Monona Wali's “Sutra Americana”

Monona Wali is an award-winning novelist, short story writer and filmmaker. Her debut novel, My Blue Skin Lover, won the 2015 Independent Book Publishers Gold Award for Multicultural Fiction. Many of her stories and essays have been published in literary journals including Air/Light, Folio Literary Journal, Juked, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and the Santa Monica Review. One received Special Mention in the 2025 Pushcart Prize Anthology.

Wali's new novel is Sutra Americana.

Here the author shares a suggestion for a writer-director to adapt the novel for a streaming series:

If Sutra Americana were to be made into a movie, or preferably a television series, I would love to have the very talented Shuchi Talati write and direct it. She directed Girls Will Be Girls (2023) a moving film about a mother-daughter relationship set in modern-day India. She is able to capture intimate relationships between characters with real subtlety and power. Because my novel is so much about the dynamics of family members, moments of conflict as well as of love, I think Talati would be the perfect director for this material. The novel also has the social backdrop of America as it goes through the upheavals of the civil rights movement, the Vietnam war, and the women’s right movement. I believe Talati would be able to bring all this out cinematically, just as she brought out the social dynamics of an Indian boarding school in Girls Will Be Girls. I was honored that she chose to adapt a chapter of Sutra Americana into a short film for a Japanese film production company. They required the film to be shot in Japan and she translated the chapter in a way that stayed true to the original material but added her own spin on the story. I trust that Sutra Americana would be in good hands with her.

Visit Monona Wali's website.

Q&A with Monona Wali.

The Page 69 Test: Sutra Americana.

Writers Read: Monona Wali.

--Marshal Zeringue

Laura Jensen Walker's "The Pilgrimage of Primrose Honeychurch"

Laura Jensen Walker is the award-winning author of several books, including The Alphabet Sleuths, the Lefty-nominated Death of a Flying Nightingale, and the Amazon bestselling, Agatha-nominated Murder Most Sweet.

Growing up in Racine, Wisconsin, a young Walker dreamed of seeing the world and becoming a writer. She enlisted in the US Air Force after high school and flew a typewriter across Europe as a clerk typist. While in the UK, she fell head over heels for all things English and became a confirmed tea-drinking Anglophile.

At age forty, cancer compelled Walker to finally publish her first book. Then, in her sixties, she discovered she was neurodivergent, spurring her to write a novel about a book-loving, neurodivergent senior with unusual quirks and sensory issues: The Pilgrimage of Primrose Honeychurch.

These days, Walker lives in Northern California with her Renaissance-man husband and two rescue terriers, sipping tea (Yorkshire Gold) and dreaming of visiting Hay-on-Wye one day.

Here Walker dreamcasts an adaptation of The Pilgrimage of Primrose Honeychurch:

If I were to cast my book as a movie, who would I like to see play the lead roles? First, let me tell you a bit about the main characters.

Primrose Honeychurch is a solitary, sharp-tongued recluse with sensory issues who prefers books to people. Accustomed to maintaining a set routine in her cookie-cutter Las Vegas suburb, when the seventy-year-old receives life-altering news, she sets off on an unexpected, life-altering pilgrimage to the UK.

During her journey, Primrose meets a tattooed, blue-haired American singer and lesbian named Riley, and gets to know her twenty-year-old Cornish great-niece, the neurodivergent Clover, who becomes a kindred spirit. Primrose also reconnects with her sixty-something cousin Daisy, Clover’s grandmother.

While writing the curmudgeonly, set-in-her-ways Primrose, I found myself thinking of Frances McDormand, who did such a wonderful job playing the strict, outspoken Olive in the TV miniseries Olive Kitteridge. Frances McDormand would make a great Primrose. At least, that’s what I thought until I saw Sally Field’s brilliant performance as Tova in Remarkably Bright Creatures. Now Sally and Frances are neck-in-neck for the role of Primrose.

Kristen Stewart who shot to fame in Twilight and has since gone on to distinguish herself in films like The Runaways where she played rocker Joan Jett and Spencer, where she played Princess Diana would be perfect as the gay, free-spirited American singer Riley.

For young artist Clover, I envision Ella Bruccoleri who I first fell in love with in Call the Midwife as young Sister Frances. This delightful English actress with the guileless, innocent face solidified that love as captivating odd duck Mary Bennett in The Other Bennett Sister. I adore her.

For Primrose’s sixty-something Cornish cousin and Clover’s grandmother Daisy, I see Kristin Scott Thomas born in Cornwall who shot to fame in The English Patient. She was excellent in Gosford Park and Darkest Hour where she played Winston Churchill’s wife Clemmie.

Visit Laura Jensen Walker's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Alphabet Sleuths.

Q&A with Laura Jensen Walker.

The Page 69 Test: The Alphabet Sleuths.

Writers Read: Laura Jensen Walker (February 2026).

My Book, The Movie: The Postmistress of Puddlington.

The Page 69 Test: The Postmistress of Puddlington.

--Marshal Zeringue

KC Jones's "House Haunters"

KC Jones is a screenwriter-turned-novelist currently living in western Washington. When not writing, he can be found watching movies, playing video and board games, or enjoying nature—whenever it isn’t raining.

He graduated from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas with a degree in film production. His first published novel, Black Tide, was a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a first novel.

Here Jones dreamcasts an adaptation of his new novel, House Haunters:

House Haunters centers on the relationship between Grace Wonderly, a very talented but very burnt-out reality TV producer who needs a hit concept to revive not just her career, but the joy she once found in it, and Frank Pendleton, a gruff and misanthropic home inspector who moonlights as a paranormal investigator and generally prefers the company of the dead to that of the living.

Joel Edgerton and Pedro Pascal were in my head a lot while writing Frank, particularly their turns in Dark Matter and The Last of Us respectively. I think either would bring the perfect blend of vulnerability and deadpan honesty to Frank.

Grace has always been a bit more elusive in my mind, but Sharon Horgan would kill it as a takes-no-BS character on the verge of a midlife crisis. Linda Cardellini would be great as Grace’s confidently chaotic realtor BFF Vanessa, with Randall Park rounding out the core group as Vanessa’s ghost-averse husband Dustin. I have a hard time casting Chris, Grace’s frustrating, myopic, AI-subservient boss. Maybe I’m just too close to the source material.

Mike Flanagan would be a dream to helm this movie; Doctor Sleep is one of my all-time favorite horror films, and I still think about Midnight Mass. As a series, though, I think I'd take the team behind Widow's Bay. Their ability to blend humor and horror and heart was a wonder and joy to behold.

Visit KC Jones's website.

The Page 69 Test: White Line Fever.

Q&A with KC Jones.

Writers Read: KC Jones.

The Page 69 Test: House Haunters.

--Marshal Zeringue

Elizabeth Crane's "That May Not Mean What You Think"

Elizabeth Crane is the author of several collections of short stories, including Turf, When the Messenger is Hot, All this Heavenly Glory, and You Must Be This Happy to Enter, a memoir, This Story Will Change, as well as two novels, We Only Know So Much and The History of Great Things.

Here Crane dreamcasts adapations for a couple of selections from her latest story collection, That May Not Mean What You Think:

For the story "Nepo Babies, An Extinction Story," set in a bizarro apocalyptic future where there is no longer anyone alive who isn't a descendant of a nepo baby, I would cast only nepo baby actors. So I think Dakota Johnson would be great as the character of the white feminist's grandchild (the characters don't have actual proper names in the story), and Billie Lourd would be great as the shady tech heiress, Patrick Schwarzenegger as the grandson of the muckety-muck, and perhaps Kiefer Sutherland and Gwyneth Paltrow as Harvard Rubble Guy and Harvard Rubble Guy's Wife.

And for the story "Senior Living For the Unknowables," set in a retirement home for aging reality TV stars: I like to call this story my Vanderpump Rules Fan Fiction, and so I'd like to see this story cast with the actual cast members of Vanderpump playing the fictional very old versions of themselves, which would necessitate a phenomenally talented makeup artist to age them.

Visit Elizabeth Crane's website.

Writers Read: Elizabeth Crane (April 2008).

The Page 69 Test: We Only Know So Much.

My Book, The Movie: We Only Know So Much.

Coffee with a Canine: Elizabeth Crane & Percy.

Q&A with Elizabeth Crane.

Writers Read: Elizabeth Crane.

The Page 69 Test: That May Not Mean What You Think.

--Marshal Zeringue

Tessa Wegert’s “The River Runs Black”

Tessa Wegert is the critically acclaimed author of the Shana Merchant mysteries, as well as the North Country series, beginning with In the Bones. Her books have received numerous starred reviews and have been featured on PBS and NPR Radio. A former journalist and copywriter, Wegert grew up in Quebec and now lives in Connecticut, where she co-founded Sisters in Crime CT and serves on the board of International Thriller Writers (ITW).

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, The River Runs Black.

The River Runs Black is the second book in my North Country thriller series—following In the Bones—and it’s a spinoff of my previous Shana Merchant series. As such, I already had actors in mind for the key roles of Tim Wellington (Adam Driver), Shana Merchant (Emma Stone), Maureen “Mac” McIntyre (Jane Lynch). This book also introduces three new points of view, though, so I had some fun imagining who might be the best fit for those roles.

Bobby Ott: I’d love to see Catherine "Katie" Laga'aia take on the role of sixteen-year-old Bobby, daughter of French Polynesia-born New York State Police Investigator Valerie Ott (who’d ideally be portrayed by Courtney Eaton, in case you were wondering). Playing a small-town teenager abducted during a cross-border drug investigation would be a far cry from portraying Disney’s Moana, but while Bobby is pushing hard to grow up, she’s still a kid who watches Gilmore Girls and is excited about Halloween, and Laga'aia would capture that nuance beautifully.

Phoebe Reed: Since part of The River Runs Black takes place in Ontario, Canada and I’m Canadian myself, it would be great to see a Canadian actor in one of the roles. Abby Ross immediately comes to mind. Known for Riverdale and Once Upon a Time, Ross would bring both innocence and inner strength to this young, motherless heiress in possession of information that could cost Phoebe her life.

Raymond Stoll: State Trooper Raymond Stoll might be one of my most surprising characters; without giving anything away, he stunned me on several occasions while I was writing the book—particularly in the final chapter, which I hope will reframe the reader’s perspective and leave jaws on the floor. Based on his role in the MacGyver reboot, I think Lucas Till would bring the energy that’s inherent in Raymond’s scenes, and also nail the trooper’s insecurities and all- consuming desire to become a detective himself.

Visit Tessa Wegert's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Dead Season.

The Page 69 Test: The Dead Season.

Q&A with Tessa Wegert.

The Page 69 Test: Dead Wind.

Writers Read: Tessa Wegert (April 2022).

Writers Read: Tessa Wegert (December 2022).

The Page 69 Test: Devils at the Door.

The Page 69 Test: The Coldest Case.

Writers Read: Tessa Wegert (November 2025).

--Marshal Zeringue

Humphrey Hawksley's "Operation Icebreaker"

Humphrey Hawksley has reported on key trends, events and conflicts from all over the world.

His work as a BBC foreign correspondent has taken him to crises on every continent.

Here Hawksley dreamcasts an adaptation of his new Rake Ozenna thriller, Operation Icebreaker:

The key for an Operation Icebreaker movie is casting a compelling lead character whose script demands he is economical with words yet has a vivid screen presence that will hold a movie theatre. He should also be an Alaskan native. I’m looking for a modern-day blend of Charles Bronson in Chato’s Land, Clint Eastwood in Where Eagles Dare and Yul Brunner in The Magnificent Seven. Martin Sensemeier would work well playing Red Harvest the Comanche Warriot in the 2016 Magnificent Seven remake. Kiowa Gordon, who plays Jim Chee, the tribal police officer in Dark Winds would be great, and he’s mid-thirties, Rake’s age. Asivak Koostachin could also work well. He was in Red Snow, about an Inuit soldier captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan who draws on his Indigenous heritage to survive. Another idea would be to screen test unknown actors in Alaska itself and surround the lead with famous names.

Kelly Reilly from Yellowstone could play Rake’s on-off girlfriend, Carrie Walker, emotionally complex but highly skilled at her work as a trauma surgeon. Michelle Dockery, Lady Mary from Downton Abbey, would be superb as Stephanie Lucas, projecting authority and warmth. Rufus Sewell from his roles in The Diplomat and Man in the High Castle is exactly the Harry Lucas character. Mark Strong could portray Brett Laine’s emotional coldness and contradictions that allow him to morally justify evil.

The idea directors would be Taylor Sheridan (Wind River, Yellowstone) brilliant at capturing American wilderness and culture clashes; Paul Greengass (the Bourne series, United 93) is really good at tension and pace; and Katherine Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty, A House of Dynamite) completely understands building tension and how political big pictures impact individuals.

Visit Humphrey Hawksley's website.

The Page 69 Test: The History Book.

My Book, The Movie: Security Breach.

My Book, The Movie: Man on Ice.

Writers Read: Humphrey Hawksley (May 2018).

The Page 69 Test: Man on Ice.

The Page 69 Test: Man on Fire.

Writers Read: Humphrey Hawksley.

--Marshal Zeringue

W. Jason Miller's "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"

W. Jason Miller is a Distinguished Professor and public scholar who acts as a cultural detective, unearthing the hidden connections that reshape American history. From discovering a lost recording of MLK’s first "I Have a Dream" speech to his latest revelation of the secret mentorship between Langston Hughes and Nina Simone, Miller bridges the gap between rigorous archival research and compelling public narrative.

Here the author dreamcasts an adaptation of his new book, Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood: Nina Simone, Langston Hughes, and the Birth of Black Power:

Audra McDonald would portray Nina Simone— her singing in the movie even more powerful than her roles as Aretha Franklin or Billie Holiday. I can hear Audra’s voice now— capturing the power of “Mississippi Goddam,” the fire of “Sinnerman,” and the quiet elegance of “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood.” While I’m dream casting— she would also stun with Nina’s iconic upbeat celebration that is “Feeling Good.”

Giancarlo Esposito’s role as Gus Fring in Breaking Bad convinced me he has the look, magnetism, and gravitas to play poet Langston Hughes— Nina Simone’s dear friend, co-author, and mentor from 1960-67.

I’m already picturing these two backstage at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival (or watching Little Richard perform together after midnight at Charles Mingus’ Rebel Festival just across town at the Cliff Walk Manor.)

Their most intimate scene might be based on a photograph I uncovered of Nina and Langston huddled side-by-side after her iconic 1964 performance at Carnegie Hall. They are standing together at the after party at New York’s Sheraton Hotel. Hughes sips a glass of Seagram’s gin. Nina is whispering something in his ear. Director Coleman Domingo refers Audra and Giancarlo to page 115 of my book, saying, “according to W. Jason Miller, Hughes has a cigarette in his left hand, and Nina seems to be telling him the full back story to how she wrote the song ‘Mississippi Goddam’ ... ACTION!”

Visit W. Jason Miller's website.

The Page 99 Test: Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ryan Douglass's "Night of Madness"

Ryan Douglass is the author of young adult horror novel The Taking of Jake Livingston, a New York Times bestseller and an ALA Rainbow Book List Pick; The Great Disillusionment of Nick and Jay, a reimagining of The Great Gatsby set in 1920s Harlem; and Night of Madness, a collaboration with the company behind Clown in a Cornfield. His work explores the ways young people fight to survive in hostile worlds. He lives in Atlanta with his dog and spends his free time baking ambitious desserts and scoping out true crime documentaries.

Here Douglass dreamcasts an adaptation of Night of Madness:

What would happen if you took a group of social media influencers, dropped them inside an abandoned asylum full of real dangers, offered them $100,000 to survive the night?

Night of Madness is a book that is made for adaptation. If they make the book into a film, I would probably want to cast mostly unknown actors. The characters are eighteen or nineteen, and I love the idea of giving young performers the opportunity to breakout. So, these choices are less a literal wish list and more a way of showing you the people I pictured while writing.

Mara Jacobs — Anais Lee

Mara is the protagonist of the story—sharp, cynical, and obsessed with horror. She has the quiet confidence of someone who thinks she knows exactly what she's gotten herself into, until she doesn't. Anais has the kind of presence I imagine Mara having: understated, intelligent, and intense when she needs to be.

Storm Connors — Blake Cameron James

I first noticed Blake Cameron James in IT: Welcome to Derry, where he plays Will Hanlon. Storm is loyal, funny, and on trend, but with real softness and vulnerability underneath. He’s someone you want to spend time with. I think Blake could bring that combination of warmth, humor, and fear to Storm without making him feel like a stereotype.

Tanner Hoang — William Gao

Tanner is confident, competitive, and very aware of how he presents himself. William Gao has the kind of coolness I associate with him, along with the necessary sensitivity. Tanner spends a lot of the story taking the lead. I'd want an actor who could make that confidence compelling before slowly letting the audience see what it looks like when it cracks.

Victoria Welch — Isabela Merced

Victoria is beautiful, socially perceptive, and very image-conscious. She has an energy that feels light, but she can immediately understand the power dynamics in any room. Isabela Merced has the combination of glamour and emotional intelligence I'd want for Victoria. I think she'd be able to capture the version of Victoria who always knows a bit more than she's letting on.

Sydney Rollins — Mia Talerico

Sydney comes across as someone who is harmless and keeps to herself, but may be a bit standoffish, in a weird way. I like Mia Talerico for her because she still has a youthful quality that would keep Sydney from feeling like a twenty-five-year-old pretending to be a teenager. More than anything, I'd want Sydney's casting to make the audience underestimate her and who she might become.

That said, I think the most exciting version of a Night of Madness movie would really lean into its conceit as a spin on Willy Wonka: five teenagers invited into an outrageous, seemingly impossible experience, only to discover that the person who created it has something much darker in mind. I’d want the movie to feel like we discovered five teenagers who somehow walked straight out of someone’s wacky imagination and then dropped them into a nightmare.

Follow Ryan Douglass on Instagram and Threads.

Q&A with Ryan Douglass.

The Page 69 Test: Night of Madness.

--Marshal Zeringue

Erin Cotter's "A Dangerous Bargain"

Erin Cotter writes young adult fiction. Originally from Buffalo, New York, she currently calls Austin home. When not writing she spends time with her partner and pets, eating tacos, and searching for Golden-cheeked Warblers in the Texas Hill Country.

Here Cotter dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, A Dangerous Bargain:

My story is about an artist who has bargained away most of his life for divine inspiration pairing up with fellow apprentice Leonardo da Vinci to infiltrate the Medici family and find out the truth about his missing brother. It’s a mystery set in Renaissance, Florence but there’s also a heavy romantic element as well. Because of Renaissance element, I’d love to see a director with a great style for atmospheric, historical settings take the lead—maybe someone like Ridley Scott! But I’ll be honest, I don’t think Ridley Scott has the chops to pull off the romantic plotline in the story, so be better call in Jacob Tierney as well.

Now that I’ve mentioned Jacob Tierney, I’m having a hard time not thinking about Heated Rivalry, which means I’m having a hard time not thinking about Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, and I think they’d be great leads for these films. Having seen them pull off enemies to lovers already, I would die to see them cast in a historical piece together. Hudson Williams has perfected the soulful, broody glare that my protagonist Virgil wears for most of the book, and—weirdly enough!—the way I’ve written Leonardo da Vinci as a cocky, teasing flirt actually has a lot in common with Connor Storrie’s Ilya Rosanov already? I promise this was not on purpose. I had turned in the first draft of this book before Heated Rivalry came out. But after seeing how well Williams and Storrie play off each other on a hockey rink, I think we deserve to see them body-checking each other out of the way of the best easel space next.

Ridey and Jacob, Storrie and Williams, whenever y’all are feeling ready to get this started, call me!

Visit Erin Cotter's website.

Writers Read: Erin Cotter.

The Page 69 Test: A Dangerous Bargain.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jason Allison's "The Killing Yards"

Jason Allison is a writer and former detective who spent twenty years with the NYPD. His award winning fiction and has appeared in journals and anthologies. The Killing Yards is his first novel. Bronx born and raised, he now lives in Massachusetts with his wife and their judgmental Golden Retriever.

Here Allison dreamcasts an adaptation of The Killing Yards:

It’s been said—though I can’t find the quote—that after Alec Guinness played George Smiley in the 1979 BBC adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy, John Le Carré could no longer envision his version of the character. Smiley became Sir Alec, and vice versa. This isn’t uncommon with screen adaptations of novels. In On Writing, Stephen King explains how he limits physical details in his character descriptions. That way, each reader can create their own version in their own head. To use James Ellroy as a reference, my Pete Bondurant is probably different from your Pete Bondurant, but Bud White will always be Russell Crowe.

I will now violate my essay’s opening paragraph by casting my debut novel, The Killing Yards. As a huge cinephile, it’s surprising that I haven’t already. Yards is a crime noir set in the early 1990s NYC nightclub scene, and its four main characters—Jimmy and Michelle Lettner, GM and owner of Abattoir; Serge Thanakis, Jimmy’s only friend; and Ben Hopkins, striving NYPD rookie—have existed only in my brain space. Until now.

Every great project starts with a script. Assuming Tony Gilroy has adapted my novel, let’s move to the director. Two names jump out straight away, but for different reasons. In a series of gritty, NYC-set crime dramas, James Gray has crafted brilliant character portraits of the city’s felonious demographic. His work is emotionally searing, if not quieter and more intimate than Michael Mann’s epics, which often depict driven men (usually criminals or cops) doing their jobs with monomaniacal precision. He’s all about depicting process cinematically; think Heat’s bank robbery shootout, or Collateral’s frenetic Koreatown nightclub assassination. Given The Killing Yards orbits Manhattan’s hottest nightspot, Mann’s flair for shooting packed dance floors soundtracked by thumping EDM gives him the lead.

Here’s where things get tricky. Casting the right actor elevates the entire project, like how Inde Navarette absolutely owned Obsession. Jimmy Lettner, recovering addict and Abattoir’s ex-con general manager, is physically unassuming and emotionally dishonest. He screams for Jeremy Strong, whose Kendall Roy epitomized misguided ambition. For his wife Michelle, who believes power moves quietly (and wears a D&G sweater), I’m torn between Rebecca Hall and Claire Danes. Hall crushed her role in The Town, and recently chewed all the scenery in Onslaught, but I’ve always thought Danes is tremendous, going all the way back to My So Called Life. This one’s a tie.

The only character I had an actor in mind for when I wrote him is Serge Thanakis, Jimmy’s right hand, a former (maybe?) narcotics trafficker, and Abattoir’s true protector. And that actor is Jude Law. Unfortunately, Jude is 53 now. Enter Theo James, who pairs style with menace in The Gentlemen. He brings a subtle physicality and looks great holding a gun.

Last we’ve got Ben Hopkins, the insecure, careerist NYPD undercover desperate to make a case (he’s got Daddy issues). I discovered Dominic Sessa in The Holdovers, but he really came into his own playing a young Anthony Bourdain as a lying, insecure jerk in this summer’s Tony. Sessa brings the right amount of arrogance and attitude, eyeing the camera sideways, wondering if you’ve figured him out yet.

There it is, my dream director and cast for The Killing Yards.

All I need now is $35-40 million, and we’re golden.

Visit Jason Allison's website.

--Marshal Zeringue