Stephen Aryan's "Battlemage"

Stephen Aryan was born in 1977 and was raised by the sea in northeast England. After graduating from Loughborough University, he started working in marketing, and for some reason he hasn't stopped. A keen podcaster, lapsed gamer and budding archer, when not extolling the virtues of Babylon 5, he can be found drinking real ale and reading comics.

Here he dreamcasts an adaptation of the first book in his Age of Darkness trilogy, Battlemage:

I never create characters with actors in mind, but when I look back I can sometimes picture certain actors playing the roles. This does change, however, at the moment these are who I can see playing the leads in Battlemage, the first book in my Age of Darkness trilogy.

Balfruss - I picture John Rhys-Davies because Balfruss is slightly older and has lived a bit when we first meet him. He’s middle-aged, his hair is thinning on top and there are patches of white in his beard. He’s a bit weary and battered and John Rhys-Davies fits the bill perfectly. He’s also not that physically intimidating and is not rippling with muscles, but when he speaks people listen, and it is the same with Balfruss. There’s a commanding presence to JRD that also fits.

Talandra – Probably someone like Liv Tyler, who embodies the inner strength of the character. Talandra uses her mind to defeat her enemies, not her muscles, and she’s working to unravel the war away from the battlefield. I really like the way Liv plays characters that are both feminine and tough.

Garvey – He’s a spy and therefore a bit of a chameleon, so in some ways he’s the most difficult to cast. It needs to be someone who can slip into any role and disappear. Maybe Stephen Lang who can disappear into the make-up and become a cowardly sneak, like in Tombstone, but in something like Avatar he’s a menacing, terrifying marine.

Vargus – He’s an old soldier who is long past his prime. So I would have to go for an old, gruff, world-weary guy, maybe someone like Kris Kristofferson, who did a great job as Whistler in Blade that made me consider him. Or maybe someone slightly younger who is also great at playing rough characters with a heart, like Kurt Russell.

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--Marshal Zeringue