Saturday, January 3, 2015

Chris Marie Green's "Shadows Till Sunrise"

Chris Marie Green is the author of the urban fantasy Vampire Babylon series and the Jensen Murphy, Ghost for Hire series, which features a fun-loving spirit from the 80s. Her newest novel is Another One Bites the Dust.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of Shadows Till Sunrise, the first Lilly Meratoliage novel:
Shadows Till Sunrise is what you might call an “urban fantasy romance.” You could also say it’s a “romantic paranormal thriller.” Any way you put it, it’s about a woman with a pair of white magic bayou boots and memory loss, plus a bloodthirsty phantom in New Orleans that she and a psychic are trying to stop before the monster kills again.

I should tell you that the heroine, Lilly Meratoliage, was a very bad girl in a previous series of mine called Vampire Babylon. She started off as a guardian/keeper for Dracula, then after failing at that, was “retired” by her family into a coma, then was pulled out as a mindless revenant instructed to kill kill kill. In the end, she escaped to Louisiana, where a white witch revived her with the help of some charmed boots. Unfortunately, these boots feed off Lilly, sapping her of most of her memories every sunrise.

What a life.

When I created Lilly for the London trilogy portion of Vampire Babylon, I saw her as a young Billie Piper, who would bring a sassy British (and posh) attitude to all the butt kicking Lilly does as she tries to redeem her past by doing some good deeds now. These days, Felicity Jones might fit the bill—with a different, blond hair-do!

And Phillipe Angier, the psychic? He’s a modern pirate all the way. If Colin O’Donahue from TV’s Once Upon a Time would grow out his hair for the part, I could see him adapting a New Orleans ‘tude and charming Lilly with his wiles.

The white witch, Amari, would be an interesting dreamcast. This is a bayou woman who is rather mysterious, and she won’t even reveal her age. She looks young but acts as if she has years of experience behind her. Also, she wears a blindfold with two dark burns where her eyes would be. Natalie Dormer from Game of Thrones would have such fun with this.

As for the phantom that’s running around New Orleans on a killing spree? If I had my way, I’d pull Jack Gleeson, another Game of Thrones pro, out of his academic pursuits and have him do just one more acting job here. He was brilliant as King Joffrey—spoiled and awful, but somehow making us think he could be human underneath his enfant terrible exterior. Maybe.

Naturally, the viney boots would be played by CGI effects, although I would love it if practical effects could be used! (Hey, if Star Wars is going back to those, then I want the same!)
Visit Chris Marie Green's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

--Marshal Zeringue