Debra Bokur is the author of The Fire Thief and The Bone Field (Dark Paradise Mysteries, Kensington). She’s traveled the world as a writer, journalist and staff editor for various national media outlets, with more than 2,000 print pieces carrying her byline to date. Her work has garnered multiple awards, including a 2015 Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Journalism. For more than a decade, she served as the poetry editor at a national literary journal, and her poetry and short fiction have been widely published. Among her favorite writing credits are a series of original literary essays commissioned by the Celestial Seasonings tea company that appeared on the artfully illustrated boxes of ten separate tea flavors. She continues to travel in her capacity as the Global Researcher and Writer for the Association for Safe International Road Travel, and as a monthly columnist for Global Traveler Magazine.
Here Bokur dreamcasts an adaptation of The Bone Field:
When I ran into rough spots while working on The Bone Field—the second book in my Dark Paradise Mysteries series—I played a game with myself that involved a hard deadline built upon a promise to director Ron Howard that he’d have a draft at least one month before my publisher did. I figured he could use the extra time scouting locations and securing the list of actors I planned to provide. This mind-play actually helped me finish the book an exact month before the manuscript was due. Mr. Howard’s name, alas, has yet to show up on my phone screen.Visit Debra Bokur's website.
He needs to call so we can discuss whether it’s Chris Hemsworth or Finnish actor Ville Seivo who should be cast in the recurring role of Elvar Ellinsdóttir. I’m on the fence. Hemsworth is a good physical fit and would bring his trademark subtle humor to the part; but Elvar is Icelandic, and Ville Seivo has a Nordic melancholy that would provide a nice level of depth to Elvar’s character.
Actress Keisha Castle-Hughes has long been my dream choice for Detective Kali Māhoe. Castle-Hughes is known for her role in Whale Rider, and for the character of Obara Sand in Game of Thrones (Season 5). Lately, however, I’ve started to picture actress Sara Tomko as Kali. Tomko was unknown to me until I became obsessed with the new Syfy series Resident Alien, on which she plays Asta Twelvetrees. Not only does she look the way I picture and write Kali, she has the same instinct for sarcasm, and looks like she could more than handle Kali’s active lifestyle of yoga, surfing, swimming, running, and chasing criminals.
I remain convinced that veteran New Zealand actor Jay Laga’aia (Captain Typho in two Star Wars films) is a great match for Police Captain Walter Alaka’i, and that John Cho would be ideal as Officer David Hara. In The Bone Field, there’s another officer helping out with the case—Officer Tomas Alva, the only full-time cop on Lanaʻi Island, where several bodies have been discovered in an abandoned pineapple field. For Alva, I’m casting Hawaiian actor Jason Momoa.
The character of actor-turned-podcaster Chad Caesar has been huge fun to contemplate. His role in the series isn’t large, but it’s important, so I’ve finally decided the role should be offered to Justin Timberlake. It begs for an actor who can be funny without being silly, a skill Timberlake definitely possesses.
I enjoyed contemplating who might best convey the book’s more sinister characters. For Bill Bragden, I won’t settle for anyone other than Sam Elliott. And for Abraham Waters, who’s tied to an old cult, I’m torn between Viggo Mortensen—highly adept at complicated roles—and British actor Marc Warren. While both could deliver the elements of charisma and intensity that Abraham embodies, Warren might have a slight edge because of his track record with mysteries. In addition to his lead in the Masterpiece crime drama Van Der Valk, he’s had roles in numerous television dramas including Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Agatha Christie’s Marple, The Vice, Wycliffe, A Touch of Frost, and Prime Suspect: Scent of Darkness. I’m willing to let Ron Howard figure this one out. But he still needs to call me.
Q&A with Debra Bokur.
The Page 69 Test: The Fire Thief.
My Book, The Movie: The Fire Thief.
Writers Read: Debra Bokur.
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
