Emily Devenport's "Medusa Uploaded"

Emily Devenport has written several novels under various pseudonyms including one which was a finalist for the Philip K. Dick award. She currently studies Geology and works as a volunteer at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix.

Here Devenport dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, Medusa Uploaded:

I love movies. I'm not one of those writers who worries that a movie will ruin her story. I often think about actors and actresses (sometimes also politicians and other public figures) when I'm writing. And if you've read Medusa Uploaded you will have noticed that I also tend to think about film scores.

I had a few different actresses in mind when I imagined Oichi, but the gal who showed up the most in my head was Ruth Negga. You may recall her from Agents of Shield and Preacher. For Lady Sheba, I always pictured Vanessa Williams. I adore Nichelle Nichols, and I'd love to see her playing a juicy villainess, so I think she'd be fabulous as Lady Gloria. For Oichi's mother, I'd like to see Michele Yeoh.

For Gennady Mironenko, I always picture Neal McDonough from Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow. I love that guy. And he would be the only “white guy” in the entire cast. Though I have to admit, when I was writing Baylor and Ryan Charmayne, I had a couple of white politicians in mind. I don't want to say who they are, but feel free to fill in the rascals of your choice. In their defense, they started out as straight-forward jerks in the beginning, but they develop layers as the story unfolds. Anyone casting them should bear that in mind.

Mehcad Brooks (from Supergirl) is a good template for Nuruddin. Captain Nemo should be Sendhil Ramamurthy (Heroes). And now that Sam Weber has depicted Medusa so beautifully on the cover, I can't see her any other way. She would take a lot of CGI, but I hope that her face would belong to a real actress, someone to lend a spark of life to the AI – maybe Chiaki Kuriyama (who played Gogo Yubari in Kill Bill).

As long as this is a wish list, I may as well go for broke and say I'd rather have Medusa Uploaded be a TV series. That way, everyone gets more screen time, the plot has a chance to unfold slowly, and all sorts of side plots I never imagined can grow naturally.

Plus there's more time to include more music...

Visit Emily Devenport's blog.

The Page 69 Test: Medusa Uploaded.

Writers Read: Emily Devenport.

--Marshal Zeringue