Captain Nemo_ The Fantastic History of a Dark Genius - Kevin J Anderson [1]
Ignoring the gray sleet and the skeletal elm branches outside his window, Verne added another length of wood to the fire. He closed the shutters, increasing the gloom in the study.
Downstairs, the family’s big black dog barked, and his ten-year-old son Michel squealed. The rambunctious boy had an impish face, chestnut hair, and the soul of a demon. The dog barked again, and Michel shouted, chasing it around the house. Outside, when the regular train from Amiens to Paris clattered by, the engineer took malicious delight in tooting its whistle.
The clamor and disruption was enough to drive a man mad. Adventures enough for me, he thought.
The latest novel, Around the World in 80 Days, had taken him beyond success into genuine celebrity. Installments published in newspapers generated more excitement than actual news. Chapters were telegraphed around the globe; men made wagers as to whether the intrepid Phileas Fogg would succeed in his quest to circumnavigate the globe. Already, Verne had begun talks with a well-known playwright to create a stage production with real cannons and a live elephant. Very exciting.
Yet another idea he owed to Nemo’s real-life exploits.
What is it about the man?
The popular favorite by far, however, remained the undersea adventure of the Nautilus and its enigmatic captain who had isolated himself from humanity, a man who had declared war on War itself. To Verne’s surprise, the dark and mysterious villain had captured the public’s imagination. Nemo, Nemo, Nemo! No one guessed the man was based on a real person.
Verne thought he’d ended Nemo’s story by sinking the sub-marine boat in a maelstrom off Norway. His fictional version of Captain Nemo had perished in that vortex of waves, while the erstwhile Professor Aronnax, his manservant Conseil, and the harpooner Ned Land barely escaped with their lives.
Verne hadn’t really believed Nemo would stay down, though -- not even after his literary death.
He pushed the tea and cheese away, then stared down at the thick ledger book in which he wrote his manuscript. This massive new novel would be a challenge to his heart as well as to his storytelling abilities.
Verne had never intended to write about his friend again. He had begun this new novel, a shipwreck story, back in 1870 during the horrors of the Prussian war. Buildings had burned; desperate citizens had eaten zoo animals and sewer rats just to stay alive; and in the midst of that turmoil Verne had lost his beloved Caroline forever.
But now, two years later, the world had returned to order. The trains ran on schedule, and once more Verne was expected to release his “Extraordinary Voyages” like clockwork.
He hated to reopen old wounds, but he would force himself to tell the rest of Nemo’s story. He knew the real André Nemo better than any man alive, the passions that drove him, the ordeals he faced. Future generations would remember Nemo’s life the way Verne chose to portray it, rather than what had actually happened. He would concoct a fitting background for the dark captain. The “truth” posed no undue restrictions -- Monsieur Verne was a fiction writer, after all.
He opened a fresh inkwell and dipped the sharp nib of his pen, then scratched the blackened tip across the paper. Beginning a new story, a long story: The Mysterious Island.
Perhaps he could finally lay Captain Nemo to rest and then live his own life, seek out his own adventures. One of these days. . .
What is it about the man?
The words began to flow, as they always did.
Part I
EXTRAORDINARY VOYAGES
i
Ile Feydeau, Nantes, France
July, 1840
In their younger years, Jules Verne and André Nemo were the best of friends.
Walking together on damp ground that sloped down to the Loire’s edge, they each ate a sweet banana from one of the trading clippers just arrived