The Nebula-winning novel has been optioned by Bill Mechanic (executive producer of The New World) and Pandemonium Films (Coraline). It is in pre-production with plans to begin filming in Spring 2012.

"Inspired by tales of ancient sea-monsters, McIntyre spins a marvelous alternative-history fable about greed and goodness, power and pathos set at the 17th century court of Louis XIV, France's glittering Sun King.... McIntyre vividly re-creates a

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During the late seventeenth century, Louis XIV's natural philosopher and explorer, Father Yves de la Croix, does what no one has done for four hundred years: he brings a living sea monster to land. Thus begins a stunning fantasy, a journey into science and superstition, and an alternate history in which Yves and his sister, Marie-Josèphe, a lady-in-waiting with her own finely tuned intelligence and insatiable curiosity-struggle to learn from and...

While King Louis XIV of France believes that the mermaid he has obtained holds the key to immortality, his move is further complicated by the discovery of the same creature by his illegitimate daughter.