Georgie Blalock's "The Other Windsor Girl"

Georgie Blalock is an amateur historian and movie buff who loves combining her different passions through historical fiction, and a healthy dose of period piece films. When not writing, she can be found prowling the non-fiction history section of the library or the British film listings on Netflix. Blalock writes historical romance under the name Georgie Lee.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, The Other Windsor Girl:

I love classic films and, if I could make it happen, I’d have classic film stars take the leads in a movie adaptation of The Other Windsor Girl.

Vivien Leigh, who played Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, would have made a great Princess Margaret. She had the sass and the attitude and the British class to have pulled it off. She was petite like the Princess but with the same will of steel hidden by a charming smile.

Paulette Goddard would have been perfect as Vera. Her role in The Women demonstrated her razor sharp wit combined with youth but she wasn’t naïve. She knew when to hold back and keep secrets but she also knew when to stand out and make her presence felt.

A young Ronald Coleman from A Tale of Two Cities would have been an excellent Rupert, Vera’s cousin who helps Vera become a member of the Princess Margaret Set, a group of young aristocrats and socialites who are intimates of the princess. Ronald Coleman’s worldliness and charm were exactly like Rupert’s.

Gary Cooper from High Noon would play Dr. Dominic Reynolds, Vera’s American love interest. Dominic has a sense of humor about life but he is very serious about being a doctor and about Vera living up to her potential. He is suave but with that touch of American west toughness and Gary Cooper could have easily brought him to life.

Visit Georgie Blalock's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jennifer Roberson's "Life and Limb"

Jennifer Roberson has a BS in journalism with extended majors in British history and anthropology. She spent her final semester in London on an American studies program as an adult student in 1982, and while there, two days after her 28th birthday, received a telegram (pre-email!) from her agent informing her DAW Books had bought what became Shapechangers, the first in her Chronicles of the Cheysuli fantasy series. Her collaboration with Melanie Rawn and Kate Elliott, The Golden Key, was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award. In addition to the new Blood & Bone series, she has published eight Cheysuli novels, the Sword-Dancer Saga (#8 to come) and three of four volumes in the Karavans universe. The second volume in Blood & Bone is Sinners and Saints, scheduled for publication in March of 2021. Hobbies include showing dogs, and creating mosaic artwork and jewelry. She lives in Arizona with a collection of cats and Cardigan Welsh Corgis.

Here Roberson dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, Life and Limb:

Life and Limb is the first volume in an ongoing urban fantasy series about the End of Days, and two perfectly ordinary young men who are strangers to one another have been conscripted to join the heavenly host in a battle against Lucifer’s spec ops troops: demons who now inhabit characters and creatures from fiction, history, myths, legends, and folklore. But the angels have agendas, and Gabe and Remi—an ex-con biker and Texas cowboy—must also come to grips with the unwelcome discovery that they themselves are not after all entirely human, even as they climb the steepest of learning curves in an attempt to save the world.

Gabe and Remi are not related on a biological level, but because of their true heritage they do bear a resemblance to one another. Gabe is a long-haired biker in boots and black leather, while Remi is a Texas cowboy in boots and blue denim. Both have very dark hair and tanned skin, and I would love to see Jason Momoa, Adrian Paul in his Highlander days for coloring and eye-candy, and Timothy Olyphant (all that wit and dry delivery) tossed into a blender. The end result would be Gabe and Remi—and quite delicious.

And as for the man they call Grandaddy, well, he most definitely is Sam Elliott!

Director? Joss Whedon. He created, directed, and wrote Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and on the big screen The Avengers, and Avengers: Age of Ultron. He has a sense of drama but also imbues his works with whimsy and humor; sly, dry banter; and whip-smart characters. That sums up my goal with Life and Limb.

Visit Jennifer Roberson's website.

The Page 69 Test: Life and Limb.

--Marshal Zeringue

JP Gritton’s "Wyoming"

JP Gritton’s awards include a Cynthia Woods Mitchell fellowship, a DisQuiet fellowship and the Donald Barthelme prize in fiction. His stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Black Warrior Review, Greensboro Review, New Ohio Review, Southwest Review, Tin House and elsewhere. His translations of the fiction of Brazilian writer Cidinha da Silva are forthcoming in InTranslation.

Wyoming is his first novel.

Here Gritton reflects on adapting the novel for the big screen:

In high school I gravitated toward nerdy, artistically inclined types, and together we completed a slow orbit of the theater and film programs. Some of us were in set design, and some of us did lighting and sound, and some of us fretted and strutted (in minor roles, of course) upon the stage. Not so long ago, a film I co-wrote and starred in back in high school appeared on the local-access television channel.

It was baffling. Where had they found it, this thing I only half-remembered creating? Why were they running it now? Who had given them the say-so? Even when I made it, I’d had only a vague sense of the film's plot. I can say only that it featured a younger, huskier version of myself with a zip-lock bag of powdered sugar in his hand (its title, I should mention, was Colombian Blizzard). My best friend had recruited a beautiful crush to star opposite me. In one of the only scenes I remember, I wave Jenna into my mom’s house and explain: “Feel free to take your clothes off.” In the next scene I remember with any real clarity, my car gets stalled on some train tracks and then (get this) a train comes! That’s how the movie ends.

I think about this story often: it tells me something of how random, how chaotic artistic expression can truly be. I guess we made that movie in 1997 or ‘98—it was only a few years ago I saw it on local access. You never know who is going to pick up your TV script, or your demo tape, or your chapbook—what are the chances, after all, that I’d turn on local access and see my own pimply face on the screen?

Maybe as a consequence of this optimism, I’ve played the casting game at every stage of the writing process. The main character of my novel is a surly, misanthropic, drug-slinging construction worker named Shelley. My buddy Jon, who read the first complete draft, thought Josh Brolin would make a good leading man. My editor and girlfriend both suggested Joaquin Phoenix for Shelley’s role. I was never any good at the game—without fail, I’d suggest an actor, and my girlfriend would say, “But he’s dead now.” And I’d go, “Oh, yeah.”

Claiming some vague connection to VICE TV, a “Hollywood producer” contacted me a while back. He'd read an early review and thought my book had “narrative promise”—did I mind sending him a galley? So I put one in the mail the very next day. That was three months ago.

For the leading role, I’ve never been able to get the impossible options out of my head. The other Phoenix brother to play Shelley--or, if not him, Heath Ledger, or Lee Van Cleef ca. 1954. Probably I’ve known all along that nobody will be making a movie out of my book—or that, if they do, this film will only run on Channel 8.

Visit JP Gritton's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sarah Deming's "Gravity"

Sarah Deming began boxing after graduating from Brown University and was the 2001 New York City Golden Gloves and Empire State Games featherweight champion. She has covered hundreds of amateur and professional fights from ringside, including the Rio Olympics and the 2012 Women’s World Championships in China. She covered the London Olympics as part of the Emmy-winning NBC team and, as an HBO Boxing Insider, covered the first women’s bout broadcast on HBO Championship Boxing. She coaches and tutors youth boxers at NYC Cops and Kids, a free community gym in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.

Her Deming dreamcasts an adaptation of her YA novel Gravity, which tells the story of a female boxer’s battles on the road to the Rio Games:

I wrote Gravity like it was a movie. It moves around a lot: Brooklyn to Spokane to China to Rio. It has a large cast of diverse characters that I hoped would offer juicy opportunities for actors of color.

My husband, who is a crime fiction buff, tells me that Dashiell Hammett tried to see his novel The Maltese Falcon like it was a movie and write that way. That was inspiring to me.

I've always found screenwriting classes/manuals -- stuff like Story and Save the Cat -- to be far more helpful and practical than fiction writing guides. I think about things like act breaks, subtext, the picture I'm painting on stage. I want every important character to be charismatic and to undergo some kind of change or development throughout the arc of the story.

My book is YA, so the main characters are young and offer the opportunity for fresh new faces. I can see some of the real boxers I know playing the roles they inspired. Chris Colbert, who inspired the male lead D-Minus, is already the star of a Netflix documentary called Counterpunch. Two-time Olympic champion Claressa Shields inspired the character of Sacred Jones, and she would light up the screen. Olympic hopeful and runway model Alexis Chiaparro would be great for Lefty.

The only character I strongly identify with an actor is Carmen Cruz, the beautiful Colombian sportswriter, whom I picture as Rosie Perez. I've met Rosie because she's a fight fan and a wonderful supporter of the New York boxing scene. I feel like she'd connect with Carmen's toughness and vulnerability and with her deep emotional connection to the sport.

There's a character called Fatso who is described as looking like Biggie Smalls "only fatter and more athletic." Fatso was also inspired by Forest Whitaker's character in Ghost Dog, but Whitaker would have to gain a lot of weight to play him!

Visit Sarah Deming's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Hank Early's "Echoes of the Fall"

Hank Early lives in central Alabama with his wife and two kids. He writes crime, watches too much basketball, and rarely sleeps. His new book, Echoes of the Fall, is his third Earl Marcus novel.

In a previous life, he published horror as John Mantooth.

Here Early dreamcasts an adaptation of Echoes of the Fall:

Confession: I’ve had the Earl Marcus Netflix series cast for some time. I’m just waiting on some Hollywood type to wake up and see what a goldmine these books are and get to work on the adaptation. Kidding, of course. Kind of. Okay, well, maybe I’m not. Hear me out.

Earl Marcus would be played by David Harbour of Stranger Things fame. My wife gave me the idea when we watched Stranger Things together and she said, “That sheriff is exactly how I pictured Earl Marcus when I read your first book.” Full disclosure: it wasn’t exactly how I pictured him (in my mind, Earl is skinnier and grayer), but close enough.

Earl’s two sidekicks is where it really gets fun. Ronnie is without question Walton Goggins. Goggins has the ability to project the chaos and instability of Ronnie while still displaying his considerable vulnerability and innate goodness. And let’s face it, Goggins would look great tatted up with a guitar slung around his neck while he and the boys kicked out the jams down at the local honky tonk.

Clint Eastwood would make a perfect Rufus. Gritty and resourceful, Rufus has a kind of fallen preacher vibe that Eastwood would own. I can just imagine him wearing the oversized shades and black overalls while standing off in the shadows of the old church where he makes his home.

Finally, I’d cast Erica Tazel as Mary Hawkins. Tazel nailed a similar role in the series Justified and brings just enough toughness and wisdom to work as Earl’s law enforcement contact, and on again off again romantic partner.

Visit Hank Early's website.

The Page 69 Test: Echoes of the Fall.

--Marshal Zeringue

James Lovegrove's "Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon"

James Lovegrove is the New York Times bestselling author of The Age of Odin. He was short-listed for the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1998 and for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 2004, and also reviews fiction for the Financial Times. He is the author of Firefly: Big Damn Hero with Nancy Holder and Firefly: The Magnificent Nine. He lives in south-east England.

Here Lovegrove dreamcasts an adaptation of his latest Sherlock Holmes novel, Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Demon:

The best screen Holmes is undoubtedly Jeremy Brett, who played the role in the 1980s Granada series and nailed the character completely. Most of the time he was accompanied by Edward Hardwicke, who was likewise excellent as Watson – tolerant and reliable. If these two were still alive and in their prime, I would gladly have them star in a movie of any of my Holmes books. In fact, when writing Holmes’s dialogue, I tend to hear Brett’s voice.

I also think that Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, back when they were a comedy duo, would have made a fine Holmes and Watson. Each could have played either role.

Specifically for The Christmas Demon, the other main parts would offer present-day British thespians plenty to get their teeth into. Most of the action takes place at Fellscar Keep, a Yorkshire castle in the depths of a freezing winter, and the large family who live there form the bulk of the supporting cast. Roger Allam would make a convincing Thaddeus Allerthope, the crusty patriarch, and Anton Lesser would be good as his somewhat weaker-willed, more sensitive younger brother Shadrach. Both actors play major roles in the 1960s-set detective series Endeavour.

Our leading lady, Eve Allerthorpe, would be well portrayed by someone like Daisy Ridley, Felicity Jones or Maisie Williams, and her tearaway brother by Taron Egerton from Rocketman and the Kingsman movies. Husband and wife Fitzhugh and Kitty Danningbury Boyd – the one louche and lecherous, the other somewhat highly-strung – could be played by Eddie Redmayne (or Andrew Garfield) and perhaps Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

A stylish director such as Sam Mendes or Christopher Nolan would be great – although the latter would probably not be interested in the job, given that the story’s narrative is purely linear, with no time jumps or flashbacks or other tricksy malarkey.

Visit James Lovegrove's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Olivia Hawker's "One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow"

Through unexpected characters and vivid prose, Olivia Hawker explores the varied landscape of the human spirit. Hawker’s interest in genealogy often informs her writing. Her first two novels from Lake Union Publishing, The Ragged Edge of Night and One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow (2019), are based on true stories found within the author’s family tree.

She lives in the San Juan Islands of Washington State with her husband Paul and several naughty cats.

Here Hawker shares her dream director and screenwriter to adapt One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow for the big screen:

I don’t follow the film world closely enough to have a clear idea of which actors I’d like to see portray the characters from One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow. But I can tell you that if it were ever made into a film, I’d love to see Adrian Lyne direct it with Stephen Schiff screenwriting. I absolutely loved their adaptation of Lolita (1997). It’s one of my favorite movies, and I think I love it so much because it was so faithful to the book. It captured the atmosphere of the book and all the subtle nuances of the characters’ emotions brilliantly, in a way Kubrick’s version can’t even touch. I think it’s a crime that Kubrick’s Lolita is so iconic when Lyne and Schiff made a much better work of art with the same source material. I’d welcome such a team tackling Blackbird!

Visit Olivia Hawker's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Paula Munier's "Blind Search"

Paula Munier is the author of the bestselling Plot Perfect, The Writer’s Guide to Beginnings, Writing with Quiet Hands, and Fixing Freddie: A True Story of a Boy, a Mom, and a Very, Very Bad Beagle. She was inspired to write A Borrowing of Bones, the first Mercy and Elvis mystery, by the hero working dogs she met through MissionK9Rescue, her own Newfoundland retriever mix rescue Bear, and a lifelong passion for crime fiction.

Munier lives in New England with her family, Bear, and a torbie tabby named Ursula.

Here Munier dreamcasts an adaptation of her new Mercy and Elvis mystery, Blind Search:

If I had a dollar for every time a writer told me their book would make a great movie/TV show/Netflix series/Broadway musical, I’d be writing this from the Hotel George V in Paris. But I’m not, and even if I were, I would have to confess that when it comes to this particular writer’s fantasy, I’m just as delusional as everyone else.

Maybe more so, because in my Emmy-winning crime series, Rose Leslie would play Mercy Carr and one of the Chrises would play Vermont Game Warden Troy Warner, but the real stars of the show would be the dogs.

And we’d use rescue dogs. Maybe even our own rescue dogs: Bear, the Newfoundland-retriever mix who’s the inspiration for Susie Bear, and Bliss, the Great Pyrenees-Australian cattle dog mix who was the inspiration for one of the service dogs who appears in Blind Search.

Visit Paula Munier's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Paula Munier & Bear.

Writers Read: Paula Munier.

--Marshal Zeringue

Liska Jacobs's "The Worst Kind of Want"

Liska Jacobs holds an MFA from the University of California, Riverside. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in The Rumpus, Los Angeles Review of Books, Literary Hub, The Millions, and The Hairpin, among other publications.

In her new novel, The Worst Kind of Want:

To cool-headed, fastidious Pricilla Messing, Italy will be an escape, a brief glimpse of freedom from a life that's starting to feel like one long decline.

Rescued from the bedside of her difficult mother, forty-something Cilla finds herself called away to Rome to keep an eye on her wayward teenage niece, Hannah. But after years of caregiving, babysitting is the last thing Cilla wants to do. Instead she throws herself into Hannah's youthful, heedless world—drinking, dancing, smoking—relishing the heady atmosphere of the Italian summer. After years of feeling used up and overlooked, Cilla feels like she's coming back to life. But being so close to Hannah brings up complicated memories, making Cilla restless and increasingly reckless, and a dangerous flirtation with a teenage boy soon threatens to send her into a tailspin.

Here Jacobs dreamcasts an adaptation of The Worst Kind of Want:

When I start a book, I make a mood board and cast all the characters—but I never use actors because I’m so easily influenced by what roles they’ve played. I use models, usually from old Vogues or those cheap hairstyle magazines you can buy at Walgreens. It’s only later that I start to think who could pull off the role.

For Cilla, I think Chloë Sevigny or Maggie Gyllenhaal would be phenomenal.

And Donato, well, it would have to be Timothée Chalamet. He’s just so uncomfortably attractive, which is what you’d want for the part. But really any young actor who has good hair and a full, boyish smile.

As for Hannah, Cilla’s fifteen-year-old niece, maybe Chloe Moretz or Elle Fanning.

And it would have to be filmed on location. That would be an absolute must!

Visit Liska Jacobs's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Kelly Simmons's "Where She Went"

Kelly Simmons is a former journalist and creative advertising director who started writing fiction over fifteen years ago, while studying creative writing and screenwriting at Temple University and University of Pennsylvania. In addition to her critically acclaimed novels (Standing Still, The Bird House, One More Day, The Fifth of July and Where She Went) she has stuff on a few back burners: developing a TV series, writing a memoir, perfecting her dessert game.

She's a visiting teacher for Drexel University's Storylab and is a member of The Liars Club writing mentorship collective, The Tall Poppy Writers, Womens Fiction Writers Association, and Binders Full of Women Writers.

Here Simmons dreamcasts an adaptation of Where She Went:

With so many great actresses creating great TV and films these days – not to mention producing and directing – well, casting the movie version of my book is like being in a candy store. But I’m not gonna let that sway me. No. Okay, maybe I am. No, I’m not. I’m going to choose the right people, not the most famous ones. Okay, maybe the right people are the most famous ones? Don’t judge me.

Where She Went is written from the twin perspectives of a missing college student and her helicopter mother, who is trying to find her. We get to follow each woman’s path, a few days apart, as the daughter’s decisions go from bad to worse and the mother’s go from unhinged to intelligent. So the question becomes . . . who do I want to see unhinge?

For the daughter, Emma, I can’t help but long for Kaitlyn Dever, who is so amazing in the movie Booksmart. Her emotions radiate across her entire face, and her physical ability to play subtle or broad is admirable, too.

For the mom, Maggie, I’d like to see Leslie Mann stretch herself into a dramatic role. There are just enough funny/tender moments in the story to let her comedic chops shine through, but I’ve always wondered what else she could do. She’s the right age, and totally the right vibe to play a hardscrabble hairdresser from Philadelphia.

So, see? I didn’t go straight up the middle. I didn’t say “Julia Roberts as the mom and her niece Emma Roberts playing her daughter.” Oh wait. That would be cool stunt casting .... hmmmmm....

Visit Kelly Simmons's website.

--Marshal Zeringue