James Anderson's "Lullaby Road"

James Anderson was born in Seattle and raised in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. He is a graduate of Reed College in Portland, Oregon, and received his Master’s Degree in Creative Writing from Pine Manor College in Boston. For many years he worked in book publishing. Other jobs have included logging, commercial fishing and, briefly, truck driver. He currently divides his time between Ashland, Oregon, and the Four Corners region of the American Southwest. The Never-Open Desert Diner is his first novel.

Here Anderson dreamcasts an adaptation of his new novel, Lullaby Road:

Lullaby Road, though not a sequel, is a continuation of The Never-Open Desert Diner, meaning you can read either without having read the other. There are some choice, scenery-eating roles in Lullaby Road, like that of Walt Butterfield, the very fit but slightly crazy owner of the diner. An obvious choice would be Clint Eastwood, though I can imagine Sam Elliott and Tommy Lee Jones.

Perhaps the most interesting speculation, at least for me, is the director, and there are some truly unique and gifted female directors who could bring some very special qualities to a film that is both as rough and dark and sweetly human as Lullaby Road, like Sofia Coppola, Kathryn Bigelow, Martha Coolidge and Debra Granik. As I’ve said before, women in Hollywood, especially directors, owe so much to the late Ida Lupino. If she was still alive and active, she would be my first choice.

Visit James Anderson's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Never-Open Desert Diner.

The Page 69 Test: Lullaby Road.

Writers Read: James Anderson.

--Marshal Zeringue