The ''Ologies'' are a series of illustrated fantasy books presented in a fictional encyclopedic format. The series is primarily edited and authored by

Dugald Steer Dugald A. Steer B.A. (Brist), S.A.S.D. (born 1965) is an English children's writer. Biography Early life and education Dugald Steer was born in 1965 and grew up in Surrey. He completed a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in English literature and ...

. The books, which are intended for young readers, are published by Templar Publishing in the United Kingdom, Five Mile Press in Australia and

Candlewick Press Candlewick Press, established in 1992 and located in Somerville, Massachusetts, is part of the Walker Books group. The logo depicting a bear carrying a candle is based on Walker Books's original logo. Sebastian Walker launched Walker Books fro ...

in the United States. They have been very popular in sales; the first book, '' Dragonology'', remained on the ''New York Times'' children's bestsellers list for 76 weeks.

Format

Each of the books is given a fictional "author", and purport to be "lost" journals of fictional investigators. 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." 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 Anne Yvonne Gilbert (born 1950/1951) is a British artist and book illustrator. Her cover design of Frankie Goes To Hollywood's 1983 single "Relax" has been described as "one of the most famous record sleeves of all time". While much of her caree ...

, John Howe, Tomislav Tomic, G. Hunt, R. Sella, and Carole Thomann.

Works

Books

*'' Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons'' (2003) **''Working with Dragons: A Course in Dragonology'' (2004) **''The Dragonology Handbook: A Practical Course in Dragons'' (2005) **''Drake's Comprehensive Compendium of Dragonology'' (2009) *'' Egyptology: Search for the Tomb of Osiris'' (2004) **'' The Egyptology Handbook: A Course in the Wonders of Egypt'' **''An Egyptologist's Code-Writing Kit'' *'' Wizardology: The Book of the Secrets of Merlin'' (2005) ** ''The Wizardology Handbook: A Course for Apprentices'' **''A Guide to Wizards of the World'' **''A Wizard's Code Writing Kit'' *'' Pirateology: A Pirate Hunter's Companion'' (2006) **''Captain William Lubber's Pirateology Handbook'' **''A Pirate's Guide and Model Ship'' **''The Pirateology Handbook: A Course in Pirate Hunting'' (2007) *''Mythology: Greek Gods, Heroes, & Monsters'' (2007) **''The Mythology Handbook'' *''Monsterology: The Complete Book of Fabulous Beasts'' (2008) **''Dr. Ernest Drake's Collector's Library'' **''Working with Monsters'' **''The Monsterology Handbook: A Practical Course in Monsters'' (2008) *''Spyology: The Complete Book of Spycraft'' (2008) *''Oceanology: The True Account of the Voyage of the Nautilus'' (2009) **''The Oceanology Handbook: A Course for Underwater Explorers'' (2010) *''Vampireology: The True History of the Fallen Ones'' (2010) *''Alienology: The Complete Book of Extraterrestrials'' (2010) *''Illusionology: The Secret Science of Magic'' (2012) *''Dinosaurology: The Search for a Lost World'' (2013) *''Dungeonology - ''made in collaboration with ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...

'' (2016) *''Knightology: A True Account of the Most Valiant Knights'' (2017) *''Ghostology: A True Revelation of Spirits, Ghouls, and Hauntings'' (2020)

Video games

In October 2007,

Codemasters The Codemasters Software Company Limited (trade name: Codemasters) is a British video game developer based in Southam, England, which is a subsidiary of American corporation Electronic Arts. Founded by brothers Richard and David Darling in Oct ...

announced a licensing agreement to create

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...

for the Wii and Nintendo DS based on '' Dragonology'', '' Wizardology'' and '' Pirateology''. Nik Nak was to develop the Wii titles.

Film adaptations

In 2008,

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

acquired the film rights to the '' Dragonology'' series, with Leonard Hartman set to write and executive produce the adaptation. In August 2012, it was reported that

Alex Kurtzman Alexander Hilary Kurtzman (born September 7, 1973) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for his work on the ''Star Trek'' franchise since 2009, co-writing the scripts to ''Transformers'' (2007), '' Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' and ...

and

Roberto Orci Roberto Gaston Orcí (born July 20, 1973) is a Mexican-American film and television screenwriter and producer. He began his longtime collaboration with Alex Kurtzman while at school in California. Together they have been employed on television ...

would produce the film for Universal. In October 2012, it was reported that

Carlos Saldanha Carlos Saldanha (; born 24 January 1965) is a Brazilian animator, director, producer, and voice actor of animated films who worked with Blue Sky Studios until its closure in 2021. He was the director of '' Ice Age: The Meltdown'' (2006), '' Ice A ...

, the director of the ''

Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

'' and ''

Rio Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

'' films, was developing for

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

and Blue Sky Studios an animated feature film based on '' Alienology: The Complete Book of Extraterrestrials''. On January 31, 2018, Paramount Pictures announced they were in the process of developing a film franchise centered around all 13 ''Ology'' books, by setting up a writers room currently consisting of

Jeff Pinkner Jeff Pinkner (born November 16, 1964) is an American television and movie writer and producer. Life and career Born to a Jewish family,Michael Chabon Michael Chabon ( ; born May 24, 1963) is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, DC, he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, gr ...

, Lindsey Beer, Joe Robert Cole, Nicole Perlman and

Christina Hodson Christina Hodson is a British screenwriter, known for ''Bumblebee'' (2018) and ''Birds of Prey'' (2020). Her 2016 film '' Shut In'' appeared on the 2012 Black List, an annual list of Hollywood's best-liked unproduced screenplays, as have two ...

. 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 Akiva J. Goldsman (born July 7, 1962) is an American filmmaker. He is known for making motion pictures and adaptations of popular novels. Goldsman's filmography as a screenwriter includes '' The Client''; '' Batman Forever'' and its sequel '' ...

will act as overseer and producer of the franchise.

References

External links

Ology World
official website
Candlewick Press - Catalog - OlogiesAnne Yvonne Gilbert, Ology Illustrator
{{Authority control Book series introduced in 2003 Fantasy books by series Series of children's books Encyclopedias of fictional worlds