Tina Connolly's "Silverblind"

Tina Connolly lives with her family in Portland, Oregon, in a house that came with a dragon in the basement and blackberry vines in the attic. Her stories have appeared all over, including in Strange Horizons, Lightspeed, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

Here Connolly dreamcasts an adaptation of Silverblind, the latest book in the historical fantasy series that began with the Nebula finalist Ironskin:

I said when I did this for Copperhead that it was challenging, but I dunno, I'm starting to get into it!

For Dorie, the shapeshifting Indiana Jones-type who spends much of the book transformed into a boy – My mind jumped immediately to Imogen Stubbs in the delightful 1996 production of Twelfth Night. I loved her as Viola. Now Dorie is not just cross-dressing, she is actually shapeshifting. So I could cast two actors. But I would hate to take half the role away from my female lead, and I think it would be more compelling to see the same actor play both parts. I'm going to go with Mia Wasikowska. She has the fey look of Dorie, and I think she could pull off the boy half—and of course, I think she's quite talented.

Tam, the young adventurer with a dark past. I first thought that Chris Evans might be interesting in this role—I’ve really been enjoying his work lately. But he would be too old for Tam, and he's apparently planning to retire from acting. So then I thought of Sam Claflin and now I’m sold on him. He was so interesting as Finnick Odair in The Hunger Games, and I think he'd bring a good mix of brains + brawn to the part.

Jack, Dorie's best friend, a single-minded, driven artist – I’d love to see Nicole Beharie from Sleepy Hollow in the role. I admit I’d imagined Jack as tall (contrasting with slight Dorie and tiny Stella), but I think Beharie would really bring on the obsession.

Stella, a half-dwarvven friend – she's exceptionally hard-working and not fussy or precious, but can also transform to a glamour girl at the drop of a hat. Melissa Rauch from The Big Bang Theory would be pretty spot on.

Jane & Helen - I cast these two in Copperhead as Keira Knightley and Carey Mulligan, respectively. Now that they're 18 years older, I get to recast them! Well, I’ve been busy with book deadlines and a baby all year, but we did just binge watch Sherlock, so I’m going to pluck Amanda Abbington (who has been so awesome this season as Mary Morstan) for Helen and Lara Pulver (who was fantastic as Irene Adler) for Jane. (No, Jane is no dominatrix, but she is smart, feminist, and long past caring whether people like her, and I think Pulver would be excellent at all those things.)

Visit Tina Connolly's website, blog, and Twitter perch.

My Book, The Movie: Copperhead.

The Page 69 Test: Copperhead.

Writers Read: Tina Connolly.

The Page 69 Test: Silverblind.

--Marshal Zeringue