And on that note, I express my eternal gratitude to Brian Wright, Matt Thunell, Ro Donnelly, and Coral Wright of Netflix for locking into Nimue’s story early on and refusing to let go. Their ambitions for Cursed have exceeded my wildest dreams. Frank and I could not ask for better partners or truer advocates.
While the book was baking nicely, I was thrust into a writer’s room with a number of very talented and intelligent writers, and together we kicked the story tires of Cursed over several months, yielding some excellent scripts and ideas too good to pass up. So, I would be lying if I said some of those ideas hadn’t wandered back into the novel in certain areas. To my outstanding team of Leila Gerstein, Bill Wheeler, Robbie Thompson, Rachel Shukert, Janet Lin, script coordinator Michael Chang, and writer’s assistant Anna Chazelle (whose mother, medieval historian Celia Chazelle, offered great insight into the customs, culture, and diversity of the Middle Ages)—thank you from the bottom of my heart. Their collective fairy dust is sprinkled throughout these pages.
And while the Cursed novel and the Cursed Netflix series are two related but separate endeavors, the spiritual bridge between them was built by three people, starting with the extraordinarily talented Katherine Langford, who brings Nimue to heroic life every single day. Zetna Fuentes, our first block director, inspires all who are around her with her imagination, vision, and joy. And lastly, our producer, Alex Boden, juggles a colossal production with style and an unwavering commitment to quality.
My assistant, Micaela Jones, has been a lighthouse in a storm and her able coordination of script drafts, network notes, multiple copyedits, intercontinental relocations, editor’s notes, numerous novel drafts, and my occasional whining has helped me keep the important bits of my sanity.
And finally, my wife, Christina Wheeler, has such a beautiful smile and has managed to keep it, even as the Cursed train rumbled thrillingly and noisily through our lives, moving us thousands of miles apart for long stretches, and yet she remains my muse, my love, and my closest, dearest friend. I trust her creative instincts first and foremost, always and forever.
—T. W.
About the Author and Illustrator
FRANK MILLER is one of the most influential and awarded creators in comics, graphic novels, and film. He is the co-director of Sin City and an executive producer of 300 (both based on his graphic novel series), and his projects have been nominated for the Palme d’Or and have won the Harvey and Eisner awards, including those for Best Writer/Artist, Best Graphic Novel Reprint, Best Cartoonist, Best Cover Artist, Best Limited Series, and Best Short Story. In 2015, Miller was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Awards Hall of Fame for his lifetime contribution to the industry.
THOMAS WHEELER is a screenwriter and producer, and is the author of The Arcanum. He was the executive producer and creator of Empire for ABC and The Cape for NBC. He has written multiple features, including the Academy Award–nominated Puss in Boots. Together with Frank Miller, he is the co-creator and executive producer of Cursed, based upon this novel. He lives with his wife, Christina, and their children, Luca and Amelia, in Studio City, California.
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Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Illustrations copyright © 2019 by Frank Miller
Text copyright © 2019 by Thomas Wheeler
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Book design by Lucy Ruth Cummins
Jacket design by Lucy Ruth Cummins
Jacket illustration copyright © 2019 by Frankmiller Manufactured In China
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Miller, Frank, 1957– author. | Wheeler, Thomas (Screenwriter), author.
Title: Cursed / Frank Miller ; Thomas Wheeler.
Other titles: Cursed (Television program)
Description: First edition. | New York, New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, [2019]
Identifiers: LCCN 2018059662 (print) | ISBN 9781534425330 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781534425354 (eBook)
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.M568 Cur 2019 (print) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018059662
Table of Contents
Dedication
Epigraph
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author and Illustrator
Copyright
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