Stephen V. Ash's "A Massacre in Memphis"

Stephen V. Ash is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Tennessee. He is the author of Firebrand of Liberty, A Year in the South, and other books on the Civil War era.

Here Ash dreamcasts an adaptation of his latest book, A Massacre in Memphis: The Race Riot That Shook the Nation One Year After the Civil War:

A lot of actors would no doubt welcome a movie version of A Massacre in Memphis, for it features a large cast of interesting characters---black and white, male and female, old and young---and many dramatic episodes and gripping action sequences.

The setting is interesting, too: a Southern city one year after the Civil War, crowded with black people reveling in their new-found freedom, former Rebels resentful of defeat and emancipation, Irish immigrants struggling to survive and be accepted in America, and Yankee newcomers endeavoring to assert federal authority, help the freed people, or just make a buck.

In May 1866, long-simmering racial tensions in Memphis boiled over, resulting in a three-day race riot in which white mobs rampaged through black neighborhoods, shooting, beating, robbing, raping, and burning. Forty-six black people were murdered and every black church and school in the city was destroyed, along with many black homes.

One of the victims was fourteen-year-old Rachel Hatcher, a talented student in one of the freed people’s schools who dreamed of becoming a teacher. During the last hours of the riot, as she was trying to rescue a neighbor from his burning house, a white man put a bullet through her head. Her mother found her body moments later, but was unable to retrieve it before flames consumed it. A good choice to portray Rachel might be Quvenzhané Wallis.

One of the most colorful characters in the book is the city’s affable, alcoholic, Irish-American mayor, John Park. Quite drunk throughout the riot, he made a great show of trying to stop the violence while secretly sympathizing with the rioters. I can see Denis O’Hare playing him to perfection.

The commander of the U.S. army garrison in the city, General George Stoneman, likewise failed to distinguish himself during the riot. Having attained fame during the war as a dashing Union cavalry officer, Stoneman found his postwar assignment in Memphis boring and wished he was somewhere else. When the riot broke out he declined to get involved; only grudgingly and after much bloodshed and destruction did he deploy his troops and restore order. Sam Elliott, who did a fine job portraying a Union cavalry general in the film Gettysburg, might be a good pick for this role.

One of the bloodthirstiest rioters was a city policeman named David Roach. (Policemen in fact made up a large portion of the rioters.) Armed with pistol, club, and matches, he roamed around the city throughout the riot, setting fires and savagely assaulting black people. Although he’s really too old for the role, I’d love to see Jack Nicholson in it, reprising the demonic visage we all remember from The Shining.

These are only a few of the many good parts available in A Massacre in Memphis, should the casting call ever go out.

Learn more about A Massacre in Memphis at the publisher's website.

The Page 99 Test: Firebrand of Liberty.

Writers Read: Stephen V. Ash.

The Page 99 Test: A Massacre in Memphis.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jordan Dane's "Crystal Fire"

Jordan Dane makes up stuff for a living. She hears voices in her head and considers that to be a good thing.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of her latest YA novels, Indigo Awakening & Crystal Fire:

It’s always fun to imagine your book on the big screen. The Hunted series (Indigo Awakening & Crystal Fire) had me searching the Internet for faces to inspire me. Here are a few:

Gabriel Stewart – is eighteen and has a faint British accent. He’s tall and well-built, with long hair and intense eyes. He looks like a rocker and wears T-shirts from local rock bands in LA. Gabriel is the most powerful Crystal child. In Crystal Fire, he’ll face horrific moral challenges as the young rebel leader in charge of training teens to fight.

Actor Landon Liboiron has been an inspiration to me for a long time. I love this guy.

Rayne Darby – is a spunky, emancipated minor at seventeen. Her parents died and left her older sister Mia to deal with the family money, trust funds, and the aftermath of caring for their mentally troubled brother, Lucas. She and Lucas are very close. She rides a vintage Harley motorcycle and cares for her ‘roommate,’ her pet Iguana Floyd Zilla. In Crystal Fire, she will face her worst fears and not have psychic powers to help her.

Actor Nicola Peltz – I love the vulnerability in her eyes, yet I can see where she could show strength.

Lucas Darby is fifteen, tall and lanky, with long hair and beautiful gray eyes that match his sister Rayne’s. He’s an evolving Crystal child who has been stunted by his time locked up in a mental hospital. At his young age, he’s manifested his Crystal child abilities early and becomes a target for the Believers. Crystal children tend to be peace loving. He’s at odds with Kendra’s warrior nature. Once he sees how far the Believers go to destroy innocent lives, Lucas will be forced to take a stand he’s not prepared for.

Actor William Moseley is how I envisioned Lucas. He looks like the boy next door and could play the part of naïve Luke.

Kendra Walker is a modern day Joan of Arc at seventeen. She’s strong and rebellious, driven to protect the Indigos right to live. She connects with other indigos, draws them to her and tracks them, with a limited range. She’s a healer and uses herbs and her garden to not only feed her street family, but she also hears the voices of “the others” through her plants. Kendra believes Lucas is the next coming of Christ and would die to protect him. In Crystal Fire, she’ll face down her past to find a future worth living.

Actor Emma Watson is always amazing in anything she plays. The strength in her eyes, coupled with the compassion I imagine she has, became a big draw for me.

Rafael Santana is a street kid who communes with the dead and connects with the spirit world. After years of abuse at the hands of his father, when he left home after his old man nearly killed him, he’s lived on the streets of LA and learned harder lessons. Once he met Kendra, he found a new kind of home. At eighteen, he’s the heart and soul of Kendra’s Indigo family, but in Crystal Fire, Raphael has lost everything. Not even his beloved Kendra and her Indigo rebellion can get him to care about his own life.

Actor Diego Luna captured the defiance and vulnerability of Rafael. He looks believable as a street kid who’d die for those he loves, yet carry deep emotional scars.

Learn more about the book and author at Jordan Dane's website and Twitter perch.

--Marshal Zeringue

John C. Wright's "The Hermetic Millennia"

John C. Wright is an attorney turned SF and fantasy writer. He has published short fiction in Asimov’s SF and elsewhere, and wrote the Chronicles of Chaos, The Golden Age, and The War of Dreaming series. His novel Orphans of Chaos was a finalist for the Nebula Award in 2005.

Here Wright dreamcasts an adaptation of his 2012 novel, The Hermetic Millennia:

Here below are my choices for the casting of the characters in The Hermetic Millennia. Unfortunately, the cast list is rather long, so we will not be able to match all the names to faces. I took the liberty of selecting actors and actresses regardless of their age, or whether they were still living and working. Hence my first choice is for Menelaus Montrose to be played by Raymond Massey. He is not as homely as I describe Montrose to be, but then again, few actors are.

Next is Ximen del Azarchel, the Master of the World, to be played by Roger Delgado, the Master. There are several other Hermeticists in the story, of course, but he overshadows them.

Rania should be played by Rania. I realize Her Highness Rania of Jordan is not an actress, but then again she has the correct look and poise.

Let us do the rest in chronological order, starting with Trey Soaring Azurine, the Sylph, played by Ksenia Solo from Canada's Lost Girl.

Ben Kingsley as Sir Guy the Hospitalier.

Mickey the Witch played by Fiazon Love from Elf.

Irene Ryan, by herself, can play the other Witches from his era.

Jet Li as Yuen, the younger Chimera Alpha.

The older Chimera, Daae, to be played by Clint Eastwood after his hair went gray.

Lady Invinia is particularly hard to cast, but I will go with Eva Green.

Oenoe the Nymph is again difficult to cast. I select Tiffany Tang, who appeared in Chinese Paladin 3, which is perhaps my favorite television series to date. I saw it when I was in China. I am not sure where it is available here in the West.

For the other nymphs, nearly any Bollywood actresses or Japanese Gravure idols will do.

The Hormagaunt Soorm will have to be played by a special effect. I recommend Liam Neeson as the voice actor, only because I adored him in Rob Roy, a movie which I think I am the only person who saw.

Mentor Ull can be played, with some heavy makeup and trick photography, by Leo McKern, the British actor.

The Preceptor Illiance can be played by veteran character actor Lionel Jeffries.

Visit John C. Wright's website and blog.

--Marshal Zeringue

P.S. Duffy's "The Cartographer of No Man’s Land"

P.S. Duffy is the author of The Cartographer of No Man’s Land, a debut novel that takes place during the First World War in Nova Scotia and the Western Front in France. She lives in Rochester, MN, had a long career in neurologic communication disorders, and now splits her time between writing fiction, reading history, fiction, and essays, and writing in the neurosciences for Mayo Clinic. She says that at her age she is happy to have the word “debut” applied to anything she does.

Here Duffy dreamcasts an adaptation of The Cartographer of No Man’s Land:

The novel takes place on the Western Front in the First World War where Angus MacGrath, a reluctant lieutenant, searches for his brother-in-law Ebbin and for his own purpose, and in Nova Scotia where his son Simon Peter is coming of age and like all the characters in the book, struggles to navigate war’s uncertainties and lasting effects. People consistently comment on how visually evocative the book is and who should be in the movie and who should direct. I smile indulgently—a movie, ha ha—but okay, yes, of course. Absolutely!!

Director: Ron Howard

Cast:
Angus MacGrath, the main character: a younger (and maybe taller) Gabriel Byrne could portray Angus’s loneliness and strength, his poetic soul, his yearning, and his empathy-- without a trace of sentimentality. He’s sensuous, cerebral, and intense.

Simon Peter, Angus’s son: my oldest grandson, Aidan who at 11 years of age has Simon Peter’s sensitivity and openness of expression.

Hettie Ellen, Angus’s wife: Beautiful with a childlike face, Carey Mulligan could convey Hettie’s vulnerability, her secretive existence, and her later transformation, which, as Angus rightly suspects, has about it a false note: “Who was he to disturb such reinvention, to soil such brave efforts?” he thinks upon coming home to her shorn locks and her determination to run his father’s affairs. If there’s a sequel, Hettie will play a major role, I suspect.

Ebbin, Angus’s brother-in-law and friend: Ebbin is cocky, cheerful, breezy and a bit crazy. Maybe Joseph Gordon-Levitt could pull this role off.

Duncan MacGrath: Philip Seymour Hoffman could do a great job with Duncan, the grandfather who clings to moral absolutes to manage life’s losses. Once a captain of a fishing schooner off the Grand Banks, he is now the “owner of ships and the timber to build them.” He’s gruff, demanding, bitterly anti-Empire, and an aggressive pacifist. He is also vulnerable.

Mr. Heist: Paul Giamatti. With a trace of a German accent, he’d be perfect as the gentle Mr. Heist, the teacher, scholar and naturalist who refuses believe in the town’s growing need for a scapegoat.

Lady Bromley: Maggie Smith. Think Downton Abbey. Except Lady Bromley was not “to the manor born.” Her affections for Duncan rebuffed, she went to England as plain Hespera Church and returned married to Lord Edward Andrew Thurston Bromley, “a man of title, of many promises, older than she and thin as a rail.” He didn’t live up to his title, but Lady B. “assumed title enough for them both. And a bit of his British accent to boot.”

George Mather: Russell Crowe, younger and with silky hair down his back, could play George, the broken veteran, angry, unstable, and lost. Unable to communicate his truth, he is the voice of the war. Crowe would convey his anger and his humanity.

Publicover: Giovanni Ribisi as he looked in Saving Private Ryan. Publicover, a 19- year-old lieutenant, has been in the war for three years, which only increased his enthusiasm for a fight. But his brash, sometimes immature exterior belies the ice that runs in his veins when in the thick of it.

Captain Conlon: Colin Firth has the broad face and physique of Conlon and could capture his soft voice, his fatalistic musings, his leadership and kindness.

Juliette: I’m unfamiliar with French actresses, but Vera Farmiga, not your classic beauty, has the right look for Juliette and the dignity to pull off this somber, war-weary French widow who has no illusions but retains her capacity for love.

Learn more about the book and author at P. S. Duffy's website.

Writers Read: P. S. Duffy.

The Page 69 Test: The Cartographer of No Man's Land.

--Marshal Zeringue

Tea Krulos's "Heroes in the Night"

Tea Krulos is a freelance writer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Here he dreamcasts an adaptation of his new book, Heroes in the Night: Inside the Real Life Superhero Movement:

Heroes in the Night is non-fiction, one of those stories that proves truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. The book chronicles average, everyday people that belong to a secretive sub-culture, a movement of people calling themselves Real Life Superheroes (or RLSH.) They invent their own superhero identities and do charity events, activism, even patrol the streets looking for crime.

The two RLSH I spent the most time with were my own hometown Milwaukee heroes, the Watchman and Blackbird. I think we should have Val Kilmer and Edward Norton, respectively, for their roles. Seasoned actors, both with superhero experience (Batman Forever and The Incredible Hulk.)

Minnesota RLSH also were met several times. Geist (of Rochester, MN), the “Emerald Cowboy” could easily be played by comic book aficionado Nicolas Cage. Mr. Cage not only played Ghost Rider and Big Daddy (in Kick-Ass) but his name is derived from comic hero Luke Cage. He named his son, Kal-El, after Superman’s birth name. Razorhawk (of Minneapolis) is a RLSH and former wrestler with a signature wedge shaped mohawk. I say give the role to Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

While in Vancouver, BC, I met a RLSH elder (in his mid 60s) named Thanatos and wrote a chapter about him titled “The Man in the Green Skull Mask.” I think we could get quite a striking performance from Keith Carradine.

Phoenix Jones is a controversial superhero from Seattle that finds himself in the media spotlight often. In fact, he’s been criticized as being a one man media circus, drawing them in with his personality. As such, I think it would be best for Phoenix Jones to play himself.

Female RLSH appear throughout the book. One mentioned is Terrifica, who used to appear at Manhattan bars to help inebriated women get home safely. I think Kristen Wiig would be perfect for the role. Former Batgirl Alicia Silverstone would be great as Rock N Roll, who helps lead a team called the California initiative. The Initiative is actually a franchise and has teams in several states. I met the New York Initiative and I feel the three I wrote the most about -- Zero, Zimmer, and Dark Guardian -- would be well cast as Henry Rollins, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Karl Urban.

Knight Owl lives in Oregon and I met him four different times in four different cities. Patrick Wilson portrayed a similarly named Nite Owl in Watchmen, and why not add another owl to the resume here?

I found out that Real Life Supervillains also exist, although they are Internet based critic personalities. There is a field day of casting here, but I’ll mention that I think Paul Giamatti could bring a certain gravitas as Lord Malignance.

I really tried to not make the book be about me, but as the narrator, I do show up in the story a few times. And the person who should play me on the big screen is without a doubt Bruce Campbell.

Visit the Heroes in the Night blog and Facebook page.

--Marshal Zeringue

E. J. Copperman's "The Thrill of the Haunt"

E.J. Copperman is a mysterious figure, or has a mysterious figure, or writes figuratively in mysteries. In any event, a New Jersey native, Copperman has written for such publications as the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, American Baby and USA Weekend. Night of the Living Deed is the first E.J. Copperman novel. It was followed by An Uninvited Ghost, Old Haunts, A Wild Ghost Chase, Chance of a Ghost, and the newly released The Thrill of the Haunt.

Here Copperman shares some insights on a big screen adaptation of the Haunted Guesthouse mysteries:

I have absolutely no idea who should play any of the leads in any of my books. The Haunted Guesthouse series assiduously avoids detailed descriptions of the main characters, mostly because I’m not completely sure exactly what they look like, myself. So I can’t offer any suggestions, although any readers with ideas are free to indulge themselves. That’s sort of the deal with me: Think it’s anybody you like, and you’ll be right. The one character for whom I have an actor in mind, however—and I have no idea where this thought came from—is Detective Lieutenant Anita McElone, the local cop Alison Kerby sometimes goes to for advice or information. When I’m writing McElone, I’m always picturing—no, that’s not right; I’m actually hearing the voice of—Queen Latifah. So take from that what you may. No idea who should direct such a movie, but I do have a number of suggestions as to who might be best to write the screenplay. I don’t think I’d be my first choice, but I could certainly do the job. I’ve written a screenplay or two. Or twenty-three. Something like that.

Visit E. J. Copperman's website, blog, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

--Marshal Zeringue

Richard Toye's "Churchill's Empire"

Richard Toye studied at the Universities of Birmingham and Cambridge, and is currently Professor of Modern History at the University of Exeter. His books include Lloyd George and Churchill: Rivals for Greatness, Churchill's Empire: The World that Made Him and the World He Made, and Rhetoric: A Very Short Introduction. His new book is The Roar of the Lion: The Untold Story of Churchill's World War II Speeches.

Here Toye explains how he would turn Churchill's Empire into a movie:

I would have Emma Watson (of Harry Potter fame) play Bella and Philip Seymour Hoffman play Churchill.

Churchill's Empire

His greatest triumph was also his greatest tragedy.

Winston Churchill – a man of greatness who outlived his era. He vowed that he had ‘not become the King’s First Minister to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire’. But it was on his watch that the imperial house of cards began its collapse. This film focuses on three crucial years, from the humiliation of the fall of Singapore in 1942, to Churchill’s dismissal by the British voters in 1945. It shows how a great power was humbled even as it achieved military victory over the forces of the Axis. And it shows the personal torment of an imperial hero as his beloved Empire crumbled to the ground. After the adulation of the crowds on VE Day cruelly followed by a crushing election defeat, he is caught by the ‘black dog’ of depression as he realises that his personal triumph is hollow. ‘I have achieved everything only to achieve nothing’, he confesses. ‘The Empire I believed in has gone.’

The story is told mainly through the eyes of the twenty year old Bella Hislop (a fictional amalgam of real people). Called to serve as a new secretary to Prime Minister Churchill on the very day of the British surrender at Singapore, her first experiences are enough to make her want to quit. Churchill’s moods, rages reduce her to tears – until she learns to answer back. From then on, he begins to trust her and she learns to love him wholeheartedly – whilst at the same time she experiences the agony of a tragic wartime romance. But she soon begins to experience conflicts of loyalty. The man she is in love with, Ranald Macrae, is a liberal-minded colonial office civil servant, who tries to persuade her that Churchill’s racial attitudes are out of date. And as Churchill stubbornly resists moves for colonial freedom, Bella begins to suspect that his antiquated diehard approach is threatening to destroy the very Empire he loves. Yet we also come to understand why Churchill sees things the way he does. We see earlier episodes of his life through flashback: his early, brutal experiences of imperial warfare in India, Sudan and South Africa form the dramatic counterpoint to his modern day political dilemmas. This is a grittily realistic Churchill for the Twenty-First Century.

The Page 99 Test: Churchill's Empire.

Writers Read: Richard Toye.

--Marshal Zeringue

Keith Raffel's "A Fine And Dangerous Season"

An avid reader of crime fiction since picking up his first Hardy Boys mystery, Keith Raffel became a published author in 2006. Bookreporter called his Dot Dead “the most impressive mystery debut of the year.” Its 2009 sequel, Smasher, was a national bestseller and has been optioned for film. Raffel’s next two novels, Drop By Drop and A Fine and Dangerous Season, were top 10 bestsellers on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble’s ebook lists. Raffel also has a life outside the literary world. He has founded an award-winning Silicon Valley company, served as counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee, taught writing to college freshmen, run for Congress, worked at a DNA sequencing company, and supported himself gambling at the racetrack.

Here Raffel dreamcasts an adaptation of A Fine and Dangerous Season:

Well, it’s not hard to get us writers spinning off into the realm of unreality – spending time in Fantasy Land is what we do for a living. Since Thomas & Mercer published A Fine And Dangerous Season this month, it must be about time to start casting the movie, right?

How about a little reminder of the plot of Fine and Dangerous? Twenty-three-year-old John F. Kennedy is spending the fall quarter of 1940 at Stanford as a special student. (That’s true in the real world, too.) He meets law student Nate Michaels who is in some respects JFK’s mirror image: secular Jew rather than observant Catholic; San Franciscan rather than Bostonian; son of a crusading left-wing union official rather than of a buccaneering capitalist. Opposites attract and the two become best friends until an irrevocable falling out. Twenty-two years later, in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis, now-President Kennedy needs Michaels’ help to avert nuclear war.

So (drumroll)…. Here’s what I came up with in my daydream of playing movie producer.

Casting JFK is the key to the movie. My wife was watching TV the other night and I saw Dr. McDreamy on Grey’s Anatomy. Patrick Dempsey is charismatic, outgoing, attractive to women, and even close to the right age. (JFK was just about 46 at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis.) On top of that Dempsey has even had practice in the role. He played the lead in JFK: Reckless Youth back in 1993. (Here's a clip.)

So now who is going to be Nate Michaels? Intense. Introverted. Intellectual. How about Robert Downey Jr.? Right age, too.

Back in 1962, Jackie Kennedy was 30 years old. So we need someone dark and glamorous and young. How about Anne Hathaway? I really do think there's a resemblance there, don't you?

At Stanford in 1940, Nate has a girlfriend he has no right to have. She’s Miriam Coblentz, 19 years old and blonde. Dianna Agron plays someone around that age on Glee even though she’s 27. She's Jewish and from the Bay Area, just like Miriam. Let’s go with her.

What about JFK’s right hand man, brother Bobby? He’s 37, shorter than JFK and toothier too. I haven’t seen Tobey Maguire around lately. Do you think he’s available?

Whoever plays the cigar-chomping General Curtis LeMay, head of the Air Force, should have the inside track for a supporting actor Oscar. It’s a plum of a part. He’s done with 30 Rock, so let’s give it to Alec Baldwin. (Do you think he's willing to color his hair?)

Nate’s back channel to Moscow runs through Maxim Volkov, head of the KGB in Washington. There’s no dancing, but I’d still like to make an offer to Mikhail Baryshnikov.

At the end of the book, Nate finds himself leaping across the roofs of Washington with Russian femme fatale Natalya Leontieva while two agents of Soviet military intelligence give chase. I’ve heard her Russian accent on Castle. Sounded good to me. Come on down, Stana Katic.

Don’t like any of my choices? Fine. Am open to any bankable actors you might suggest. And if there are any producers out there with a few tens of millions to spend? Get in touch.

In the meantime, you could always try (gasp!) reading the book.

Learn more about the book and author at Keith Raffel's website, blog, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

--Marshal Zeringue

Renée Rosen's "Dollface"

As clichéd as it sounds, Renée Rosen is a former advertising copywriter who always had a novel in her desk drawer. When she saw the chance to make the leap from writing ad copy to fiction, she jumped at it. A confirmed history and book nerd, the author loves all things old, all things Chicago and all things written.

Rosen is the author of Every Crooked Pot and Dollface, A Novel of the Roaring Twenties.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of Dollface:

Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve played “Central Casting” with Dollface. When I started working on this book about ten years ago, I had it all mapped out, only now I fear some of my picks are too old for the roles! But back in the day, Natalie Portman was a dead ringer for Vera, Adrien Brody was Shep Green, Sean Penn was the perfect Hymie Weiss, Scarlett Johansson was Dora and Bradley Cooper with dark hair could be Tony Liolli. For Vera’s mother I could see Susan Sarandon (it’d be good to get her and Natalie Portman together again!) And I’m not sure where Robert Downey Jr. fits in, but if he wants to jump on board, I’ll take him.

As far as directors go, I would love to see what Martin Scorsese (the master of gangster films) could do with this material since it’s told from the woman’s POV. I also love Robert De Niro’s directing in A Bronx Tale. Aside from those two, I wouldn’t be opposed to Robert Redford or Ron Howard or Penny Marshall or, as long as we’re dreaming here, how about Alfred Hitchcock?

Learn more about the book and author at Renée Rosen's website, blog, and Facebook page.

The Page 99 Test: Every Crooked Pot.

--Marshal Zeringue

Leslie Morgan Steiner's "The Baby Chase"

Leslie Morgan Steiner lives in Washington, DC with her husband and three young children. Her 2009 memoir about surviving domestic violence, Crazy Love, was a New York Times bestseller, People Pick, Book of the Week for The Week magazine, and subject of the first TED Talk by a domestic violence survivor.

Here Steiner dreamcasts an adaptation of her new book, The Baby Chase: How Surrogacy Is Transforming the American Family:

If The Baby Chase, which explores surrogacy and a young couple's journey to India to have babies, were made into a movie, Scarlett Johansson would play Rhonda Wile, the beautiful blond Arizona nurse who always wanted children, only to discover at age 35 that she couldn't bear her own because of a rare condition where a woman has two vaginas and two uteruses. Her husband, the tall, handsome firefighter Gerry Wile whose right calf and shoulder are covered with tattoos representing Indian gods, would be played by the tall, handsome Channing Tatum.

I would want beautiful Bollywood actresses to play the four Indian surrogates Rhonda and Gerry Wile worked with through the Mumbai clinic, Surrogacy India. The Indian doctors who co-founded Surrogacy India would be played by the beautiful Freida Pinto from Slumdog Millionaire, and Kal Penn from Harold & Kumar.

And the three beautiful kids the Wiles came home with?

I would want Blaze, Dylan and Jett Wile to play themselves.

Read more about The Baby Chase at Leslie Morgan Steiner's website and Facebook page.

--Marshal Zeringue