Jay Schiffman's "Game of the Gods"

Jay Schiffman is an award-winning writer and creator of games, animations, apps, and web experiences. He was a practicing attorney for several years and has been involved in a number of successful businesses in the digital, educational, and technology spaces. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and children.

Here Schiffman dreamcasts an adaptation of Game of the Gods, his debut novel:

Game of the Gods is the story of Max Cone, a former military commander and judge in the Federacy. Max wants to leave war and politics behind, but when his family is taken he must fight. Max and a band of outcasts—a 13-year-old girl with mysterious powers, a math savant, a revolutionary turned drug addict, and the daughter of the world’s most powerful religious leader—must save their family, friends, and the world. Game of the Gods is a fast-paced action adventure that follows Max and his band as they travel through exotic lands and strange political landscapes.

In terms of bringing Game of the Gods to the screen, I would choose the little screen over the big one. I am an avid reader, but I am also an avid watcher of quality television. I will name just a few of my favorite shows to give a flavor of what I love to binge on: Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, The Sopranos, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Peaky Blinders, Black Mirror, and Westworld. Many of these fall into the sci-fi/fantasy category or gang-life category, but I enjoy any well-written drama. In fact, if you forced me to choose my favorite show, it wouldn’t be sci-fi, fantasy or gangs. I would say it’s Mad Men, mostly because it is the best written.

Many of my choices for casting are going to come from these shows I love. So, without further ado, on to central casting.

My main character and the first-person narrator of the story is Max Cone. He’s a military and political leader who is smart and stoic. He has lost his family and is in a great amount of emotional pain, but he struggles with his feelings. I would cast none other than Mad Men’s Don Draper, Jon Hamm.

For my favorite character, the uniquely talented 13-year-old Pique Rollins, I would hop in a time-machine and head back to 2011. I would cast a young teenage Maisie Williams, who plays Arya Stark and was about 14 when HBO aired its first Game of Thrones episode.

For the Holy Father, who is formal, mysterious, solemn, and maybe even a little evil, I would cast Jeremy Irons.

For Mavy Sway, the Holy Father’s smart, powerful, and beautiful disciple, I would cast another Game of Thrones actress, Nathalie Emmanuel.

And for Anther Vrig, the callous leader of the National Freedom Force, I would cast Breaking Bad’s Walter White, the actor Bryan Cranston.

I could do this all day, but there are a lot of characters in my book, and I think this gives a good idea of my AMC-HBO-Netflix dream team.

Visit Jay Schiffman's website.

--Marshal Zeringue