I believe that it is a good idea to make a sequel to our so beloved Godfather Trilogy.
Here is my suggestion about the storyline :

I think that it would be very interesting to explore how the mafia has been functioning in the last 10 years. So instead of telling the rise of Vito Corleone and the Fall of Micheal, the fourth book could tell how Vincent holds together the remains of the Corleone "Empire" in the late 90's, leading to the unstoppable fall of the family. MIcheal I think should be dead already and not be part of the fourth book. Neither should there be a funeral scene. In my opinion "Fall of the Corleones" should be set in the year 1994.
This fourth book shall be seen as the beginning of a new era in the Corleone Chronicles. If Book four goes back to the "lost" years of the 1930', it would ruin Parts I and II. I see Part III as an intermezzo to make place for the new "Vincent" era.
To make the new Parts as good as I and II, they must be written in a way to make it interesting for modern people. Not trying to take on the principles and ideas of the original novel.

Your partner Jerou

Sounds good, but I believe Michael died in 1996. I'm not positive though.

nice points Jerou! i agree totally with the fact that retelling the 1930s era would spoil parts 1 and 2. i think that if it happens, then it should be made as if it's a totally new film altogether. this way, if it is a flop, it won't bring the trilogy down.

mick

ps. welcome to the boards, if you post like you have in this thread you'll get along just fine!!

pps. any reason why you decided it should be set in '94? why not '93 or '95?

The reason why I set the story in 1994, is a rather personal one. As I am a huge fan of Star Wars, I choose 1994, because it is the year where Mr. Lucas started writing Episode I. But I also think that 1994 is a good year, so we see Vincent already in his 50's bringing the Saga to a near end.
Book 4 should be the last one bieng called "The Godfather", all the other books after (If book 4 is succesful, there will certainly be one or two more books) should be entitled "The Sequel to the Gofather Saga", or something like that. Because they will probably talk about an era after Vincent, unless they introduce a new succesor in Book 4.

Your parner Jerou

ps. Thank you for the welcome Mick

Whats prop 14?