Alison McQueen's "Under The Jewelled Sky"

Born in the Sixties to an Indian mother and an English jazz musician father, Alison McQueen grew up in London and worked in advertising for twenty-five years before retiring to write full time. Her 7th novel is Under The Jeweled Sky.

McQueen is also the author of a popular series of British comedy novels written under her married name (published by Macmillan 2005-2011) and featured on Channel 4′s Richard & Judy Show.

Here the author dreamcasts an adaptation of Under The Jeweled Sky:

Under The Jewelled Sky is a tragic tale of love and loss set in the dying embers of the British Raj. The story unravels the fragile construct of a severely dysfunctional British family and watches its slow disintegration in the wake of World War II and the subsequent partition of India.

There are some great characters in the novel – juicy roles an actor can really get their teeth into. I would be tempted to cast Jude Law as the palace physician Dr Schofield – he’s old enough now to take on the part and I think it would suit him well. For his vexatious wife, I’m thinking Helena Bonham Carter. Richard E. Grant would make the perfect Mr Ripperton, aide to the Maharaja, and the role of his eccentric wife, Fiona Ripperton, would go to Meryl Streep.

For the heroine of the story, Carey Mulligan would make a great Sophie – she brings a real sense of sincerity to every role - and I would put Raza Jaffrey in the role of the hero, Jag. The wonderful Waris Ahluwalia would be brilliant for the part of the Sikh friend, Navinder, and Sophie’s diplomat husband, Lucien, would be played by the superb Damian Lewis.

And the soundtrack would come from Nitin Sawhney. The man is a complete genius.

Learn more about the book and author at Alison McQueen's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Lucille Lang Day’s "Married at Fourteen"

Lucille Lang Day is a poet, memoirist, and short story writer whose many honors include the Joseph Henry Jackson Award in Literature and a PEN Oakland – Josephine Miles Literary Award. She is the author of a memoir, a children’s book, and eight poetry collections.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of her award-winning memoir, Married at Fourteen: A True Story:

I was a juvenile delinquent, adolescent bride, and teen mother in the 1960s. Married at Fourteen tells about running away at 13, marrying at 14, having my first child at 15, divorcing my husband at 16, marrying him again at 17, and leaving him again at 18 because he didn’t want me to go back to school. After we separated the second time, I finished high school in three semesters and two summer sessions and was admitted to the University of California, Berkeley, when I was 19.

My thoughts about the movie:

Director: My choice would be  Stephen Frears, who did a wonderful job with Philomena, another movie about a woman who gave birth as a teenager. Philomena deals compassionately with Philomena in both her youth and her old age. Frears understood that a teenager can love her child as deeply as any other mother does. Moreover, he saw humor as well as tragedy in telling Philomena’s story. In my own story, there was humor in my awful relationship with my mother and in my disappointments with my husband, Mark. My mother was so overprotective that she never let me take swimming lessons for fear I would drown, yet she let me get married at 14. This is both horrible and funny. On my 16th birthday, I got all dressed up expecting a surprise party, but my surprise was that I spent the evening watching my husband work on his car. One can laugh and cry about things like this, and I would not want a director who missed the laughter.

Cast:

Lucy: Abigail Breslin, currently 17 years old, would play me between the ages of 13 and 19. I was spunky, outspoken, rebellious, and precociously sexy. I was also a dreamer and a romantic who believed in the movie version of true love. Ultimately, I was smart enough to figure out that my life was on a fast track to nowhere and change trains. Breslin is a top-notch actress. She has received many awards, and at the age of 10 she became one of the youngest actresses ever nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Little Miss Sunshine. I believe she would be able to handle the multiple aspects of my teenage self.

Mark: Daniel Radcliffe, currently 24 years old, would play my husband Mark between the ages of 16 and 22. Like Mark, Radcliffe has dark brown hair and blue eyes. Radcliffe is Irish and Jewish; Mark was Irish and Cherokee. In looks, they both benefited from their diverse genes. Mark was a rebellious high school dropout who drank too much, but he was also intelligent and funny and had a huge and unusual vocabulary acquired by doing crossword puzzles. Like me, he proved to be able to change. I think Radcliffe, who has succeeded in playing characters as diverse as Harry Potter and Allen Ginsburg, would be perfect as Mark.

Evelyn: Sally Field would play my neurotic, nagging, once-beautiful mother, whose difficult early life put her sufficiently out of touch with the feelings of others to make it impossible for her to understand me. As Mary Todd Lincoln, Field has shown that she can play a woman whose deep sorrow casts a shadow on her life.

Dick: John Goodman would play my childlike, happy-go-lucky father. Like my dad, Goodman is 6’2” tall and overweight. A comedian as well as an actor, Goodman could capture the complexity of my dad: compulsive gambler, overeater, sensitive photographer, doting father, and film buff who remembered the cast and plot of every movie he’d ever seen.

Learn more about the book and author at Lucille Lang Day's website and follow her on Twitter.

The Page 99 Test: Married at Fourteen.

--Marshal Zeringue

Kerry Schafer's "Wakeworld"

Kerry Schafer was born and raised in Canada, moved back and forth across the border several times, and finally settled on a compromise. She now lives in Washington state, but within an hour’s drive of her home and native land. She is the author of the Books of the Between (Between and Wakeworld) and the Dream Wars Series (Dream Runner, Dream Thief, Dream Wars).

Here Schafer dreamcasts a big screen adaptation of Wakeworld:

Directed by Peter Jackson, who sets in play the best of the magical qualities he perfected in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies, Wakeworld is a fantasy extravaganza. Stunning CGI effects bring to life the dragons in all of their lethal beauty, from the glory of flight to the individual shimmering rainbow of each individual scale. Incredible cinematography accurately captures the shifting landscapes of the Between, contrasting them with the colder reality of Wakeworld. Poe the penguin is fully realized by an exceptionally well trained bird who plays to the camera with endearing charm.

Movie stars were clamoring for the opportunity to act in this blockbuster, and after extensive consideration the following cast was selected.

Vivian: Emma Watson, though young for this role, handles the complex shifts from Vivian as ER doctor to dreamshifter and finally to dragon, with seamless fluency.

Zee: Jason Momoa perfectly captures Zee as both artist and warrior.

Jared: Shawn Roberts accurately portrays the handsome but dastardly Jared.

Weston Jennings: Billy Bob Thornton embodies the persona of the conflicted outdoorsman trying to flee his destiny.

Aidan: Michelle Pfeiffer is perfect, as always, in this role of the power hungry dragon queen.

It’s a scary thing, even though exciting, to have your book made into a movie, but this masterpiece has exceeded my wildest hopes and dreams.

Visit Kerry Schafer's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

The Page 69 Test: Wakeworld.

--Marshal Zeringue

Wiley Cash's "This Dark Road to Mercy"

Wiley Cash is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of A Land More Kind Than Home. A native of North Carolina, he has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. He has held residency positions at Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony and teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Southern New Hampshire University. He and his wife live in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Here Cash dreamcasts an adaptation of his new novel, This Dark Road to Mercy:

This Dark Road to Mercy is about a washed-up minor league baseball player who kidnaps his two daughters from a foster home. Who would I cast in the movie? I'll do better than that; I'll tell you who I'd like to write the screenplay and direct it: Jeff Nichols. I'm a huge fan of his three films. The one I saw most recently was Mud, so, that being said, I'd cast Matthew McConaughey as the father, Wade Chesterfield, and I'd cast Michael Shannon to play Pruitt, the steriod-addled bounty hunter who's on the family's trail. For the oldest daughter I'd build a time machine and cast Tatum O'Neal at the same age she was when she starred in Paper Moon. But the bounty hunter isn't the only person looking for Wade and his three daughters. The girls have a court-appointed guardian named Brady Weller who's doing his best to find them. For that role I'd like to cast Ed Harris, a mercurial actor who seems just as capable of overt kindness as he is intense stoicism.

Learn more about the book and author at Wiley Cash's website.

Writers Read: Wiley Cash (April 2012).

My Book, The Movie: A Land More Kind Than Home.

--Marshal Zeringue

Helen Smith's "Beyond Belief"

Helen Smith is a British novelist who lives in London.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of Beyond Belief, the new book in her Emily Castles mystery series:

My Emily Castles series would make an entertaining TV series, somewhere between Murder She Wrote and Midsomer Murders. Emily is a twenty-six-year-old amateur sleuth who lives in London. She teams up with her friend and neighbor, the eccentric philosophy professor Dr. Muriel, to investigate the murders that take place in her adventures.

Emily is loosely based on my daughter Lauren—Emily has her sweet nature and her dark hair and dimples. Obvious choices to play her would be Carey Mulligan or Jennifer Lawrence. Because Carey is English, I often mention her when asked who would play Emily.

Dr. Muriel would be played by Miriam Margolyes, a clever, eccentric actress who also looks just right for the part.

One of the main characters in Beyond Belief is a magician called Edmund Zenon. He has offered fifty thousand pounds to anyone who can prove the existence of the paranormal when the Belief and Beyond conference takes place in Torquay one weekend. I'd like to see him played by Tom Hiddleston.

If you've read the book and you have any thoughts about who should play any of the characters, I'd love to hear from you. Find me at my website, Twitter perch, or on Facebook.

Read more about Beyond Belief.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jenny Hubbard's "And We Stay"

Jenny Hubbard is a poet and playwright. Pat Conroy called Paper Covers Rock, her debut novel, “one of the best young-adult books [he's] read in years.”

Here Hubbard dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, And We Stay:

A cast of smart girls and women: that’s what we’re after.

Saiorse Ronan’s vulnerability, and otherworldly sensibility would lend themselves exquisitely to the character of Emily Beam.

Should the director choose to embody the ghostly presence of Emily Dickinson, Mia Wasikowska would be perfect.

Lena Dunham as Amber. Amber is weird and dishonest but lovable, and Lena would nail all of that, and then some. She will need some Avril Lavigne hair, or at least hair that she can sweep over her eyes from time to time.

K.T.: Allison Williams, or an unknown Allison Williams look-alike. (Yes, I’m a fangirl of Girls.)

You can’t go wrong with Patricia Clarkson in any adult female role, and I’d cast her as Dr. Ingold, the headmistress, because she exudes an inner strength that stems from an extra empathy gene.

For the other key adult in the film, the French teacher Madame Colche, let’s go with Kristin Scott Thomas, another A-plus actress with classy subtlety. Plus, she is fluent in French!

For Paul Wagoner, we need a tall, thin boy with floppy hair and a dark side—a cross between Paul Dano and, well, Paul Dano.

Learn more about the book and author at Jenny Hubbard's website.

My Book, The Movie: Paper Covers Rock.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Jenny Hubbard and Oliver.

--Marshal Zeringue

April Smith's "A Star for Mrs. Blake"

April Smith has traveled to every location she writes about in her books, from the Dominican Republic to Siena, Italy, to Meuse-Argonne, France. She takes pictures and talks to people and just wanders. Back home, she outlines the story on a white board, stepping back to see the whole, and then begins writing chapters, often out of order, according to what presents itself that day. It’s a process of both intuition and will that can take from two to twenty-five years, as was the case in A Star For Mrs. Blake.

Aside from her newest work of historical fiction, Smith is the author of the FBI Special Agent Ana Grey novels, a standalone thriller featuring a woman baseball scout, and is an Emmy-nominated writer and producer of dramatic series and movies for television. She has two grown children and lives with her husband in Santa Monica, California.

Here Smith shares some ideas about adapting A Star For Mrs. Blake for the big screen:

Yes, well, we can wish, but in fact casting a movie is almost never based on ‘who is best for the role’ rather, who is available and how much will it cost? Oh, and who has the right political connections to make it happen? I know this from having written and produced a dozen TV movies as well as episodic series.

As a writer, your original vision of the character is quickly morphed by twenty-five other people – agents, executives, directors, folks passing by in the hallways – into what is expedient and what will appeal to the alleged demographic in that time slot. In television that means a TV star –not a film star -- unless you’re working with one of the classier cable nets or have a strong producer who will insist on the right match.

I’ve been fantastically lucky in that regard. Kirk Douglas, William H. Macy, Jackie McKenzie, Richard Thomas, Greta Scacchi, Patty Duke Astin, Mandy Patinkin, Claire Bloom, Mia Sara, Edward Asner, Ed Harris, Mary Stuart Masterson, Christine Lahti, Sam Waterston, Jeff Goldblum are among the fine actors with whom I have had the privilege of working. When TNT cast Catherine Bell as FBI Special Agent Ana Grey in the 2011 TV adaptation of my novel, Good Morning, Killer, which I wrote and exec produced, I was in heaven. For years people told me the role was not castable because Ana Grey is biracial – half white, half Hispanic – and the wisdom was “there are no Hispanic actresses who can play the lead” – but it ended up being played by a woman of Persian decent, and she was perfect!

As William Goldman famously said, “Nobody knows anything.”

If A Star For Mrs. Blake were adapted as a feature film it would need an experienced director with sensitivity as well as being a strong, muscular storyteller. It’s a period piece that takes place in 1931 with an ensemble cast of five American women who travel to France to visit the graves of their sons who were killed in WWI. The locations are lush – the coast of Maine, New York City, Paris, Verdun and the French countryside as well as the Meuse-Argonne Cemetery -- so you’d want a visual artist – as well as someone who can direct a scene that makes you laugh and makes you cry. Several names come to mind, not in any particular order: Jane Campion, Joe Wright, Paul Greengrass, John Madden, Mike Newell, David Fincher.

As for who should play the role of Cora Blake – I wouldn’t speculate. Just my luck we’d offer it to an actress who’d read this blog, didn’t see her name here, got all huffy -- and Pasadena.

Visit April Smith's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Ethan N. Elkind's "Railtown"

Ethan Elkind is an attorney who researches and writes on environmental law for the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE) at the UC Berkeley School of Law. He also has an appointment at the UCLA School of Law Environmental Law Center and Emmett Center on Climate Change and the Environment. His areas of focus include land use, transportation, electric vehicles, energy storage, and renewable energy.

Here Elkind dreamcasts a big screen adaptation of his new book, Railtown: The Fight for the Los Angeles Metro Rail and the Future of the City:

Railtown presents a history of the modern urban rail system in Los Angeles, so it features many current and recent leaders in the entertainment capital. The early story focuses on Tom Bradley, the grandson of former slaves who was elected mayor of Los Angeles in 1973 -- one of the first African American mayors of a major city. Bradley was a determined and passionate leader, but politically he was cautious and sometimes taciturn, earning the nickname “The Sphinx.” Terrence Howard might capture Bradley’s dignity, affability, and calculating nature well.

Current U.S. Congressman Henry Waxman figures in the story as someone who tries to stop rail in Los Angeles at the last minute, for less-than-admirable reasons. He ultimately relents but not until doing serious damage to the system’s effectiveness. Paul Giamatti could play Waxman as a plotting opponent of the system who still believes in the righteousness of his position.

Other local leaders include Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, a folksy, pat-on-the-back, old-time politician representing a largely African American district. Hahn helped get the rail system launched in Los Angeles on a shoestring campaign in 1980, and then he cajoled and pressured his colleagues to approve the first rail line in his district. Matthew McConaughey could have fun with this role, as someone who ultimately gets his way through convivial but shrewd arm-twisting.

Opposing Hahn and Bradley was arch-conservative supervisor Pete Schabarum, a former 49ers football player who once unrepentantly bowled over a grandmother in a home plate collision during a softball game, sending her to the hospital. Schabarum was ultimately ineffective at stopping the system, employing sometimes ridiculous strategies that backfired on him. He could be played by Josh Brolin, who could draw on his George W. Bush role in W.

Former news anchorman-turned-politician Baxter Ward, known for his ideological attachment to rail from his boyhood days with toy trains, was an early rail booster who nonetheless clashed with his fellow rail proponents due to his unwillingness to compromise. He could be a good role for Fred Willard, perhaps in a nod to Willard’s Anchorman role.

Anti-rail, pro-bus socialist Eric Mann slowed the rail system through a lawsuit that he hoped would convict rail leaders of racist crimes for ignoring low-income, minority bus riders in favor of middle class, white rail commuters. He could be played by Tim Robbins, while Michael Peña could play Mann’s colleague and fellow activist Manuel Criollo.

Not many women figure in the story, but Kathy Bates could fit the part of local anti-rail neighborhood activist Diana Plotkin, who vigorously opposes rail and other development in her neighborhood, often at the expense of the regional good. Nora Dunn could play rail commissioner Jackie Bacharach, a seemingly “goodie two-shoes” political leader who ultimately proved quite savvy at getting her favored policies implemented.

Ultimately, any movie made about this history would have to involve an ensemble cast, as decision-making in Los Angeles is as decentralized as the the city is sprawling. With so many people in charge, it almost seems like no one is.

Learn more about the book and author at Ethan N. Elkind's website and Twitter perch.

--Marshal Zeringue

Lamar Giles's "Fake ID"

Debut author Lamar Giles takes readers on a wild and dark ride in this contemporary Witness Protection thriller. Fake ID is a compelling story full of twists and turns—sure to appeal to fans of James Patterson, Harlan Coben, and John Grisham.

Nick Pearson is hiding in plain sight. In fact, his name isn't really Nick Pearson. He shouldn't tell you his real name, his real hometown, or why his family just moved to Stepton, Virginia. And he definitely shouldn't tell you about his friend Eli Cruz and the major conspiracy Eli was uncovering when he died. About how Nick had to choose between solving Eli's murder with his hot sister, Reya, and "staying low-key" like the Program said to do.

But he's going to tell you—unless he gets caught first....

Here Giles dreamcasts an adaptation of the book:

It’s a little difficult for me to think of the perfect Fake ID cast for a couple of reasons. One, because my book is populated by teen leads, I’m not as familiar with age appropriate actors. Two, because my hero and heroine are teens of color, I’m afraid there’s a limited pool of known names. That being said, I’ll play a game of “What If.” What if I could cast the actor that immediately comes to mind and make him/her age appropriate for the role where needed (denoted by an asterisk)? Well, when you think of it that way:

Nick Pearson – Michael B. Jordan*
Reya Cruz – Francia Raisa*
Eli Cruz – Adam Irigoyen
Zach Lynch – Alex Pettyfer*
Dustin Burke – Liam Hemsworth*
Pilar – Victoria Justice
James Pearson/Dad – Jamie Foxx
Mrs. Pearson/Mom – Kerry Washington
Mayor Burke – Bruce Willis
Deputy Marshal Bertram – Jason Patric
Sheriff Hill – Woody Harrelson
Principal Hardwick – Michael Jai White

That’s the list that represents the clearest pictures of these characters in my mind, but I’d love to know who readers see when they meet these characters for the first time. I imagine there would be some pleasant surprises.

Learn more about the book and author at Lamar Giles's website, blog, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

--Marshal Zeringue

Beverle Graves Myers's "Whispers of Vivaldi"

Beverle Graves Myers is the author of Whispers of Vivaldi and five previous mystery novels featuring Tito Amato, the 18th-century sleuth with a stellar talent for sleuthing. A former psychiatrist, Myers divides her time between Louisville, Kentucky and southwest Florida.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of the series:

Tito Amato is a castrato soprano, a star of the 18th-century opera stage, who sings and sleuths in the last days of the Venetian Republic. The brutal surgery forced on him as a young boy could have easily made him a bitter man, but in Tito’s case, the physical violation led to empathy for anyone wronged by the decadent, repressive society around him. A carnival dwarf, the Jews of the Venetian ghetto, a wise woman of the Old Religion, a murdered servant whose master would like to simply to forget her—Tito seeks justice for all.

What actor would I cast as Tito? Who would be brave enough to accept the role?

There’s always been only one. Johnny Depp. He was my pick when I started the series and he still is. Depp can do any role with sensitivity, charm, and style. I would trust him to study the castrato phenomenon until he could do a pitch perfect rendition of this character who would be utterly foreign to most people of the 21st century. Depp could breathe life into Tito.

But what about the music? Tito’s story couldn’t be filmed without a display of his magnificent singing.

I’ve got that covered. Depp can sing—he proved it in the musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He’s not particularly good, and certainly not a soprano, but he’s obviously a competent enough singer to act as if he is. For the actual sound, the filmmaker could use a technique employed in Farinelli, the story of another castrato, a real historical figure who is acknowledged as the greatest singer of the baroque era. To recreate the range and timbre of Farinelli’s stupendous voice, the performances of a female soprano, Ewa Malas-Godlewska, and a male counter-tenor, Derek Lee Ragin, were digitally merged. The result is a seamlessly perfect castrato voice—much like Tito’s.

Visit Beverle Graves Myers' website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

Writers Read: Beverle Graves Myers.

--Marshal Zeringue