involving Edmund Alwin and Agnes of Hesse, casting previous collaborators of his such as Harrison Ford in important roles. Conceptual artist and illustrator Ralph McQuarrie would be consulted to create artwork for several scenes of the movie. Lucas would produce five different scripts, after numerous disagreements with co-writer Jay Cocks (who had also worked on the Scorsese iteration), and with studio executives. Nevertheless, filming began in 1976 and was drawn out over the course of almost a year. Numerous technical problems plagued the production, such as Brando appearing on set woefully out of shape and unaware of the role. Brando's scenes would be reduced, being shot primarily in dark locations to conceal his appearance, which inadvertently added to his mystique. Lucas' version of Merveilles des Morte ended up being nearly a three-hour film, leading to demands by the film's distributor to cut it down by about a third. Lucas would do so, but remained dissatisfied with the final project, which suffered from the loss of key scenes.
Television series
Other works
See also
- Start-class articles
- Altverse II
- Merveilles des Morte (Altverse II)
- Alternate history book series
- Book franchises
- Book series introduced in 1966
- Collaborative fiction
- Mass media franchises introduced in 1966
- Novel series
- Novels about death
- Novels about religion
- Novels adapted into video games
- Politics in fiction
- Sierran novels adapted into films
- Sierran novels adapted into television shows