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Fantasy book series From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Ologies are a series of illustrated, interactive, montessori style books presented in an encyclopedic format. The inspirations for the topics range from fantasy and the unknown (myths and legends, creatures and monsters, paranormal and aliens) to non-fictional human and natural history. The series is primarily authored and edited by Dugald A. Steer. The various "authors" of the books are pseudonyms representing fictional characters who are experts in the subject matter. However, some of the pseudonyms used, such as Dr. Ernest Drake from the Dragonology portion of the series, may have been based on real people. The books are published by Templar Publishing in the United Kingdom, Five Mile Press in Australia, Rizzoli Libri in Italy, Candlewick Press in the United States, and Penguin Random House in Canada. The first book, Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons (2003), remained on the New York Times' children's bestsellers list for 76 weeks.[1]
| |
Dragonology Egyptology Wizardology Pirateology Mythology Monsterology Spyology Oceanology Vampireology Alienology Illusionology Dinosaurology Dungeonology Knightology Ghostology | |
| Author | Dugald Steer and others |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Wayne Anderson, Douglas Carrel and Helen Ward |
| Country | England |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy Natural history |
| Publisher | Templar Publishing (UK) Candlewick Press (US) Five Mile Press (AUS) |
| Published | 2003–2020 |
| Media type | Hardcover |
The books, which are intended for young readers, have spawned additional merchandise including action figures, plush toys, board games and card games, and a video game.
Each of the books is given a fictional "author", and purport to be the writings and lost journals of fictional investigators and experts. Since the books follow an encyclopedia format rather than a narrative, Steer has said that "it's slightly different from traditional reading. Readers can dip in and out, but the essential story is told in a linear way."[2]
The large-format books contain many novelty items of ephemera including removable maps and postcards, letters that can be unfolded, and tactile items such as “dragon scales”, "mummy cloth" and "gold doubloons".
The books are illustrated by a variety of artists, including Helen Ward, Wayne Anderson, Nghiem Ta, Chris Forsey, A. J. Wood, Douglas Carrel, J.P. Lambert, Ian P. Andrew, Nick Harris, Anne Yvonne Gilbert, John Howe, Tomislav Tomic, G. Hunt, R. Sella, and Carole Thomann.
For some books, there were minor differences in titles and cover designs between the British, Australian, Italian and North American publishers.
In October 2007, Codemasters announced a licensing agreement to create video games for the Wii and Nintendo DS based on Dragonology, Wizardology and Pirateology.[3] Nik Nak was to develop the Wii titles.[4]
Dragonology for the Nintendo DS was released in November 2009. All other “Ologies” video games were cancelled and never produced.
In 2008, Universal Studios acquired the film rights to the Dragonology series, with Leonard Hartman set to write and executive produce the adaptation.[5] In August 2012, it was reported that Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci would produce the film for Universal.[6]
In October 2012, it was reported that Carlos Saldanha, the director of the Ice Age and Rio films, was developing for 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios an animated feature film based on Alienology: The Complete Book of Extraterrestrials.[7]
On January 31, 2018, Paramount Pictures announced they were in the process of developing a film franchise centered around all of the Ologies books (15 books as of 2024), by setting up a writers' room currently consisting of Jeff Pinkner, Michael Chabon, Lindsey Beer, Joe Robert Cole, Nicole Perlman and Christina Hodson. The vision for the franchise is the hope that each of the writers will embrace the books by working with visual artists to create treatments that will eventually evolve into seven movie scripts with interconnected stories. Paramount also announced that Akiva Goldsman is to act as overseer and producer of the franchise.[8]
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