Dan Stout's "Titanshade"

Dan Stout lives in Columbus, Ohio, where he writes about fever dreams and half-glimpsed shapes in the shadows. His prize-winning fiction draws on his travels throughout Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Rim, as well as an employment history spanning everything from subpoena server to assistant well driller.

Here Stout shares some input regarding an adaptation of his new novel, Titanshade:

I admit to not having the most in-depth knowledge of who’s active in Hollywood, so I can’t do much in the way of dream casting. I can, however, talk about design work all day long! I’ve said before that Jordu Schell is an amazing creature designer, and I’d love to see the kind of takes he’d have on the world of Titanshade. Other designers like Simon Lee have an incredible dynamic element to their designs, and Don Lanning manages to give even the most horrific creatures a sense of power and grace, but Schell’s stuff always has a disquieting sense of otherness and alien appeal that I love.

In an ideal world, I’d love to see makeup that was a combination of practical and computer effects, much like the blend that was used so effectively in Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water. There, the full body suit allowed Doug Jones to imbue the character with genuine emotions, while the CGI eyes and fins provided additional layers of realism. That costume design by Luis Sequeira, creature sculpt by Mike Hill, and fabrication by Jasper Anderson and the rest of the Legacy Effects team is outstanding.

And I’ll cut myself off there, because otherwise I’ll be talking creature design and effects all day long!

Visit Dan Stout's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Lorna Landvik's "Chronicles of a Radical Hag (with Recipes)"

Lorna Landvik's novels include the bestselling Patty Jane’s House of Curl, Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons, Oh My Stars, Best to Laugh, and Once in a Blue Moon Lodge. She has performed stand-up and improvisational comedy around the country and is a public speaker, playwright, and actor most recently in the one-woman, all-improvised show Party in the Rec Room. She lives in Minneapolis.

Here Landvik dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, Chronicles of a Radical Hag (with Recipes):

My terms during contract negotiations: I write the screenplay (I want Screenwriters Guild dental insurance!) and act in a minor comic role (maybe as Caroline’s evangelical Christian mother), and the film be directed by a woman (Mimi Leder or Greta Gerwig or Patty Jenkins). Other than that, I’m easy.

I never picture a real person or actor while I’m writing and in fact, while I feel I intimately know my characters, I see more their essence than their physicality but as a fan of old movies, I’d make suggestions like these to the casting director:

For Haze Evans, who appears in the book as a vibrant woman in her thirties — how about a young Rosalind Russell. For Haze Evans, who also appears as a comatose (!) octogenarian — how about an old Rosalind Russell.

For Susan McGrath, the newspaper publisher dealing with a dissolving marriage and a teenaged son (what a combo!) — Irene Dunne

For Sam, Susan’s dorky/thoughtful, sullen/open-hearted, scared/full-of-bravado son — hmmm, maybe a teenaged Jackie Cooper?

P.S. I don’t live in the past, I just cast there…

Visit Lorna Landvik's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Leanna Renee Hieber's "Miss Violet and the Great War"

Leanna Renee Hieber is an actress, playwright, ghost tour guide and award-winning, bestselling author.

Here she dreamcasts the lead for an adaptation of her new book, Miss Violet and the Great War.

Acting and writing were always entwined for me, growing up. I wrote plays for my high school while performing leading roles, then I earned a collegiate performance degree and began a career in classical theatre. All the while I was writing novels, beginning the long road towards eventual publication. One can imagine, then, how important it is to me that I feel a character within me strongly or I cast someone in the role to help envision their portrayal. I find, writing my 13th novel, I only need to cast one or two anchor characters; presences I need to leap onto my pages. For my debut series, one anchor of an actor led all the rest.

It isn’t any surprise to anyone who has followed my Strangely Beautiful saga in all it’s complications since the debut of The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker in 2009 that the hero of the saga, Professor Alexi Rychman was inspired by the actor Alan Rickman, may he rest in peace.

It’s blatant, I left absolutely no doubt in the far-too-on-the-nose character name and the descriptions of a rich, sonorous voice. But I’m an author who loves homage. Once Alexi named himself and his character was formed from many different Alan Rickman performances, from Snape to Mesmer to Colonel Brandon, he couldn’t be renamed. I kept writing and my Alexi began to take on the unique qualities that make him one of my most remarked-upon heroes. (For those keeping particular score there is a dash of Richard Armitage as Mr. Thornton in the fantastic BBC Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South that flavors Alexi’s burning stoicism.)

Ten years after my debut and several reissues later, renamed Strangely Beautiful thanks to Tor Books, Alexi and his family live again in Miss Violet and the Great War. This fourth and final book in the saga was never released due to the initial publisher’s closure, so it has been a bittersweet number of years waiting for this book to take shape, and losing Alan Rickman in the process was devastating.

I wish his brilliance was still with us to mark the occasion. When he died, I hadn’t heard the news, it was an explosion of texts, messages and emails all offering ‘condolences for my loss’ and I went into a panic because I thought the world knew something I didn’t about one of my real-life loved ones, not just my celebrity inspiration. But when I found out what the fuss was about, I was gutted. My hero. I was honored that friends and readers thought of me, and Alexi, as I’ve always been vocal about this inspiration.

What I loved about writing Alexi in Miss Violet and the Great War was writing him well into his ‘retirement’ years. He rallies like the hero he is in order to protect his wife and daughter, at all costs. Watching and admiring Alan Rickman all my life, he grew older as Alexi did. I had the privilege of seeing him on stage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, dressed in the exact attire I’d costumed my Alexi in, in this case Rickman was performing a Henrik Ibsen play. It was like watching Alexi from afar for just a bit.

It has been hard to wrap up the Strangely Beautiful saga. Quite an emotional journey. But in the end, this series is about love, hope, light, art, beauty, friendship and family pulling through in dark times. I hope it creates as moving an atmospheric, lyrical and brilliantly acted movie in your mind as it’s been playing in mine all these years.

Visit Leanna Renee Hieber's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

--Marshal Zeringue

Shelley Sackier's "The Antidote"

Shelley Sackier is the author of The Freemason's Daughter, Dear Opl, and the recently released The Antidote.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of The Antidote:

I’ve been so thoroughly disappointed with most book to screen adaptations in the past, that I oftentimes finding myself shouting at the screen, “Oh, my godfathers! Who was your casting director?!”

Yeah, it’s hard for me to keep quiet during films—especially if I loved the book and feel I know the characters deeply.

So … that said, I’m about to throw myself into peril with the rest of those directors and attempt to put a rather famous face on those of my lead roles.

Bear with me. And please don’t write me hate mail.

For Fee—the young apprentice healer, who discovers she has the nifty little gift of magic in her fingertips, I would love to cast Emilia Clarke (Khaleesi from Game of Thrones)—but with her natural dark hair. There is an innocence required to play her role successfully, but Fee also possesses a deep, thrumming desire to seek out her inner strength and blooming magical power. It’s a stretch of a character arc, but I can see this being a good match.

Xavi—Fee’s best friend and soon-to-be-king, would be served really well if played by an actor like Ansel Elgort (The Fault in our Stars). There is a quiet intensity that swirls around Xavi, and the last vestiges of boyhood that tethers him to the reader as still ‘one of us.’

Savva—Fee’s mentor in the art of healing—is a role that requires a malleable face that can emote a thousand words with not one spoken. Savva is an elderly woman who is full of wisdom, tamped down emotion, and crushing secrets. Dame Judith Dench (“M” in all the Bond films and six bazillion others everyone should watch) would be an absolute catch.

And lastly, Mistress Goodsong—the healer of Fee’s opposing kingdom—is one that will likely make you think I’ve lost my marbles. But hear me out. This woman is both maternal, but a warrior. She is gentle, but razor sharp. She is a natural caretaker, yet must feed her own insatiable appetite. I need this woman to have the face of the United States Senator from Missouri, Claire McCaskill, but the acting skills of Meryl Streep.

There we have it. My dream cast for The Antidote!

Visit Shelley Sackier's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Elisabeth Elo's "Finding Katarina M."

Elisabeth Elo grew up in Boston, attended Brown University, and earned a PhD in American Literature at Brandeis University. She has published scholarly articles on subjects as diverse as Walt Whitman and Cinderella, and her essays and Pushcart-nominated short stories have appeared in a variety of publications. Elo worked as a magazine editor, a high-tech product manager, and a halfway house counselor before beginning to write fiction.

Her novels are Finding Katarina M. and North of Boston.

Here Elo dreamcasts the lead for Finding Katarina M.:

I have only one request. Please cast Rachel Weisz as Dr. Natalie March!

Thirty-nine-year-old Natalie is a powerful if understated person. She’s reached the peak of her profession through brains and hard work. She’s confident, but she knows from experience that disease always wins in the end, so she has a certain humility. She sticks to the facts and doesn’t get ahead of herself, but she is also quite willing to take the next step, and the next, as options present themselves. I have no idea whether she’s beautiful or not. She doesn’t think about it, so neither did I. Her looks are irrelevant.

Rachel Weisz is, of course, very beautiful, but in her last role as the Duchess of Marlborough in The Favourite, she didn’t rely on her beauty at all. Instead, she stole every scene (in my opinion) with force of character and a certain blunt physical presence. It was the first time I’d ever seen a woman do that in a film, and it made a big impression on me. I’d love to see Rachel Weisz bring out Natalie’s steady, strong charisma. She’s the perfect match.

Visit Elisabeth Elo's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Elisabeth Elo & Freddie.

--Marshal Zeringue

Joy Fielding's "All the Wrong Places"

Joy Fielding is the New York Times bestselling author of Someone Is Watching, Now You See Her, Still Life, Mad River Road, See Jane Run, and other acclaimed novels. She divides her time between Toronto and Palm Beach, Florida.

Here Fielding dreamcasts an adaptation of her latest novel, All the Wrong Places:

There are strong roles for four women in this book, and any number of fine actresses who could play any of the younger women roles: Emma Stone, Jennifer Lawrence, Brie Larson, Lucy Boynton, Amy Adams, to name a few.

As for Joan, the oldest of the women at 70, I'd suggest Jane Fonda, Meryl Streep, or Helen Mirren.

As for the character of Mr. Right Now, he would have to be devastatingly handsome, so I would suggest someone like Chris Pine or Zac Efron. (Again, no shortage of handsome men in Hollywood.)

Learn more about the book and author at Joy Fielding's website.

My Book, The Movie: Shadow Creek.

My Book, The Movie: Someone Is Watching.

My Book, The Movie: The Bad Daughter.

--Marshal Zeringue

Karen Odden's "A Dangerous Duet"

Karen Odden's interest in the Victorian era goes back to her New York University doctoral dissertation, which explored how the medical, parliamentary, and literary representations of nineteenth-century railway disasters helped to create a discourse out of which Freud and others fashioned their ideas of “trauma.”

Odden has served as an Associate Lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and taught classes in English language and literature at New York University and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. She has contributed essays and chapters to books and journals, including Studies in the Novel, Journal of Victorian Culture, and Victorian Crime, Madness, and Sensation; for ten years, she served as an Assistant Editor for the academic journal, Victorian Literature and Culture; and she has written introductions for Barnes and Noble’s Classics Series editions of books by Dickens and Trollope. Prior to receiving her Ph.D. in English, she worked as an Editorial Assistant at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich and McGraw-Hill, as a Media Buyer for Christie’s Auction House in New York, and as a bartender at the airport in Rochester, where she learned how to stop being shy. Her first book, A Lady in the Smoke, was a USA Today Bestseller and won the 2017 New Mexico-Arizona award for eBook Fiction.

Here Odden dreamcasts an adaptation of her new book, A Dangerous Duet:

I’d tap Emma Watson for any one of my heroines. She has such a mobile, expressive face; she can light up with joy, but she also displays a quiet fierceness and a capacity for insight in many of her roles. My heroine Nell Hallam is passionate about her piano but reflective—and well aware of the danger of her mother’s legacy of mental illness.

Ben Barnes for Jack. I had him in mind as I wrote; his face is dark, pensive, watchful, expressive. In the film Prince Caspian, he suggests a searing pain stemming from a father-figure’s betrayal quite similar to the one Jack experiences.

Tom Felton, who plays Draco Malfoy, would make a brilliant Stephen Gagnon, my sociopathic violin player.

Visit Karen Odden's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Karen Odden and Rosy.

--Marshal Zeringue

Amber Royer's "Pure Chocolate"

Amber Royer writes fun science fiction involving chocolate, aliens, lovesick AIs, time travel, and more. She teaches enrichment/continuing education creative writing classes for both teens and adults at UT Arlington.

Here Royer dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, Pure Chocolate:

My friends and I did a book trailer for Pure Chocolate. You can see the Chocoverse books have potential for visual appeal. It is after all meant to be a telenovela-on-the-page, crossed with a space opera, so there’s tons of drama – and a goodly amount of action. (New to the Chocoverse? Here’s a trailer for the first book, Free Chocolate).

When we did the trailers, we intentionally kept faces fuzzed, so that the reader could imagine these characters any way they wanted. Which makes this whole “dreamcast your book” exercise feel a little counterintuitive. But you asked, so I brainstormed.

There would need to be a goodly bit of CGI because the cast of my books includes a cop who’s a 7-foot tall venomous reptilian humanoid, and a number of named characters who are lemon-yellow giants with double-rows of shark teeth and oversized whale-like eyes. But if you focus on the characters who are human (or human-ish) who are important to both books:

Bo’s an ex-actress in her mid twenties who has fled across the galaxy to get away from the paparazzi after scandal ruined her career. She’s enrolled in a culinary academy on a backwater planet at the beginning of the first book, but she’ll be traveling the galaxy before all this is over. In my mind Bo looks a lot like Angelique Boyer before she went blonde.

Brill is Bo’s boyfriend – from the planet Krom. From the outside, Krom look human – with the exception of their chromashifting irises, which let you read their emotions in their eyes. But Krom can move at flash speeds and have book lungs, so they can go extended periods without having to breathe. They also have significantly longer lifespans, so while Brill’s older than Bo, he should look eternally young. I pictured Brill looking a bit like James Franco circa Spiderman 1. Although Liam Hemsworth is a pretty good match for how the artists have rendered Brill on the covers of both books, and that image has kinda grown on me.

Eva Longoria would have enough “presence” to play Bo’s diva mamá. Mamá Lavonda’s the most popular celebrity chef on Earth in a future where chefs are bigger than rock stars. She’s used to getting what she wants – but she’s had to live through a lot, including the violent death of Bo’s father, to get there.

And Nathan Fillion would be able to pull off the air of danger combined with perfect comic timing needed for Frank, Mamá’s boyfriend and a man of hidden motives, whose true intentions and loyalties come clear pretty quickly in the first book, making his relationship with Mamá – and Bo – complex to say the least.

Bo meets Kaliel, a human transport pilot who’s been grounded after causing an incident that could spark war, in the first book when she goes to Rio to steal the source of chocolate – in the form of an unfermented cocoa pod. Sparks fly and much drama ensues. I picture Kaliel looking a bit like Dayo Okeniyi.

Lastly, there’s Chestla, who is an alpha predator on her home planet Evevron. But if she doesn’t smile and show off her predator’s teeth, and you slap a pair of sunglasses on her to hide the slit-pupil green eyes, she could be mistaken for human from a distance. Chestla’s both a warrior and a nurturer, and has an incredibly optimistic disposition in even the most dire of circumstances. I think Amanda Seyfried could play her admirably.

Visit Amber Royer's website.

The Page 69 Test: Free Chocolate.

--Marshal Zeringue

Devin Murphy's "Tiny Americans"

Devin Murphy grew up near Buffalo, NY in a family with Dutch roots. He holds a BA/MA from St. Bonaventure University, an MFA from Colorado State University, a PhD from the University of Nebraska—Lincoln, and is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Bradley University. He has worked various jobs in national parks around the country and once had a three–year stint at sea that led him to over fifty countries on all seven continents. His fiction has appeared in over 60 literary journals and anthologies, including The Missouri Review, Glimmer Train, The Chicago Tribune, New Stories from the Midwest, and Confrontation. He lives with his wife and children in Chicago.

Here Murphy dreamcasts an adaptation of his new novel, Tiny Americans:

This is fun to think about. Tiny Americans is about one family over thirty years, really focusing on their adult lives, so I will cast the adult versions here.

The father, is an outdoors type who has not taken great care of himself, so would need to be a bit weathered. I love everything Ed Harris and Will Patton, so I’d put in a call to those guys.

The German, artist mother, Catrin, is loving and volatile, and hits some real emotional depths in the book, so let’s dream big for her: Meryl Streep, or Susan Sarandon.

Jamie, the philosopher, mother, and truth teller of the family is both beautiful and smart despite shouldering the weight of deep dysfunctions. Can we cast Jennifer Connolly or Helena Bonham Carter please?

Lewis, the older brother, is a seafarer, and a rugged guy. I imagine something along the lines Christian Bale from Out of the Furnace.

The final main character, Connor, is also a bit rough looking, but capable of cleaning up and going out into modern society and fitting in. Let’s see if Jeremy Renner can duplicate his Wind River look.

So, do you call all these super stars or do I?

Visit Devin Murphy's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Alyssa Wees's "The Waking Forest"

In between training in ballet and watching lots of Disney movies, Alyssa Wees grew up writing stories starring her Beanie Babies. She earned a BA in English from Creighton University and an MFA in Fiction Writing from Columbia College Chicago. Currently she works as an assistant librarian in youth services at an awesome public library. She lives in the Chicagoland area with her husband and their two cats.

Here Wees explains her choice for director of an adaptation of her debut novel, The Waking Forest:

When I write, I don’t picture my characters as certain actors, and even now that I’m done writing The Waking Forest, I still don’t have much of a dream cast. But I do have a dream director: Guillermo Del Toro. The wonder and darkness of Pan’s Labyrinth, one of my favorite movies, inspired the way I played with magic in The Waking Forest and thought about what it means to see into another, stranger world that no one else seems to see. For Ofelia in the movie, her fantasy world interwoven with the real one is both a blessing and a burden, and Rhea in The Waking Forest experiences a similar sense of awe as well as a weight as she discovers a realm that seems to exist outside the often rigid bounds of reality. Many of his films deal with magic and fairy tale tropes, and he has such a beautiful and haunting understanding of monstrousness that I think he’d perfectly capture the tone and themes of The Waking Forest.

Visit Alyssa Wees's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Vanessa McGrady's "Rock Needs River"

Vanessa McGrady spends time thinking about feminist parenting, high-vibrational food, and badass ways to do things better. She often wonders why people aren’t more freaked out about plastic in the oceans. Whether in New York, the Pacific Northwest, or Glendale, California, she is grateful to call each place home.

After two years of waiting to adopt—slogging through paperwork and bouncing between hope and despair—a miracle finally happened for McGrady. Her sweet baby, Grace, was a dream come true. Then McGrady made a highly uncommon gesture: when Grace’s biological parents became homeless, McGrady invited them to stay.

Here McGrady dreamcasts an adaptation of her new book, Rock Needs River: A Memoir About a Very Open Adoption:

If they make my book into a movie, I’d love to see Drew Barrymore play me.

I could see Jared Leto/Adrien Brody/Viggo Mortenson as Bill, Kristen Stewart/Dakota Fanning as Bridgett.

For Peter, Daniel Craig or Dennis Quaid.

Of course, we could tell it as it was, but I’d also love to experiment with a twist in the cinematic re-telling. Maybe a same-sex couple or cast some POC to add a transracial adoption element.

Visit Vanessa McGrady's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

David Downie's "The Gardener of Eden"

David D. Downie has called Paris and the Marais home since 1986. He has written for over 50 publications worldwide including Bon Appétit, The Los Angeles Times, Town & Country Travel, The San Francisco Chronicle, epicurious.com, and Salon.com. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Paris, Paris: Journey into the City of Light, three Terroir guides, as well as several cookbooks and crime novels. He lives with his wife, Alison Harris, a photographer, and creates custom tours via his "Paris, Paris Tours" blog site.

Here Downie dreamcasts an adaptation of his new novel, The Gardener of Eden:

The Gardener of Eden was made to be filmed by Alfred Hitchcock. I grew up watching Hitchcock’s movies and his TV show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Think of the terrifying shower scene in Psycho, the breathless crop-duster scene in North by Northwest, the horrible, obsessive pecking of gulls and the seaside setting in The Birds. Then fold in the dizzying, tower-top and the deeply creepy in-the-giant-redwoods scenes of Vertigo. Hitchcock was the “Master of Suspense,” the Michelangelo of the psychological thriller, a genre that relies as much on chiseled character development and a feeling of ratcheting tension as on action or violence.

So, when the hero of The Gardener of Eden, James Paul Adams first appears on the darkly beautiful, wave-lashed beach below the cliffs of Carverville, Hitchcock’s camera would pick out the flapping black hooded windbreaker that makes the mysterious, solitary figure look like a cross of Jesus Christ and Rasputin. The lens would then zoom on the shiny spent gun-shells clutched in James’s hands, his big, gnarled hands clasped behind his arched back, as if he were a prisoner cuffed from behind and made to march to the gallows.

Jimmy Stewart could play the role, though the rougher, gruffer, tougher Gregory Peck might be a better fit. Tall, handsome, idealistic, fearless—and flawed—that is James, a Hitchcock character through and through. A sonorous baritone rusty from lack of use—because James, once a high-flying lawyer and judge, has become a wandering recluse. He’s a lavishly bearded, long-haired beachcomber who rarely speaks to anyone as he quests to find his former life and the lost love of that life.

The role of Beverley, the garrulous, gourmandizing, bowling-ball-shaped innkeeper of The Eden Resort & Cottages, where James winds up being the gardener, goes to Marsha Mason. Who? The Goodbye Girl—and dozens of other greats. Mason has been playing in Grace and Frankie in recent years, but was nominated four times for Oscars when I was growing up, plays serious and comic roles with equal flair, and has the smarts and style of Beverley. Hitchcock would approve.

Kristin Scott Thomas, though only 20 when Hitchcock died in 1980, is the book’s fictional Maggie, no question. She’s beautiful, tough, smart and faithful, and, like Beverley, runs rings around most of the other characters in the novel. Maggie hasn’t seen James in nearly forty years, but her heart is still his, for way too many reasons to explain here. Think of her in The English Patient, playing alongside Ralph Fiennes. Now that I mention him, Fiennes would be a perfect James. Both are English, not American, but they’re so good it doesn’t matter.

Sidney Greenstreet, another Brit, as played in The Maltese Falcon, would make a fine Harvey Murphy, the fat, sadistic county sheriff in The Gardener of Eden, though Ernest Borgnine at his most sinister, say, in Bad Day at Black Rock, might even be a better choice.

One of my favorite character actors, ever, Harvey Keitel, lifted from The Duellists, is the perfect Clem Kelly, the ornery, evil mayor of Carverville and editor of its propaganda sheet, The Carverville Lighthouse.

If Jussie Smollett were a few years younger and not in custody, he might be a good fit for Alexander, aka Taz, the surprising, goofy teenage hero who saves everyone’s bacon. Though only seventeen, Taz certainly knows Hitchcock’s repertoire. Does Smollett? Maybe. So, I am open to suggestions. Let me know?

Visit David Downie's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Gardener of Eden.

--Marshal Zeringue

Claire Booth's "A Deadly Turn"

Claire Booth is a former true crime writer, ghostwriter, and reporter. She lives in California. The Branson Beauty, featuring Sheriff Hank Worth, is her first novel.

In 2017 she dreamcasted an adaptation of Another Man's Ground, the second Sheriff Hank Worth Mystery.

Here Booth revisits the exercise for volume 3 in the series, A Deadly Turn:

There are a few new characters in this newest installment of my Sheriff Hank Worth series. The first, Dale Raker, is a city police detective who teams with county sheriff Hank to investigate a murder. He’s a wide, solid native Missourian, and I think Eric Stonestreet would be perfect.

The other new character is an aging country music star. He’d been a huge success and is trying to make a go of it again in a Branson, Missouri theater. I would love, love, love to see Sam Elliott in that role.

And to recap my mainstays, I’d love Oscar Isaacs as Hank, Octavia Spencer as Chief Deputy Sheila Turley, and Logan Lerman as young deputy Sam Karnes.

Visit Claire Booth's website.

My Book, The Movie: Another Man's Ground.

--Marshal Zeringue

Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch's "Stolen Girl"

Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch is the acclaimed author of over sixteen picture books and novels. Her earlier picture books include Enough, Silver Threads, Daughter of War, Aram's Choice and The Best Gifts.

In 2013 she won the Silver Birch Fiction Award for Making Bombs for Hitler and the Red Cedar Award for Last Airlift: A Vietnamese Orphan's Rescue from War.

Here Skrypuch dreamcasts the lead in an adaptation of Stolen Girl, the latest volume in her WWII trilogy:

Stolen Girl starts off with Nadia, a new immigrant to Canada, just after World War II. She doesn't know her past and is almost afraid of finding out about it. For a film treatment, there would need to be an actor playing her current age, which is 12, as well as who she was in her flashbacks, at about age 6 to 8. For the younger girl, the actor in the book trailer would be absolutely perfect.

For twelve-year-old Nadia, Millie Bobby Brown who played Eleven in Stranger Things would nail it.

Visit Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch's website.

My Book, The Movie: Making Bombs for Hitler.

--Marshal Zeringue