''Babylon Babies'' is the third novel by French-born Canadian writer
Maurice G. Dantec, published in 1999. It follows ''
La Sirène rouge
''La Sirène rouge'' (''The Red Siren'') is a 1993 crime novel by the French writer Maurice G. Dantec. It tells the story of a girl who confesses to the police that her mother is a dangerous murderer, and is joined by a former soldier as she goes ...
'' (1993) and ''
Les Racines du mal
''Les Racines du mal'' (''The Roots Of Evil'') is a 1995 crime novel by the French writer Maurice G. Dantec. Set in the near future, it tells the story of a knowledge engineer who is brought in by the police to find a group of serial killers. He ...
'' (1995).
Plot
Set in 2014, the main character, Hugo Cornelius Toorop (hero of ''The Red Siren''), is a
mercenary
A mercenary is a private individual who joins an armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather t ...
whose mission is to escort a young woman with
schizophrenia
Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...
, Marie Zorn, from
Siberia
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
to
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
on behalf of a
sect
A sect is a subgroup of a religion, religious, politics, political, or philosophy, philosophical belief system, typically emerging as an offshoot of a larger organization. Originally, the term referred specifically to religious groups that had s ...
. It appears that the young woman is the
surrogate mother
Surrogacy is an arrangement whereby a woman gets pregnant and gives birth on behalf of another person or couple who will become the child's legal parents after birth. People pursue surrogacy for a variety of reasons such as infertility, danger ...
of
twins
Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two e ...
, representing the next stage of
human evolution
''Homo sapiens'' is a distinct species of the hominid family of primates, which also includes all the great apes. Over their evolutionary history, humans gradually developed traits such as Human skeletal changes due to bipedalism, bipedalism, de ...
.
Publication
The novel was published by
Gallimard on 12 March 1999 in the collection La Noire. A paperback edition was then published on 4 April 2001 in the collection Folio SF.
Film adaptation
Mathieu Kassovitz
Mathieu Kassovitz () is a French actor, film director, film producer and screenwriter. He has won three César Awards: Most Promising Actor for '' See How They Fall'' (1994), and Best Film and Best Editing for '' La Haine'' (1995). He also re ...
and Éric Besnard developed an English-language adaptation of Dantec's novel with financing from
StudioCanal
StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., and Canal+ Production and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film & television production and distribution company which is a ...
and
Twentieth Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film studio, film production and Film distributor, distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios (division), Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the ...
.
Vin Diesel
Mark Sinclair (born July 18, 1967), known professionally as Vin Diesel, is an American actor and film producer. One of the world's highest-grossing actors, he is best known for portraying Dominic "Dom" Toretto in the '' Fast & Furious'' fra ...
was cast to play the lead, alongside
Mark Strong
Mark Strong (born Marco Giuseppe Salussolia; 5 August 1963) is a British actor best known for his film roles such as Prince Septimus in '' Stardust'' (2007), Archibald in '' RocknRolla'' (2008), Lord Henry Blackwood in ''Sherlock Holmes'' (200 ...
,
Michelle Yeoh
Yeoh Choo Kheng (; born 6 August 1962), known professionally as Michelle Yeoh (), is a Malaysian actress. In a career spanning over four decades, Yeoh has appeared Michelle Yeoh filmography, in projects encompassing a wide array of genres, a ...
, and
Charlotte Rampling
Tessa Charlotte Rampling (born 5 February 1946) is an English actress. An icon of the Swinging London, Swinging Sixties, she began her career as a model. She was cast in the role of Meredith in the 1966 film ''Georgy Girl'', which starred Lynn ...
.
See also
*
The Red Siren
References
External links
*
1999 Canadian novels
1999 science fiction novels
Cyberpunk novels
Canadian science fiction novels
Fiction set in 2013
Canadian novels adapted into films
Novels by Maurice G. Dantec
Science fiction novels adapted into films
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