Oliver Unmerged, from Mary Findley's steampunk mashup concept!
~Today’s blog comes FROM MARY FINDLEY!~
Reader Input Requested! Please post your thoughts in the comments.
I am Mary Findley, Goodreads indie author, traveling in a tractor-trailer around the country with my husband as driver. We have three 20-something children in NY, OK, and AL. My published works are historical fiction, but I have always loved fantasy and sci-fi, wrote it in hr. high and high school, and am working my way back to it. I have some sci-fi and fantasy short stories, and my husband Michael has a sci-fi compilation on Goodreads called The Space Empire Saga.
Since I saw The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie I have wanted to create a YA graphic novel based on some literary characters I love. Part of my desire was to be faithful to the original authors’ depictions in a way I thought the movie failed to be. I want input from readers as I plan this.
My story is set in Victorian times, or at least the later 1800’s. I am also a Christian, and I want to write for that audience, but I am not opposed to some violence and non-explicit sexual references.
The book will be called The Alexander Legacy and involve the uncovering of the man behind a plot to organize and send round the world pickpockets, prostitutes and other “perps” taught deadly sophistication to extort, to spy, and to steal on an international level. I hope the identity of the villain will be a surprise but also ironic.
The leader of my group is Phoebe Moore Campbell from Louisa May Alcott’s Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom. I like the idea of her being now a celebrity and wealthy upper-class, but formerly a servant and housekeeper. I think it will enable her to mingle and get information for the cause on all levels of society.
Oliver Twist will lend a steampunk flavor to the story and figure strongly as one of the more important characters. He has grown up to inherit his family’s fortune and become an inventor, but still seeks to right the wrongs of the corrupt welfare system and stop the underworld of fences, housebreakers, and prostitutes he was almost swallowed up by with his amazing gadgets.
Next is Prince Florizel of Bohemia from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Suicide Club. The others would mostly be amateurs at this intrigue and pursuit, and he would be experienced, and experienced with its cost.
Mowgli and the black leopard Bagheera from Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book will bring tracking skills, a hatred of greed, and the ability to destroy the credibility of any criminal who dares testify that a “half-naked jungle man” and a black nightmare cat accosted them in a dark London alley.
Edward Ferras from Jane Austin’s Sense and Sensibility serves as the group’s chaplain and has knowledge of the church and the corruption of its members. Corruption in government, religion and business figure prominently in the plot, so I am not picking on the church.
Fun See is another character from Alcott’s books mentioned above, a Chinese merchant who keeps an appearance of traditional culture but knows everything about shipping and trade in all the British and Asian ports. I would consider substituting another Oriental character here if readers have a better idea. I am hoping to find some kind of cowboy character, as well as a black (African, African America) character. If at least one of these were female that would be a good thing, to keep Phoebe from being lonely. These are the three characters I need readers’ help with.
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