The Abbreviated Monte Cristo

Why the Hogan-Verse Sucks in The Hand of the Dead The world that Alfredo Hogan created for the Monte Cristo "sequel", The Hand of the Dead , sucks to live in. It has all of the disadvantages of a world run by a pitiless, exacting God, and of a world where "sh** happens and then you die" where no matter how hard you try to follow "God's rules", you're still easily a victim to random occurrences that end your life way prematurely.  Yeah, I'm still rambling and ranting about this trainwreck of a book. It's even worse than Jules Lermina's books, because at least Lermina allowed Haydee to die of unknown natural causes, the Count managed to live until age 75, and he was able to raise his son Esperance/Spero up to age 21. Hogan doesn't even give the Count that much. Nope.  Read review of "The Hand of the Dead" (Hogan) Hogan's ever-present moralizing: "Don't be arrogant! Give your money to the poor! ...

"The Last Count of Monte Cristo" (2023) graphic novel The Last Count of Monte Cristo. 2023 (160 pages). Script: Ayize Jama-Everett, Art: Tristan Roach. Pub: Abrams ComicArts I have mixed feelings about this graphic novel. I like to encourage content creators to come up with new takes on the Monte Cristo story.  This one sets the story 200 years into the future. The cast is dominated by POC characters from Africa, the Indian Subcontinent and East Asia. In this reality, Europe and the West are reduced to non-existent. The general premise is the same as the original. Only that the Earth is dying from climate change and pollution, and the humans send out ships to scrounge plastic and whatever things of value they can find. Bio-algae is of great value. The names may be complicated, so I will call them by their original 1844 names in brackets.  Personally, I love traditional comic art. But sometime in the 90's it became fashionable to distort the human face and body, ...

A Monte Cristo Epilogue: A fanfic by yours truly! Post-ending fan speculation. Yes, it's true that there isn't anything interesting with a post-"happily ever after" as far as a sequel goes. Everybody knows that in fiction, we need a protagonist and an antagonist, and it's the antagonist that drives the story, and provides dramatic tension, makes things happen and pushes the hero into his/her hero's journey. Edmond Dantes has already HAD his hero's journey. There's no need for him to go through this again at age 42. Some unauthorized, non-canon sequels exist, bringing Benedetto back and offensively undoing everything that Dumas had built for Dantes , making the original meaningless because none of it mattered after all, with everything ending in early death and destruction. I'm FED up with that! Instead, I can imagine my own Count of Monte Cristo Epilogue... something to provide closure to the fates of all of the important characters. Somet...

The Lord of the World by Adolf Mützelburg (1856) Der Herr Der Welt (German) Adolf Mützelburg I'm not completely convinced that this is a worthwhile read. After slogging through the book, there doesn't seem to be a Main Plot at all- it's more like a set of aimless (mis)adventures involving people peripherally involved with the Count, and it's up to him to chase after them in multiple countries to save them from their dire situations. There seems to be five separate plot threads, and this book just meanders around all over the place, with no specific purpose. The author, Adolf Mützelburg, seems to be a bad writer, but it seems possible (and probable) that there was a longer version originally, and had been brutally edited down later to about 300 pages. This means that for those who ARE willing to trudge through this rather uninteresting book, there's no pot of gold at the end and it STILL won't make any sense! The book is available in G...

The Treasure of Monte Cristo by Jules Lermina (1885) Le Trésor de Monte-Cristo (French) Jules Lermina Jules Lermina must've really needed the money. Four years after the previous "conclusion" that the Lermina-verse had brought us- the pitiful death of Edmond Dantes huddled over the coffin of his boy Spero, Lermina cranked out ANOTHER Monte Cristo sequel. But the pickings had become quite slim indeed... who's going to be the hero of the new story? Lermina had wiped out everybody besides Eugenie! No chance for the Count to have had another child. Albert never reproduced. Max and Val killed off... what to do? What to do???  Lermina creates "The NewFoundland Club", a multi-national group fighting the tyranny and oppression of victimized/conquered peoples as the next generation of good guys. And Valentin Morrel makes his first appearance on page 439! But who can be the villain this time? Lermina desperately grasps at straws and taps o...

Monte Cristo : A Play by Charles Fetcher, updated by James O'Neill (1883) Finally! I have located a book of the Charles Fetcher/James O'Neill play, Monte Cristo , to satisfy my curiosity! Some background: The Count of Monte Cristo , as a book, was an instant hit all over the world. Alexandre Dumas himself had adapted it for stage, but the results were not successful- it was too large and too long and required audiences to attend for 2 evenings. By 1868, Charles Fetcher had written a stage-play and starred in his own adaptation of Monte Cristo , which bombed. In 1870, Fetcher had further edited down the work. By 1883, James O'Neill had picked up the torch, playing Dantes onstage, and eventually buying up the rights to Fetcher's play.  O'Neill modified Fetcher's script, and the play became a hit, with O'Neill playing Edmond Dantes over 6,000 times in a 40 (!!!) year period. This version is still being performed...

Monte Cristo Wording Comparisons in Different Editions: First Paragraph So you're in an antique or used book store, and you spot a vintage edition of The Count of Monte Cristo . Or you're browsing ebooks and you spot one with a different cover. Do you have that one already? Is the text content different from what you already have? Is it abridged? Is it something unique? Where did it really come from? What IS it? Let me help you! There ARE wording differences between the famous 1846 Chapman-Hall translation, and its various abridged offspring, new translations or new re-worded adaptations! So these random dusty tomes or ebooks from unknown companies can usually be identified by looking at the first paragraph on the first page. Who knows! Maybe you're finding something good, or avoiding something not-so-good (e.g. Standard Abridged Edition).  You can find my complete book recommendations here: Go to: Monte Cristo Abridged for Teens and Adults It...

"The Sultan of Monte Cristo" by Holy Ghost Writer (2013) "Holy Ghost Writer" is a pen name for an anonymous writer who sought to expand the Universe of Monte-Cristo by writing a series of books, starting in 2012-2013 that was supposed to take Edmond Dantes from his original adventure in The Count of Monte Cristo into the future with his descendants. It was a very ambitious goal, but remains unfulfilled. After a flurry of activity in 2013, and two books in 2015, HGW's Monte Cristo output died down. But more on this topic later. HGW's first book of the series is an abridged version of Dumas' original, with some Sherlock Holmes/Dr.Watson chatter inserted, so the book can be sold as The Count of Monte Cristo as Retold by Sherlock Holmes . For a complete review of that book, read it here (scroll to the final review on the page). Go to: Monte Cristo Abridged for Teens and Adults The Count and his new wife, Haydee are headed to Alban...