Shelly Sanders's "The Night Sparrow"

Shelly Sanders is the bestselling author of the adult novel Daughters of the Occupation and the acclaimed young adult historical novels The Rachel Trilogy. She began her writing career as a freelance journalist working for major publications, including the Toronto Star, National Post, Maclean’s, Canadian Living, Reader’s Digest, and Today’s Parent. She lives in Ontario.

Here Sanders dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, The Night Sparrow:

The Night Sparrow opens just before dawn in Seelow, Germany, with Elena Bruskina lying on her stomach, “finger poised on the trigger of her rifle though she couldn’t see her own hand in the chilly darkness.” It’s April, 1945, and Elena, a university student before the war, has trekked thousands of miles from her home in Minsk, Belarus, as a Red Army sniper. She’s seeking vengeance, after the Nazis brutally murdered her family in the Minsk ghetto, but revenge by bullets is not as simple or as satisfying as she’d anticipated. When she’s injured and re-deployed as an interpreter, she finds herself on a hunt for the most dangerous Nazi of all—Hitler—and sees that retaliation comes in many forms.

If The Night Sparrow were made into a movie, Shira Haas would be my first choice as Elena, with her breadth as an actor. Her performance as Esther in Unorthodox was spectacular and riveting. The role of Elena is demanding, with its broad emotional scope from ghetto prisoner, to escapee, to partisan, to sniper, to interrogator. As well, Shira, like Elena, is young and she’s Jewish. With the current wave of antisemitism, having a non-Jew in such a pivotal role feels wrong and insensitive.

For Elena’s love interest, Major Purkayev, Joseph Quinn, with pivotal roles in A Quiet Place and Gladiator II would be an excellent choice. He has just the right combination of tough guy spirit and boy-next-door likeability that Elena is drawn to from their first meeting.

The director I would choose, without hesitation, would be Ellen Kuras who directed Lee, the 2023 film starring Kate Winslet, about a WWII—era photojournalist determined to capture real images of war, even if it means putting herself in great danger. Under Kuras’ direction, Lee was a compelling film that poignantly revealed the limitations American women faced, along with the up-front brutality of war from a woman’s point of view.

Visit Shelly Sanders's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Night Sparrow.

Q&A with Shelly Sanders.

--Marshal Zeringue

Alie Dumas-Heidt's "The Myth Maker"

Alie Dumas-Heidt lives in the Puget Sound with her husband, adult kids, and two Goldendoodles – Astrid and Torvi. Growing up she wanted to be a detective and a writer and spent a few years working as a police dispatcher. Now, working is writing in her home office with the dogs at her feet. When she’s not writing she enjoys being in the forest, creating glass art, yarn crafts, and watching baseball.

Here Dumas-Heidt dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, The Myth Maker:

I assembled a dream cast for The Myth Maker while I was writing the first draft. I went through my character list and assigned a face to each role. It wasn’t just a fun exercise – although it is fun to play that game! – it helps me visualize how the characters move around in their environment and interact physically with others.

My cast list still exists and most of the side characters have remained the same for years. Timothy Olyphant is who I imagined as I constructed FBI Agent Cole MacAllan, with the perfect amount of serious and tired. Christopher Gorham in his role of Augie on Covert Affairs made him the perfect Jamie Cantwell for me. Jamie is Cassidy’s twin, older by thirteen minutes, and I think Gorham would be perfect as her concerned older brother.

Michael Peña easily takes the role of Cassidy’s partner, Bryan Ramirez, for me. I’ve seen him play characters on both sides of the law, but there is a coolness he has that resonates with the character of Bryan. FBI Agent Phoenix Rhys was probably the hardest for me to cast, but I eventually landed on Vikings' actor Travis Fimmel. I think Fimmel has the right energy to play Phoenix, who is described as being a little unpredictable, with a palpable energy, and he could pull off an almost dangerous level of confidence.

From her small role in the Marvel movies, I was originally drawn to Cobie Smulders to play the role of Detective Cassidy Cantwell. But my leading lady ended up cast in a role that was similar to a detective, but that character is harsher than Cas, definitely more of a mess, but she was perfect in that other role. It made her less like Cas when I was writing so I had to recast. I started using Annie Murphy, best known for playing Alexis Rose in Schitt’s Creek, as my lead. I do not write comedies, but Annie Murphy does have plenty of serious projects in her portfolio, and it’s fun to imagine how she would bring Cas to life.

Visit Alie Dumas-Heidt's website.

Q&A with Alie Dumas-Heidt.

Writers Read: Alie Dumas-Heidt.

--Marshal Zeringue

Terrence McCauley's "The Twilight Town"

Terrence McCauley is the author of The Twilight Town: A Dallas ’63 Novel. This first book in a trilogy about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy has received early acclaim from authors like I.S. Berry, Meg Gardiner, James Grady and others.

McCauley has published more than thirty novels across three genres, including the acclaimed University Series thrillers, the Charlie Doherty 1930s crime novels, and two award-winning western series. He has also ghostwritten for several projects. He grew up in the Bronx, New York and now calls Dutchess County, New York home.

Here McCauley dreamcasts an adaptation of The Twilight Town:

The Twilight Town is a fast-paced, hardboiled thriller ripped from the pages of history. It’s Dallas, 1963 and Dan Wilson is a Dallas PD detective with something to hide. He’s secretly helping Bobby Kennedy’s FBI investigate police corruption between Captain Eastbrook and the Dallas mob. But Wilson isn’t doing it out of the goodness of his heart. He’s got his sights set on Washington and becoming an FBI man. Officer JD Tippit is Wilson’s ex-partner. He has bills to pay, troubles at home and a career that’s going nowhere fast. He has nothing to lose when he agrees to help Wilson dig up dirt on the department’s top brass. They catch a break when they find a scared young man caught up in the Dallas underworld. His name is Lee Oswald. Officer Harry Denton never met a corner he couldn’t cut. A proud member of Captain Eastbrook’s cadre of crooked cops, he’ll do anything to protect his boss and keep the river of dirty money flowing through the department.

Wilson, Tippit and Denton soon lose their way in a shadow world of mob bosses, bigots, bureaucrats and power brokers named Ruby, Marcello, Walker, Hoover and Kennedy. In a sweeping saga that spans the seedy strip joints of Dallas to the halls of power in Washington, these three cops are on a collision course with history. And not all of them will make it out alive.

Here's how I would cast my book:

Dan Wilson – Garrett Hedlund (from Tulsa King)

Connie Wilson – Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty, The Help)

JD Tippit – Glen Powell (Twisters)

Harry Denton – Boyd Holbrook (Narcos, Logan)

Lee Oswald – Austin Butler (Elvis)

Jack Ruby – Stephen Graham (Adolescence, Snatch)

Captain Eastbrook – Walton Goggins (Justified, The Shield)

Carl Ford – Sterling K. Brown (Paradise, The People vs. OJ Simpson)

Jack Reville – Chris Pine (Star Trek, Hell or High Water)

Visit Terrence McCauley's website.

My Book, The Movie: A Conspiracy of Ravens.

The Page 69 Test: A Conspiracy of Ravens.

Writers Read: Terrence McCauley (October 2017).

The Page 69 Test: The Twilight Town.

--Marshal Zeringue

Turner Gable Kahn's "The Dirty Version"

Turner Gable Kahn grew up in the extra-hold-hairspray ribbon of sunshine between the Everglades and the Atlantic’s best beach. Her higher education took place along the banks of the Schuylkill, and then the Hudson. She commuted endlessly across the East River in the blood, sweat and tears of a design career, before leaving her heart on Victoria Harbor’s dance floors and the South China Sea’s cliff hikes. She now writes in the bright heat near the Singapore Strait during the school year; in the summer she greets the sunset with her family, on a back deck overlooking the Puget Sound.

Here Kahn dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, The Dirty Version:

The Dirty Version is a contemporary feminist romance set between South Florida and Hollywood. It follows Tash, a sharp-tongued novelist whose surprise-hit dystopian book is being adapted for a TV series. But when the rights end up in the hands of a swaggering action director who insists the story needs to be “sexed up,” Tash is assigned to collaborate with a Hollywood intimacy coordinator to write brand-new steamy scenes. The twist? She’s furious about the rewrite. And even more furious about the fact that her new creative partner—Caleb—is thoughtful, patient, and suspiciously good at his job.

It’s an enemies-to-lovers, slow burn about power, intimacy, trust, and the behind-the-scenes tensions of storytelling.

If the book were adapted for screen, I’d want a cast that could capture the intelligence and emotional undercurrents as much as the romantic tension.

For Tash, I would absolutely love to see Geraldine Viswanathan in the role. Tash is guarded and intense, fiercely loyal, and allergic to being underestimated. Geraldine is brilliant and could bring all of that, with nuance and humor.

For Caleb, I picture someone quietly magnetic—someone who doesn’t need to perform authority, but has it. Callum Turner could bring a calm, grounded energy to the role, with just enough edge to hold his own. David Corenswet would be another fantastic fit—handsome, yes, but also capable of playing the kind of emotional intelligence that makes Caleb so compelling. He’s sexy because he listens. Because he respects her. Because he reads the room. Caleb is the unicorn book boyfriend, and either of them could pull it off.

And if I could pick any director? Emerald Fennell, without question. Promising Young Woman proved she can explore power and performance through a bold, unapologetically feminine lens. I think she’d bring the exact right tension to this story—gorgeous aesthetics, emotional stakes, and a sharp sense of where desire meets danger. She’d know when to hold the camera on a look, a silence, a shift in the room. Ultimately, The Dirty Version is about what happens when two people are forced to collaborate—creatively, emotionally, intimately—and how writing new scenes for a fictional story starts to change their real ones. It’s about boundaries, attraction, and what it means to trust someone with your voice.

If it ever makes it to screen, I hope it feels like a slow-burn kiss you didn’t see coming—but now can’t stop thinking about.

Visit Turner Gable Kahn's website.

Q&A with Turner Gable Kahn.

--Marshal Zeringue

Molly MacRae's "There'll Be Shell to Pay"

Molly MacRae spent twenty years in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Upper East Tennessee, where she managed The Book Place, an independent bookstore; may it rest in peace. Before the lure of books hooked her, she was curator of the history museum in Jonesborough, Tennessee’s oldest town.

MacRae lives with her family in Champaign, Illinois, where she recently retired from connecting children with books at the public library.

Here MacRae dreamcasts an adaptation of her latest novel, There'll Be Shell to Pay:

There’ll Be Shell to Pay is the second book in the Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries. The books follow Maureen Nash, a fairly recent widow in her early fifties. She’s a malacologist—a scientist who studies mollusks—and a storyteller who’s inherited a shell shop on Ocracoke, a barrier island off the North Carolina coast. The shop is haunted by the ghost of an eighteenth-century pirate.

In this new story, Maureen travels back to Ocracoke, having spent several weeks settling affairs in her hometown in Tennessee. She expects a warm welcome from Emrys Lloyd, the ghost. He’d written a letter telling her he’d discovered treasure in the shop’s attic. But Emrys doesn’t appear when she arrives. Instead she finds an envelope addressed to Rob Tate, captain of the Ocracoke station of the Hyde County Sheriff’s Department. When Tate comes to get the envelope, he finds a note inside consisting of a single line and a signature. The line reads The dead woman is Lenrose. It’s signed Maureen Nash. The handwriting and the signature are Maureen’s.

I cast most of the series characters last year when book one, Come Shell or High Water, came out. Those choices still stand and you can read them here. But I neglected to cast Rob Tate or his deputy, Matt Kincaid. Tate is in his mid-forties. He’s the kind of man with a clear, calm voice who shakes a hand without trying to crush it. Jake Gyllenhaal would make a fine Rob Tate. Matt Kincaid, Tate’s deputy, is young (mid- to late-twenties), good-hearted, and a bit clumsy. Owen Patrick Joyner looks right for the part and has the comedy chops.

The Fig Ladies—Kathleen Thomas, Roberta McLaughlin, and Paula Diamond Román—have come to Ocracoke to assess and possibly help the fourth member of their group—Lenrose Sullivan. Lenrose hasn’t been acting like herself for several months. She’s on the island with her husband, Shelly. These women have only known each other online, though, so how can they be sure this woman is Lenrose? Emrys has met Lenrose. He insists she’s dead and the woman with Shelly is an imposter. Too bad he’s useless as a witness. Only Maureen sees and hears him. In my dream cast, Sally Field plays Kathleen, Laurie Metcalf plays Roberta, Carol Kane (of twenty years ago) plays Paula, and Joan Cusack plays Lenrose. If Jeff Daniels can act smarmy, condescending, and menacing he lands the role of Shelly Sullivan.

Visit Molly MacRae's website.

My Book, The Movie: Plaid and Plagiarism.

The Page 69 Test: Plaid and Plagiarism.

The Page 69 Test: Scones and Scoundrels.

My Book, The Movie: Scones and Scoundrels.

The Page 69 Test: Crewel and Unusual.

The Page 69 Test: Heather and Homicide.

Q&A with Molly MacRae.

Writers Read: Molly MacRae (July 2024).

The Page 69 Test: Come Shell or High Water.

My Book, The Movie: Come Shell or High Water.

Writers Read: Molly MacRae.

--Marshal Zeringue

Priyanka Taslim's "Always Be My Bibi"

Priyanka Taslim is a Bangladeshi American writer, educator, and lifelong New Jersey resident. Having grown up in a bustling Bangladeshi diaspora community, surrounded by her mother’s entire clan and many aunties of no relation, her writing often features families, communities, and all the drama therein. Currently, Taslim teaches English by day and tells all kinds of stories about Bengali characters by night. Her writing usually stars spunky heroines finding their place in the world…and a little swoony romance, too.

Here Taslim dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, Always Be My Bibi:

Since Always Be My Bibi is a little inspired by romcoms from the nineties like Clueless, you would think it would be easy to cast a movie version, but alas, it’s a lot simpler to find your perfect Cher Horowitz in Alicia Silverstone than it is to cast a Bangladeshi American teen fashionista like Bibi Hossian. The reason for this is because there’s still a major lack of South Asian, especially Bangladeshi, actors in Hollywood. If there was ever a movie or show, I’d love for the casting director to seek out fresh new talent and give young Bangladeshi American actors a chance.

However, when I was asked for cover references for Bibi, the following models and actresses came up on my list: Firstly, Bangladeshi-Australian influencer, Mishti Rahman, whose glamorous online life Bibi would probably aspire to. Second, real life Disney princess Charithra Chandran, whose wide eyed, naive beauty on Bridgerton’s second season was a perfect foil for her drop dead gorgeous older sister, played by the ever stunning Simone Ashley. Lastly, actress Megan Suri, who is a style icon in her own right, just like the other two. I think having impeccable taste in fashion would be key to playing Bibi.

Sohel Rahman, Bibi’s love interest, would probably be even harder to cast. His father is Bangladeshi in the same way Bibi and her family are, but his mother belongs to a minority group in the country, one of the “tea tribes” that work on estates like the one described in the book. There are many of these tribes with cultural differences, but his heritage is specifically Manipuri, another population I don’t think Hollywood has ever represented. Between his broody farm boy charm and posh British boarding school education, finding an actor to take on the role of Sohel might just be possible...but maybe there's someone close? At the very least, I stared at a lot of pictures of Manny Jacinto's hair, specifically, while writing Sohel, haha.

An easier question to answer would probably be who I’d love to direct. Gurinder Chadha has had my heart since I first saw Bend It Like Beckham. I feel like she’s able to perfectly balance romance, humor, family, and culture, all themes within my own work. Bride and Prejudice was so much fun too. Like my books (although in a much more straightforward sense), that one was inspired by Jane Austen. Bibi is meant to have Emma Woodhouse vibes, even if the book isn’t a true reimagining. I would be so happy if we got more movies about South Asian culture from Gurinder like those two films. She almost always includes white characters in a major role, probably because you almost have to in Hollywood, so she might enjoy getting to have an all South Asian cast instead.

If not her, then I’m also a huge, huge fan of Mira Nair, whose son Zohran Mamdani is currently a hot button topic because of his mayoral campaign. Mississippi Masala was the first time I saw a film centering an interracial relationship between two people of color. To this day, seeing that sort of tenderness represented between a Black man and brown woman is so rare. I think she’d be able to weave together the different plot threads of the novel with a lot of nuance, while retaining the book’s humor and heart. I'd very much trust my work in her hands.

I hope, someday, there are way more opportunities for brown authors, directors, and actors in Hollywood, because there are so many untapped stories that could be told. I’d love to be able to snap my fingers and immediately come up with the perfect cast for my books.

One day!

Visit Priyanka Taslim's website.

My Book, The Movie: The Love Match.

Q&A with Priyanka Taslim.

The Page 69 Test: The Love Match.

The Page 69 Test: Always Be My Bibi.

Writers Read: Priyanka Taslim.

--Marshal Zeringue