J. Aaron Sanders's "Speakers of the Dead"

J. Aaron Sanders is Associate Professor of English at Columbus State University where he teaches literature and creative writing. He holds a PhD in American Literature from The University of Connecticut and an MFA in Fiction from The University of Utah. His stories have appeared in Carolina Quarterly, Gulf Coast, Quarterly West, and Beloit Fiction Journal, among others.

His first novel, Speakers of the Dead: A Walt Whitman Mystery (Penguin Random House) features a young Walt Whitman’s as he finds himself in the middle of body-snatchers, medical students, and the law.

Here Sanders responds to the invitation to dreamcast Speakers of the Dead:

I’ve been waiting for someone to ask! One thing I did early on in the writing process was collect images of actors I imagined playing my characters to help me imagine them as three-dimensional beings instead of illustrated two-dimensional people from the past. Here is that cast:

Walt Whitman: James Franco or Ryan Gosling

Henry Saunders: Henry Cavill

Elizabeth Blackwell: Anne Hathaway

Samuel Clement: Sean Bean

Frankie Clement: Margaret Qualley

Isaiah Rynders: Paul Giamatti

Marie Zakrzewska: Ruth Wilson

Lena Stowe: Catherine Keener

Abraham Stowe: Dominic West

Some of my favorite films are directed by Danny Boyle: Trainspotting and Sunshine to name two. I think he brings an interesting energy to a film that would be fun to see with a historical mystery. And he often works with John Murphy on the score.

Visit J. Aaron Sanders's website.

The Page 69 Test: Speakers of the Dead.

Writers Read: J. Aaron Sanders.

--Marshal Zeringue