A.X. Ahmad's "The Caretaker"

A.X. Ahmad was raised in India, educated at Vassar College and M.I.T., and has worked internationally as an architect. His short stories have been published in literary magazines, and he’s been listed in Best American Essays. The Caretaker is his first novel, to be followed by Bollywood Taxi next year. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Here Ahmad dreamcasts a big screen adaptation of The Caretaker:

Readers say that my thriller, The Caretaker would make a great movie.

It is the first mainstream thriller set in America with an Indian protagonist. It moves between a gray, snowy winter in Martha’s Vineyard, and a backstory set in vibrant India. It features both a love story and an explosive political plot. If you like multicultural, brainy thrillers, with real characters, then this would be the movie for you.

But when my literary agent approached some movie folks, they balked.

“How can there an Indian action hero?” they said. “Indians can be computer programmers or doctors. Even terrorists. But not the star of a thriller.”

Since I’m already doomed, imagining my book as a movie is a purely academic exercise. But what the hell, an Indian can dream, can’t he?

The director of course would be Mira Nair (The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Monsoon Wedding).

Ranjit Singh, the protagonist of my book, was once an elite soldier, but in America he is now essentially a servant. To play this proud, broken man, I’d choose Bollywood heartthrob Ranbir Kapoor.

Ranjit’s love interest, Anna, is the African-American wife of a US Senator. Anna, sexy as all hell and very intelligent, would of course be played by the great Halle Berry. Her husband, the lumbering, deal-making Senator, would have to be Forest Whitaker.

There is also a ghost—one of Ranjit’s dead former comrades who haunts him. Om Puri, with his scarred face and haunting voice, is the obvious choice.

Soundtrack by A.R. Rahman, who combines techno and house with traditional Indian music. If you haven’t heard his work, run out and buy the Dil Se soundtrack.

Oh yeah. And I’d like a cameo. Maybe I could be one of the homeless people that Ranjit runs into in Boston when he’s on the run. Wait. Can homeless people be Indian? I’ll have to check with Central Casting.

Learn more about the book and author at A.X. Ahmad's website and Facebook page.

The Page 69 Test: The Caretaker.

Writers Read: A.X. Ahmad.

--Marshal Zeringue

Michael Stanley's "Deadly Harvest"

Michael Stanley is the writing team of Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip. Their mysteries are set in Botswana, each against a backdrop of a current issue in southern Africa. Their protagonist is David “Kubu” Bengu, assistant superintendent in the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department (CID). The third novel in the series, Death of the Mantis, was short listed for an Edgar and an Anthony, and won the Barry Award for best paperback original mystery of 2011.

Here the authors dreamcast an adaptation of Deadly Harvest, the fourth Detective Kubu mystery:

Our main character, Assistant Superintendent David “Kubu” Bengu of the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department (CID), is a large man. It’s no accident that his nickname “Kubu” means hippopotamus in the local language, Setswana.

James Earl Jones would be a wonderful Kubu. He has the perfect balance of gravity and levity, as well as an imposing presence and size. The only problem is that Kubu is in his thirties and Jones is in his eighties. That wouldn’t work.

Fortunately, there is another actor who would fill Kubu’s shoes. That is Forest Whitaker, who played Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland. He too has what it takes to dominate a scene, as well as the ability to blend humor and chilling intensity. In reality, of course, the movie makers would choose whomever they wanted – just look at Lee Child’s tall Jack Reacher being played very successfully by not-so-tall Tom Cruise. Ultimately it’s the acting that carries a scene, not how closely the character matches the writer’s mental picture.

Unlike most protagonists in mystery novels, Kubu is a very nice man. He’s happily married and visits his parents every Sunday if he is not away on a case. Kubu’s wife, Joy, is a strong woman – a role that Jill Scott would fill with panache. Of course, she has plenty of experience of being a woman in Botswana, having played Mma Precious Ramotswe in Alexander McCall-Smith’s The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series.

Kubu has a love-hate relationship with his prickly and often sarcastic boss, Director Jacob Mabaku. Mabaku is constantly irked by Kubu’s habit of circumventing normal procedures and is often forced to defend him to the Police Commissioner and to the press. But he also admires Kubu’s intuition and ability to solve tough cases. Denzel Washington would handle this ambiguity skillfully. Morgan Freeman would be an ideal Wilmon Bengu, Kubu’s father, and Whoopi Goldberg, would make an excellent Amantle Bengu, Kubu’s mother.

In our latest mystery, Deadly Harvest, we have three additional characters to cast. First is a small female detective, Samantha Khama. She is understandably unhappy about the treatment she’s receiving as the first woman in the CID. We’d ask Kerry Washington (of Django Unchained) to fill this role. The second is Witness Maleng, whose daughter has been abducted and feared murdered for body parts. We like Chris Tucker (Silver Linings Playbook) for this role. Finally there is the frightening witchdoctor. How about Samuel L. Jackson of Pulp Fiction?

The final character in our mysteries is the country of Botswana itself. We think that Botswana is unique, what with its Kalahari Desert and verdant Okavango Delta. And its vast areas of uninhabited land and wonderful wildlife. Much of the location for our novels could be recreated on set, but other parts would need to be shot in Botswana for the full flavor to come through and to complement this star-studded cast.

Learn more about the book and authors at Michael Stanley's website.

Read: Michael Stanley's top ten African crime novels.

The Page 69 Test: Deadly Harvest.

--Marshal Zeringue

Patrick Bishop's "The Hunt for Hitler’s Warship"

Patrick Bishop was born in London and went to Wimbledon College and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Before joining the Telegraph he worked on the Evening Standard, the Observer and the Sunday Times and in television as a reporter on Channel Four News. He is the author with John Witherow of Battle for the Falklands based on their own experiences and with Eamon Mallie of The Provisional IRA which was praised as the first authoritative account of the modern IRA. He also wrote a memoir of the first Gulf War, Famous Victory and a history of the Irish diaspora The Irish Empire, based on the TV series which he devised.

Here Bishop dreamcasts an adaptation of his latest book, The Hunt for Hitler’s Warship:

The outstanding character in The Hunt for Hitler’s Warship is Wing Commander James ‘Willie’ Tait, the man who landed the bomb on the battleship Tirpitz that finally sent her to the bottom. He was such an unusual character that it is hard to think of a bygone actor to play him, let alone a contemporary one. Tait was the commander of 617 Squadron, The ‘Dam Busters’ who were formed specially to destroy the great dams of the Ruhr valley, the heartland of Germany’s war industry. Mission accomplished, they went on to perform many other extraordinary feats. Tait was their third real leader. The first was Guy Gibson who led the Dams raid. Gibson [played by Richard Todd in the 1955 movie, The Dam Busters] was brash and vain but also rather troubled and insecure. When taken off operational flying to make propaganda tours of Britain and the U.S. he became depressed, begged to return and was shot down and killed on his first raid. After a stop-gap appointment he was replaced by Leonard Cheshire. Cheshire was an equally great warrior but had a completely different personality showing extraordinary concern and kindess to all his men, aircrew and ground staff alike, and combining great good humour with an almost saint-like aura of spirituality. After the war he set up the Cheshire Homes to look after war victims which have evolved into homes for the handicapped and are found all over the world.

Cheshire was a hard act to follow. But Tait, who took over in 1944, was equally impressive albeit in a different way. Despite his great skill as a pilot, his technical knowledge learned as a professional R.A.F. airman before the war and his outstanding courage, which carried him through more than a hundred operations, a feat which meant in actuarial terms he should have been dead three or four times over, he was almost pathologically modest and shy. He found the beery camaraderie of the mess hard to endure and after half a pint would return to his room to listen to classical music. He internalised his feelings, displaying an icy calm which gave no hint of his inner life. After the war his lack of social skills meant he failed to prosper in the R.A.F. and he left to a new career in the early days of computing with an insurance company. Tait remained an enigma, even to those who had flown with him.

The actor who would be best suited to playing him would be Dirk Bogarde. They share the same slight physique and dark hair and Bogarde I think would be able to capture both Tait’s warrior qualities and his sensitivity and his unease in a world of boisterous men. Bogarde fought in the war himself as a captain in the infantry so had some first hand knowledge. He also played a character remarkably similar to Tait – a young wing commander who disobeys orders to fly a ninetieth mission – in Appointment in London (1953). Bogarde is long dead, of course, and I can’t think of a contemporary actor of the right age who has the subtlety to get Tait right. They simply don’t make actors – or airmen – like that any more.

Learn more about the book and author at Patrick Bishop's website.

The Page 99 Test: The Hunt for Hitler’s Warship.

--Marshal Zeringue

Kathleen Tessaro's "The Perfume Collector"

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Kathleen Tessaro attended the University of Pittsburgh before entering the drama program of Carnegie Mellon University. In the middle of her sophomore year, she went to study in London for three months and stayed for the next twenty-three years. She began writing at the suggestion of a friend and was an early member of the Wimpole Street Writer’s Workshop. Her debut novel, Elegance, became a bestseller in hardback and paperback. All of Tessaro's novels including Innocence, The Flirt, The Debutante, and most recently, The Perfume Collector have been translated into many languages and sold all over the world. She returned to Pittsburgh in 2009.

Here Tessaro dreamcasts an adaptation of The Perfume Collector:

If The Perfume Collector were made into a movie, I'd be extremely lucky and pleased under any conditions. There are many young actresses I'd be thrilled to see play the roles of both Eva and Grace, among them, Marion Cotillard and Claire Foy come to mind. Marion Cotillard is capable of transforming so fluidly; her sensuality and intelligence radiate in each movement and she's the kind of woman who looks as if she would smell incredible. Claire Foy on the other hand brings fragile restraint and combines it with a huge underlying vulnerability. She's distinctly English in many ways; a lovely contrast to Marion. I'd love to see Michael Fassbender play Lambert and possibly Romain Duris for Valmont, though I have to admit it would be strange to see two accomplished French actors playing out their scenes together in English. But who to play the mysterious Madame Zed? Is it too much to ask for Helen Mirren? If Ang Lee could find it in his heart to direct, I'd be over the moon. Do you recall the precise sense of place he brought to Sense and Sensibility? Evocative without being sentimental.

Learn more about the book and author at Kathleen Tessaro's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Adam Mitzner's "A Case of Redemption"

Adam Mitzner is the author of A Conflict of Interest and the new legal thriller, A Case of Redemption.

Here he dreamcasts a big-screen adaptation of Case of Redemption:

There are three main characters in A Case of Redemption: Dan Sorensen, who has just lost his wife and daughter and left his high powered New York City law firm; Nina Harrington, the beautiful, young lawyer who convinces him to take on the case of Legally Dead, and Legally Dead, the up and coming rapper accused of murdering his pop star girlfriend.

I don't cast the parts as I'm writing, but I do think about a type:

For Dan, the actor has to have some gravitas and be able to convey that he's suffering. I'm a huge Mad Men fan, and so Jon Hamm comes immediately to mind. He may be too conventionally handsome for the role, however, as I envision Dan being a notch or maybe two below Nina in looks. Although they are also easy on the eyes (or so the ladies tell me), I would prefer someone with less conventional good looks, and a little more of an edge. Two actors I admire who fit that bill are Alexander Skarsgård and Michael Fassbender.

Nina is described as very beautiful, and her beauty is a major component to the character, but it's equally important that the actress convey her intelligence, so that you understand the connection she has with Dan. My love of Lost leads me to Evangeline Lilly. Mila Kunis could also do the role justice, as would Olivia Wilde and Olivia Munn.

It would be great if the movie version of Legally Dead used a real rap star to play my fictional rapper. The actor would have to be physically imposing, and it's a very tough role because the viewer should like Legally Dead, even while being unsure he's not a brutal murderer. It would also be great if he was an unknown, just like Legally Dead.

Learn more about the book and author at Adam Mitzner's website.

The Page 69 Test: A Conflict of Interest.

Writers Read: Adam Mitzner (May 2011).

My Book, The Movie: A Conflict of Interest.

The Page 69 Test: A Case of Redemption.

--Marshal Zeringue

Kit Reed's "Son of Destruction" & "The Story Until Now"

Kit Reed's books include a new novel, Son of Destruction and The Story Until Now: a Great Big Book of Stories, which features some Reed classics as well as her personal favorites over several decades, including six new stories, never before collected.

Here she shares some ideas about adapting the books for the big screen:

Well, let's see. Since we're talking about two books here, I'll start with the novel. Not stars, necessarily; the looks. For Son of Destruction, a long, lean, intense dark-haired actor to play Walker Pike, and a John Goodman type to play his genial, slick younger brother; for Dan Carteret, again, tall, sandy-haired, intent, rather than intense. A gang of good old boys and homefolks as supporting players and oh, if Ethel Barrymore hadn't died about a hundred years ago, Ethel Barrymore to play Lorna Carteret, the society matron who... oh, never mind. She would be perfect.

As for The Story Until Now, we have parts for rhesus monkeys, a black dog who knows when the next person's gonna die, feral Girl Scouts of all ages and somebody to play opposite an automatic tiger. A Haitian zombie prince... What to say, it's a casting bonanza!

And who would direct? Anybody but Michael Bay or Baz Luhrmann.

Learn more about the author and her work at Kit Reed's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Erin McGraw's "Better Food for a Better World"

Born and raised in Redondo Beach, California, Erin McGraw received her MFA at Indiana University and has lived in the Midwest ever since. Along with her husband, the poet Andrew Hudgins, she teaches at the Ohio State University and divides her time between Ohio and Tennessee.

Her newest novel is Better Food for a Better World. Before that she published The Seamstress of Hollywood Boulevard (a novel), The Good Life (stories), The Baby Tree (a novel), Lies of the Saints (stories, and a New York Times Notable Book for 1996), and Bodies at Sea (stories).

Here McGraw dreamcasts an adaptation of Better Food for a Better World:

Full disclosure: I hardly watch any movies. There are a lot of reasons for this, including laziness of an almost heroic degree, but the sad result is that I can't discuss the differences between Tilda Swinton's performance in We Need to Talk about Kevin and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, because I've only seen Michael Clayton. I can do a little better with Daniel Craig, because my husband has a soft spot for James Bond. So when I cast my book with A-list actors, I'm not casting out of hubris. I'm casting from a narrow base of knowledge.

That doesn't stop me from ferociously imagining my characters inhabited by humans, though. At some not-quite-pinpointable place in a book's composition, I start draping an actor's flesh around my character. It's easier to envision a scene if I can imagine the particular human beings walking through it, and when a book has a lot of characters, as Better Food for a Better World does, I need to imagine specific hair and voice and mannerisms to keep myself sane.

The book involves, Big Chill-style, three married couples who were friends in college. Pooling their money and energy, they start an ice-cream store in a college town in northern California. Because they are in California and because the book is a comedy, they also join a marriage support group, Life Ties, a kind of riff on 12-Step programs that becomes alarmingly intrusive. Life Ties members think nothing of lecturing one another on how they should behave--in public, at home, in bed. Life Ties members mean well, but they are nosy and bossy. Life Ties drives Vivy Jilet, my main character, nuts. She's a high-spirited person, impulsive, equipped with a smart mouth that sometimes gets her in trouble. It's obvious, isn't it? Julia Roberts. Gotta be.

Vivy is married to funny, easy-going Sam. He's smart, but he doesn't like getting mixed up in things, and it's hard to get the man to commit. If a meeting is called for Wednesday morning, Sam will not say ahead of time whether he'll be there or not. He always comes, but he doesn't like to tie himself down. He's that guy. In other words, he's Robert Downey Jr.

Vivy and Sam are counterbalanced by the other two couples who are their partners in the ice-cream store. Cecilia and David are earnest, dependable people--they believe in Life Ties, and they believe in their store's slogan, Better Food for a Better World. David spends a lot of time sourcing ingredients that are organic and harvested in worker-friendly conditions. Cecilia tries not to mourn the career in music she'd hoped to have, but it's not easy to trade out Mozart for Very BlueBerry Ripple. I'm seeing Elisabeth Moss and--don't laugh--Matt Damon. Really. He knows how to make earnestness interesting.

The other couple, Paul and Nancy, are more combustible. They're the self-appointed guard dogs of everybody else's life, and they are the people who give idealism a bad name. They're comic, but they're also frightening. Honestly, this is embarrassingly obvious: David Duchovny and Renée Zellweger.

Some other characters, such as Teeny Marteeny, the plump contortionist, and Fredd, the musclebound juggler, will require the casting skills of a specialist. I hope I'm allowed to watch auditions, though. I love to watch performers perform, which is exactly why this exercise is such wistful fun.

Learn more about the book and author at Erin McGraw's website.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Erin McGraw & Max and Sister.

The Page 69 Test: Better Food for a Better World.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sally Cabot's "Benjamin Franklin's Bastard"

Sally Cabot lives in Brewster, Massachusetts, with her husband, Tom. A lifelong resident of New England, she is active in the local historical society and creates tours that showcase the three-hundred-year history of her village.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, Benjamin Franklin's Bastard:

Benjamin Franklin’s Bastard, the movie? Hm. I have a problem. The book takes place over a span of forty years – do I select young and old versions of each character, or do I rely on the fabled Hollywood make-up/technology to age them? (Thinking Little Big Man, and yes, showing my age here). But okay, let’s do both. As few people know or remember, the young Benjamin Franklin was, handsome, strapping, intelligent, bold, witty, and possessed of both a full head of hair and a lethal charm. I’m thinking the remade Star Trek’s Captain Kirk -- Chris Pine -- might capture the young Franklin well, and Jeff Bridges might pick up on the older Franklin with ease. (Going back a way, again, but Bridges’s The Fabulous Baker Boys role is speaking to me here).

Benjamin Franklin’s bastard son William was described in the press of the day as “the handsomest man in America,” and maybe someone like Jake Gyllenhaal could carry that off. I’d want to use Sam Shepard for the older bastard, although he doesn’t look a thing like Jake, but I just have to work Sam Shepard into my movie somewhere. Maybe I should cast another favorite, Edward Norton, as the younger William, and stretch the “handsome” point – I see him evolving into Sam well.

Anne, the “low woman” who fathers the bastard, possesses a seductive innocence that I read clearly in Scarlett Johansson’s Lost in Translation role, and with The Fabulous Baker Boys still lurking in the back of my mind, why not go with Michelle Pfeiffer as the older version?

Franklin’s common-law wife, Deborah Read, wasn’t a traditional beauty, and her personality has been described as “turbulent.” As with Sam Shepard I’d love to work Meryl Streep into my film, so this leads me to her equally talented daughter, Mamie Gummer, as the younger version. They tried this, with a twist, in Evening – Mamie played another character’s daughter – but at least we know that this family can work together.

And I guess you’ve figured out by now that I haven’t been to the movies in a while.

Learn more about the author and her work at Sally Cabot's Facebook page.

--Marshal Zeringue

Katherine Keenum's "Where the Light Falls"

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Katherine Keenum graduated from Vanderbilt University with a B.A. in English and earned a Ph.D. in medieval studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She worked in the publicity department of the New Orleans Public Schools, taught in the expository writing program at Yale University, and served as the executive editor of the book publishing program of the Council on East Asian Studies at Harvard University.

Here Keenum dreamcasts an adaptation of Where the Light Falls, her first published work of fiction:

While writing Where the Light Falls, a novel set largely in the art world of nineteenth-century Paris, I looked at more period paintings than recent movies. A shock of recognition came for me when I saw Thomas Eakins’ painting, The Veteran. There was my leading male character, a troubled Civil-War veteran, Edward Murer, in all his complexity. If any actor could embody that portrait, it would be Jeremy Irons; but he is too old now for the part. Luckily, in real life Daniel Day-Lewis is closer to Edward in age; surely he can play a ravaged forty.

The central character, Jeanette Palmer, is much harder for me to cast. The first post in my blog about picturing the world of the novel shows a painting of three women artists by Alfred Stevens called In the Studio. A woman in black in that painting might be Jeanette. A painting by Manet, Woman Reading, illustrates the sophisticated Parisienne Jeanette aspires to become. Yet neither picture immediately suggests to me a particular actress. The novel begins at Vassar College in 1878, when sheltered, nineteen-year-old Jeanette is being expelled for helping her roommate elope. Determined to go her own way, she manages to get to Paris to study drawing and painting, which she does very seriously. In Paris, however, she is also introduced to Edward. In a screen version of the romance that follows, viewers would need to feel comfortable watching a young woman with an older man, something that used to be taken for granted but now can seem creepy. Someone in her mid-to-late twenties rather than a true ingénue could be the answer for casting Jeanette. Not so long ago, Amy Adams might have played the part. Now? I don’t know who.

For the third most important character in the novel, Cousin Effie Pendergrast, I need a female Paul Giamatti, a decidedly unglamorous character actor who can win the audience’s heart. Mary Wickes made a career of playing wisecracking secondary roles (think Emma the housekeeper in White Christmas), but Cousin Effie is no one-note, comic sidekick. Perhaps if Jodie Foster or Holly Hunter loved the part, she would be willing to start dowdy and bring out Cousin Effie’s special spunk—adding a touch of movie glamour just for the fun of it.

For artist Amy Richardson, Jeanette’s best friend: a young Emma Thompson or today’s Mia Wasikowska.

For the dodgy journalist Robbie Dolson: Benedict Cumberbatch.

For his sad, withdrawn sister, Emily Dolson: Jessica Brown Findlay.

For Cornelia Renick, the radiant hostess who introduces Jeanette and Edward, Meryl Streep.

Learn more about the book and author at Katherine Keenum's website and blog.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Katherine Keenum and Palmer.

The Page 69 Test: Where the Light Falls.

--Marshal Zeringue

Allison Amend's "A Nearly Perfect Copy"

Allison Amend, a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, is the author of the Independent Publisher’s Award-winning short story collection Things That Pass for Love and the novel Stations West, which was a finalist for the 2011 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and the Oklahoma Book Award. She lives in New York City.

Here Amend dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, A Nearly Perfect Copy:

So I’m sitting in the casting chair, a binder full of Hollywood super stars open on the desk (because such things exist, right? And because authors get to choose who stars in the movie version of their book?). I have turned down Leo (we’re on a first name basis) because, while I like his work, he’s just not right for the role.

A Nearly Perfect Copy is set in the high-intrigue, high-stakes art worlds of Paris and New York. Grieving the loss of her son, art director Elmira “Elm” Howells starts to explore ways in which she might bring him back. Meanwhile, Gabriel Connois is a 40-something Spanish artist living in Paris who can’t seem to catch a break in the art world. They both turn to forging art, with disastrous consequences.

Jeremy Sisto plays Gabriel with just the right amount of frustration, vulnerability, and self-denial. (Full disclosure: Jeremy is a friend and classmate from high school). His girlfriend, Colette, a scheming young Frenchwoman, will be played by Clémence Poésy or Emma Watson. Her uncle, who tempts Gabriel into the work of art forgery, will be portrayed by Sir Anthony Hopkins (and I will ask him to say “fava beans and a nice chianti” over and over).

Kate Winslet is perfect for the role of overwhelmed Elm, and she will rearrange her schedule for it. Her Irish husband has to be Chris O’Dowd, who coincidentally will fall in love with the author who wrote the book on which the film was based. Her colleague and young friend Ian can be played by Daniel Radcliffe, or maybe Andrew Rannells if that isn’t too obvious. We can get the youngest Fanning to play the daughter Moira, and might there be a role for me? Maybe Relay, the curvy young art advisor?

Learn more about the book and author at Allison Amend's website.

--Marshal Zeringue