James A. Owen is the author of a series called “The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica.” The first book in the series, “Here, There Be Dragons” introduced us to the characters that would become the heroes of the stories: Jack, John and Charles.

Jack is actually C.S. Lewis, John is J.R.R. Tolkien and Charles is Charles Williams. They were each members of a group called the Inklings. This series is based on fictional adventures that these characters embarked on, into the Archipelago of Dreams, where they became Caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica.

The second book in the series is titled “The Search for the Red Dragon,” and introduces new characters and a few more writers from that era to the story.

Now, author James A. Owen has revealed the cover art for the third book in the series: The Indigo King.

Having listened to the books on CD (I have the unabridged audio books!), I am very curious to learn what happens next in the adventures through the Archipelago of Dreams.

Check out the cover art on James A. Owen’s LiveJournal, and come and see him at LionCon, later this month!

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Last Friday, IGN had the opportunity to interview producer/screenwriter David Goyer, where he spoke at length about the novel “Here, There Be Dragons.” The rights for the novel have been snapped up by Warner Brothers, pushing the book up the sales charts very quickly. For example, Amazon pre-sales ranked the book around 5,000. On September 29th, with word spreading of the movie news, “Dragons” was ranking at 644. As of this writing, it is sitting at 1,493.

The book takes place in two worlds, our world (In London, during World War I) and a fantasy world, and features three characters that go on adventures. The three adventurers turn out to be real life authors J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams.

Here are three questions extracted from the interview:

IGN: Does this story focus on these characters when they’re in their twenties at Oxford? I’m just wondering what the age range is for these characters.

Goyer: They were all slightly different in age. C.S. Lewis would be the youngest, probably his early twenties. Tolkien a little older, the mid-twenties or later twenties. Charles Williams was at least a good ten years older than the two of them and sort of functioned as a mentor. We liked that as well because for casting possibilities. We can pull from these different age groups.

IGN: It’d be funny to see if Here, There Be Dragons and Peter Jackson’s Temeraire end up going head-to-head in cinemas. The end of this decade will be all dragons onscreen.

Goyer: They both have dragons. Dragons is in the title of the first and the seventh books. Ours is not… yes, there happens to be a dragon in this first book but there are many, many other creatures and characters and things. So it’s not exactly a head-to-head dragon fest.

IGN: So how does one actually refer to the property since we can’t really call it the Dragons franchise?

Goyer: The franchise is actually called The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica. For instance, the second book is called The Children’s Crusade. The Imaginarium Geographica is actually the fictional almanac of that other world. It’s kind of the almanac that maps all of these mythical lands and I guess it is what you would call the MacGuffin for the series. James’ studio is actually producing for Simon & Schuster an actual Imaginarium Geographica. It’s just this big book of maps of all these fantasy worlds.

[Read the rest at IGN]

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Since The Lord of the Rings’ success, there have been many fantasy films released to try to cash in on the success. I think it’s a breath of fresh air, as far as movies are concerned. After all, movies are mostly fantasy anyway, depending on how you look at them. Recently, Peter Jackson has optioned a series called Temeraire.

Adding to that list, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Brothers has picked up the rights to a soon to be released children’s novel by James A. Owen called “Here, There Be Dragons.”

Says The Hollywood Reporter: The book brings together three strangers — John, Jack and Charles — in London during World War I, where they become entrusted with the Imaginarium Geographica, an atlas of all the lands that have ever existed in myth and legend, fable and fairy tale. They end up traveling to the Archipelago of Dreams, fighting the dark forces that threaten two worlds. It is later revealed that the three are future fantasy authors J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams, who met in real life at Oxford and enjoyed a competitive friendship.

“It’s the ultimate story behind the story,” screenwriter David Goyer said of the project’s fictional treatment of the famed authors. “Very few people really know what they were like. They had really colorful lives, enough so you could tell straight biographies on them. By doing it this way, you get to have your cake and eat it too.”

“What sets it apart is that there’s a real quid pro quo between our world and their world and how events in the other world shape events our world,” he said. “Also, we get to cherry-pick the best public domain legends that exist, from the Homeric myths to tales like ‘The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.’ In this world, each island is a different fantasy world — it’s the mother lode of all that fantasy. And we get to have fun to see how Tolkien and Lewis got their inspiration. It just seemed like a no-brainer.”

Said Harry Potter producer: David Heyman: “The odd thing is, I’m not a fantasy fan. What drew me was that these characters are appealing and relatable and that the adventure takes place in a wholly conceived world. This is the place where all our stories come from, and the death of imagination equates to bad things happening to our world, which is such a beautiful idea.”

Heyman said he wants to fast-track “Dragons” even as he sees himself working on wrapping up the “Potter” movies for the next three or four years.

As far as the movie is concerned: WB is holding on to it as a project for Harry Potter producer David Heyman and Batman Begins screenwriter David Goyer to produce.

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