Justin Gustainis's "Known Devil"

Justin Gustainis is a Professor of Communication at Plattsburgh State University, where he earned the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2002. His academic publications include the book American Rhetoric and the Vietnam War, published in 1993. The Hades Project, his first novel, was released to rave reviews in 2003. Other books include the Quincey Morris Supernatural Investigations novels.

Here Gustainis dreamcasts an adaptation of his new novel, Known Devil:

Adapting my “Haunted Scranton” series (Hard Spell, Evil Dark, and Known Devil), or any part thereof, as a movie would present several challenges. The biggest of these would be getting the tone right. Although the books contain moments of humor (at least, I hope they do), the overall tone is deadly serious. In the alternate universe where the series is set, all the monsters from your nightmares are real: vampires, werewolves, witches, demons, ghouls – the whole crew. It’s true, not all of them act like monsters, but the danger is ever-present. Being a cop in a world like that, especially a cop like Stan Markowski, who specializes in supernatural crimes, would be stressful, indeed. Some years back, there was a short-lived TV series called Special Unit 2 that had cops dealing with supernaturals – but it tipped the balance in favor of farce much too often, in my opinion. On the other hand, True Blood mostly gets the attitude right, but it lacks the police procedural element that is central to my books.

And, of course, you’d have to shoot the exteriors in Scranton. The city is as much a character in my books as any of the humans (or non-humans, for that matter).

If some Hollywood producer ever had the good taste to adapt my novels into a series of movies, these are the casting recommendations I’d make:

Stan Markowski -- the late Jack Webb was sort of the inspiration for Stan, but the character of Joe Friday is utterly lacking in both humor and a sense of irony. That’s not Stan. Karl Malden, in his Streets of San Francisco days, would have been pretty good, too. Among working actors, I’d pick James Spader. He would never have seemed right to me for the role until I saw him this season in The Blacklist. The way he approaches the character of “Red” Reddington tells me he’d be great as Stan.

Karl Renfer – casting Stan’s vampire partner (who doesn’t start out the series as undead) is tricky. Fifteen years ago, Christian Slater would have been perfect. Since he’s too old, I’d be inclined to go with a clean shaven Joe Manganiello, who plays Alcide in True Blood.

Christine Markowski – Stan’s vampire daughter is a relatively small, but crucial role. I’d give it to Ellen Page, who received an Academy Award nomination for Juno.

Rachel Procter – the role of the police department’s consulting witch would be well-filled by Kerri Russell. She’s been doing some good work as a Russian undercover operative in The Americans.

Finally, the role of Stan’s hamster, Quincey should be played by my hamster Max.

Learn more the book and author at Justin Gustainis' website.

The Page 69 Test: Known Devil.

--Marshal Zeringue

Michelle Wildgen's "Bread and Butter"

Michelle Wildgen is the author of the novels Bread and Butter, You’re Not You, and But Not For Long. The film adaptation of You’re Not You, a New York Times’ Editor’s Choice and one of People Magazine’s Top Ten Books of 2006, stars Hilary Swank and Emmy Rossum. Wildgen’s work includes fiction, essays, reviews, and food writing. She is a freelance writer, editor, and teacher, and an executive editor at the literary magazine Tin House. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Here Wildgen dreamcasts an adaptation of Bread and Butter:

The first thing that would probably be jettisoned in making Bread and Butter a film would be the family tendency toward red hair. I mean, there are only so many out there. But I can try.

The oldest of the three brothers, Leo, is the sort who might take a few glances to see the attraction: reserved, a little serious, a little hard to know, a little rumpled. Oh, wait--actually, this is easy: Louis CK. He’s brilliant, unpredictable, perfect for Leo, and he and I have been looking for a project to do together. (Note: This last part is not actually true.)

Britt is the handsome, stylish middle brother, one of those annoying people who is always more chic than anyone else even though you can’t put your finger on why. Paul Bettany is cool—literally, I mean, with the pale hair and icy eyes—but also witty and acerbic in a distinctly non-cuddly way. You also get the feeling that man wears the hell out of a good suit.

I picture the youngest brother Harry as tall, rangy, bearded, bespectacled, noticeably intent and intelligent. Ever since I began this book, I’ve had the vague sense that he resembles someone I know in real life, but not till I sat down to write this do I realize who it is: my old friend from Bread Loaf, Austin Bunn, writer of the much-lauded indie film Kill Your Darlings. Austin, I had no idea you’d haunted me this way, but clearly you did, and I hope you’re ready to give acting a try.

The executive chef of Leo and Britt’s restaurant is the formidable Thea: skilled, stern, the epitome of the boss who does. not. fuck. around. She’s usually funny, and I think she’d still have the glimmer of it here, but Frances McDormand would also have the intensity. I could see her rolling out of bed, putting her hair in a bun, and running that line like a beast. Also, she looks like an actual person, and nothing ruins a character like having her played by someone all smoothed out and flat and shiny. I think she could handle the hard work of the kitchen, and plus, I like to cast Frances McDormand in all of my imaginary movies.

Finally, there’s Camille, whom both Harry and Britt pursue at different points. In creating her I had in mind one of Laurie Colwin’s great characters, the sort whose surface is so precise that her messy human vulnerabilities and desires come as a bit of a shock. Rebecca Hall has that sultry low voice and she can seem either statuesque and stunning or very approachable, and part of Camille’s draw is that she’s more perfectly put together than unshakably lovely. Hall’s gorgeous, but she’s also just plain interesting to look at.

Now I’m off to cast parents, pastry chefs, and local restaurateurs….

Learn more about the author and her work at Michelle Wildgen's website.

The Page 69 Test: Bread and Butter.

Writers Read: Michelle Wildgen.

--Marshal Zeringue

Erin Lindsay McCabe's "I Shall Be Near To You"

Erin Lindsay McCabe studied literature and history at University of California, Santa Cruz, earned a teaching credential at California State University, Chico, and taught high school English for seven years before completing her MFA in Creative Writing at St. Mary’s College of California in 2010. A recipient of the 2008 Jim Townsend Scholarship for Excellence in Creative Writing and the 2009 Leonard Michaels Scholarship for Literary Excellence, McCabe has taught Composition at St. Mary’s College of California and Butte College.

A California native, McCabe lives in the Sierra Foothills with her husband, son, and a small menagerie that includes one dog, four cats, two horses, ten chickens, and three goats.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of her acclaimed new novel, I Shall Be Near to You:

My Book, The Movie: I Shall Be Near To You, starring Jennifer Lawrence

I still remember watching the movie Winter’s Bone in the only art-house east of Oakland, CA (since demolished). We were barely into the movie when I leaned over to my husband and whispered, “That’s Rosetta.”

I had no idea who the actress was, but I knew almost the instant she appeared on screen that she was perfect to play the part of Rosetta, the feisty, strong-willed young woman who disguises herself as a man and enlists in the Union Army with her new husband in my novel I Shall Be Near To You. After the movie ended, we stayed to watch the credits and find out who that actress was.

“Jennifer Lawrence,” I said when her name rolled up the screen. “She’s my girl.” At the time, I had a draft of my novel finished and I had no idea if my book would be published, let alone if it might ever be made into a movie. And of course, that was before Jennifer Lawrence became Jennifer Lawrence. But I loved how she brought a fierce and quiet determination to the role of Ree Dolly in Winter’s Bone, traits that Rosetta shares, evidenced as she goes against her husband’s wishes to fight on the battlefield. I admired how Jennifer Lawrence could be strong and yet tender and vulnerable, just like Rosetta is as she struggles to find ways to still be a wife even when she’s wearing a soldier’s uniform. Somehow Jennifer Lawrence managed to portray Ree’s love for her family even though she never spoke it. And she never let Ree break down but you could see her holding the pieces together by sheer force of will, just as Rosetta must after the horror of Antietam.

Since then, I’ve watched Jennifer Lawrence bring those same qualities to life in the other characters she’s played. I’ve watched her tackle physically challenging roles, requiring that she shoot guns (and arrows) and throw punches. I’ve laughed as she’s taken on roles that allow for a bit of comedy, convincing me even further that she could bring Rosetta’s sense of humor to the screen. And then too, as J.Law has let more and more of her personality loose on the red carpet and various awards stages, I’ve loved her irreverence, the way she speaks whatever is on her mind, how sometimes she acts with beautiful humanity when you’d least expect it, just as Rosetta does. She seems genuine in a way that reminds me of Rosetta and in a way that must be difficult for someone on such a public stage with an image and a career to protect. It makes me think she would understand Rosetta’s drive to be true to herself at the same time that she’s hiding much of what’s essential about herself, the way there is truth to the part that Rosetta plays, the way a disguise can’t keep everything secret.

And then, of course, J.Law went ahead and chopped all her hair off, just like Rosetta does. If that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is.

Visit Erin Lindsay McCabe's website and Facebook page.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Erin Lindsay McCabe & Roxy.

--Marshal Zeringue

Steven Cassedy's "Connected"

Steven Cassedy is Professor of Slavic and Comparative Literature at University of California, San Diego. He has published in a variety of fields, including Russian literature, French literature, philosophy and history of religion, Jewish studies, philosophy, history of science, history of music, history of ideas, and American studies. His books include Dostoevsky's Religion and Flight from Eden: The Origins of Modern Literary Criticism and Theory.

Here Cassedy shares some ideas for a big screen adaptation of his new book, Connected: How Trains, Genes, Pineapples, Piano Keys, and a Few Disasters Transformed Americans at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century:

The movie version of this book would definitely be tricky. I actually started out with fictional characters as part of the book, each representing a social “type” from the era. Every chapter began with a story about one of the characters, to illustrate something about the topic of that chapter. My editor wisely talked me out of using the characters in the final version—they made the book a little too weirdly hybrid for most readers, she rightly thought—plus the little stories were, well, kind of boring.

But the book tells a number of real-life stories that could make terrific movies—or at least be part of some terrific movies. Perhaps one thing I’ve done in Connected is provide technical advising services for a great big movie that’s set in this era—but a movie part of whose point is exactly that it evokes an era and a place. Think of last year’s Inside Llewyn Davis, for example, which brings you back (with one or two goofs on the part of the Coen brothers) into New York City at the beginning of the 1960s. If you were around at that time and in that place, you remember that the subway entrances looked just exactly like that (no “1” train, but the IRT Broadway Local), and so did the automobiles that lined the streets.

A director who likes to make icons out of ordinary objects and who wanted to set a movie in the era of my book could feature Waltham watches, the Time Ball atop the Western Union Building, cans of Hawaiian pineapples, OK Records, public signs displaying personal hygiene rules, a Steinway upright piano. One of my aims is to show how an ordinary object can point out beyond itself with a myriad of imaginary filaments that connect it to a myriad of distant (or not-so-distant) points. In one chapter, I describe an 1894 Steinway upright (which actually belongs to my family), and I imagine that its original owner, a Mr. Byron Sherman from Morristown, New Jersey, is holding the family globe and putting an individual finger or thumb on each of the spots marking a place that provided a raw material for his instrument: Congo for ivory, Madagascar for ebony, Australia for wool (the felt in the hammers), the Adirondacks for spruce, and so on. He would end up clutching the globe as if it were a basketball. In fact, a man clutching the earthly globe was a frequent iconic motif in nasty political satire from this era: a grotesquely caricatured Jew with his arms greedily wrapped around the earth (cover image for the infamous Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion) or John Bull as an octopus spreading his tentacles over the various territories of Great Britain’s far-flung colonial empire. This is globalization (a big theme of my book), before the term was coined.

My idea is that these objects are stories—or they’re the characters in a larger story. I guess I’d leave it up to the director to figure out how to make the actual movie.

Learn more about Connected at the Stanford University Press website.

The Page 99 Test: Connected.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jennie Shortridge's "Love Water Memory"

Jennie Shortridge is the author of five bestselling novels, including her latest, Love Water Memory, an American Booksellers Association’s Indie Next Pick and Library Journal’s Editors Pick. An avid volunteer, she is the co-founder of Seattle7Writers, a nonprofit collective of Northwest authors who raise money and awareness for literature and literacy.

Here Shortridge dreamcasts an adaptation of Love Water Memory:

Love Water Memory is the story of a couple parted by amnesia and reunited, and the mystery of what happened and what will happen next, set in Seattle. I would love to see it produced as an independent film right here in the Northwest, where we have great filmmakers like Lynn Shelton and Gus Van Sant. And I’d love Northwest music to play a major role in the sound of it. Modest Mouse is already written into the story.

As for actors, I get my dream cast, right? So let’s say Toni Colette as Lucie, an amnesiac who has fled from her fiancé Grady (who is half Native American and difficult to cast, so I’m thinking the casting director might put out a call for auditions.) The strange and mysterious Aunt Helen would be well served by the talents of June Squibb, who was recently nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in the film Nebraska. Neighbor Susan has to be Sandra Oh!

As for locations, the old Seattle neighborhood of Wallingford, the Tulalip Indian Reservation an hour north of the city, and the San Francisco Bay all have major roles in the story, and each holds a different mystery.

Learn more about the book and author at Jennie Shortridge's website.

The Page 69 Test: Love Water Memory.

--Marshal Zeringue

Drew Chapman's "The Ascendant"

Drew Chapman was born and raised in New York City. He graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in History. His early work history included: newspaper reporter, bartender, bike messenger, knish vendor at Yankee Stadium, and bootleg T-shirt salesman at Madison Square Garden. He wrote his first novel in fourth grade. It remains unpublished.

After college Chapman moved to Los Angeles and began working in film production. He got an agent and took a position as staff writer for Disney Animation. He has since written on projects for studios including Disney, Fox, Universal, Warner Brothers and Sony. He wrote and directed a feature film, Stand Off, with Dennis Haysbert and Robert Sean Leonard.

He also works extensively in television. He has sold pilots to ABC, Fox, ABC Family, and Sony TV. Chapman recently wrote and produced an eight-part limited-series for ABC called The Assets, a cold-war thriller based on a true story.

Here Chapman shares some thoughts on adaptation of his new novel, The Ascendant:

Who do I want to see cast in the movie version of my book? Good question. But here’s the problem. I’m a screenwriter as well as a novelist. I’ve seen firsthand how important it is to get the right person to bring your words to life. But here’s the additional problem: I’m also a producer on the shows I write. Which can lead to conflicting goals—and complicated internal dialogue. It’s my job to make the show sophisticated, but also as widely watched as possible. I just sold The Ascendant to Fox to turn into a TV show, so the conversation going on in my head runs something like this:

Novelist Chapman: I was talking to a friend and she said she thought Joseph Gordon-Levitt would be wonderful for the Garrett Reilly part.

Producer Chapman: Gordon-Levitt? He won’t do TV anymore. He’s a movie star. Plus, he’s too nerdy.

Screenwriter Chapman: It’s not a bad idea. We should try and get him.

Producer Chapman. I was thinking we should go after the guy from Chicago Fire. He’s really good looking. And women go nuts for him.

Screenwriter Chapman: He doesn’t exactly exude braininess. Garrett Reilly has to read as smart.

Producer Chapman: Are you being difficult?

Screenwriter Chapman. What? No. I just want to make this show as classy as possible…

Producer Chapman: Don’t take this personally—I really like you—but you’re being replaced. We’re going in a new direction on the writing front.

Screenwriter: What? You can’t.

Novelist Chapman: There’s this wonderful British actor. He’s only done stage work, but…

Producer Chapman: What’s your name again?

Novelist Chapman: Drew Chapman. I wrote the book this show will be based on.

Producer Chapman: There’s a book?

Novelist Chapman: The Ascendant. You told me you loved it.

Producer Chapman: Can you write dialogue? I just replaced the writer and I’ll need someone who can come up with fun dialogue.

Screenwriter Chapman: I’m still on the phone, you know.

Novelist Chapman: What’s the pay?

Producer Chapman: A hell of a lot more than you make writing books.

Novelist Chapman: I’m in. And did I mention that I love Chicago Fire? Really great show.

Visit Drew Chapman's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Jason Porter's "Why Are You So Sad?"

Jason Porter writes fiction. He is a graduate of the Hunter College MFA program. His novel, Why Are You So Sad?, was shortlisted for the Paris Literary Prize.

Here Porter dreamcasts an adaptation of Why Are You So Sad?:

This question is tricky for me. I regularly speculate about these things, but from the standpoint of a skeptical filmgoer who believes most Hollywood movies are awful, and one element of that awfulness is the terrible casting choices they make that always insert either the most beautiful person or Tom Hanks into any role. So when I think of who would star in the adaptation of my novel, it’s hard not to assume the worst.

The narrator is about forty. He’s sad but not without a sense of humor, though sometimes he doesn’t intend to be making a joke when he is, and other times he tries and it falls flat. I think Hollywood would try to plug in one from the following list: Will Ferrell, Steve Carrell, Paul Rudd, Jason Bateman, Paul Giamatti, or John C. Reilly. I like all of them, but I am so aware of them as celebrities it seems like they would overshadow or replace entirely the character who currently lives in my mind. I would love it if they chose Louis C.K., not because he’d be the best for it, but because then maybe somehow I would get to meet him. But he’s smart enough to write something much better than this so what would motivate him to play this role? One of my favorite people to look at on the screen is Luis Guzman. Why not use him? He’s a little bit older than the character, but I would prefer that to somebody younger. Seeing Mr. Guzman in a leading role would get me to the theater. And there’s no reason Ray can’t be Latino.

For the wife Brenda let’s choose Michaela Watkins. She’s very talented, but I choose her because we went to music camp together when I was a teenager. And the more famous she gets the more I get to name drop about how we went to music camp together. Plus I imagine that Hollywood will assume that if the main character is Latino than his wife’s ethnicity has to match. And Ms. Watkins is Jewish, so problem solved.

For the mysterious woman in the bar she needs to have silver hair, which is fairly easily achieved with wigs. Few people would look better in silver hair than Tilda Swinton. And she is good at acting. I always like it when they are good at acting.

For the boss I will only accept Dabney Coleman. There can be no other. He’s a little old for the part, but Hollywood made Brad Pitt look like a baby man. It can be done.

There are other characters and they will all be played by Michael Shannon and Kristen Wiig.
I began this post with ambivalence, but now I am getting excited to see it in 3-D. Let’s make this happen, Robert Zemeckis!

Visit Jason Porter's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Peter Mountford's "The Dismal Science"

Peter Mountford’s debut novel, A Young Man’s Guide to Late Capitalism, won the 2012 Washington State Book Award and was a finalist in the 2012 VCU Cabell First Novelist Prize. In its full-page review, The Seattle Times wrote: “Debut novels don't come much savvier, punchier, or more entertaining...the work of an extraordinary talent.”

Here Mountford dreamcasts an adaptation of his new novel, The Dismal Science:

I have not really thought of this book as a movie, truth be told. But it does have a sort of filmic shape, I realize now, a three act thing. Not terribly Hollywood in its tone, mind you. This is not exactly X-Men. For Vincenzo, I suppose I’d like to use a time machine and go get F. Murray Abram back when he played Salieri in Amadeus. Maybe Robert De Niro could do it? Whatever happened to him, though? I know everyone’s supposed to be in awe of his acting abilities, but hasn’t he just been making schmaltz for decades?

Lenka was in the first book, and I had a hard time thinking of who might play her for my post in My Book The Movie back then, and I still have that problem, now. It would appear that Hollywood’s race problem has not improved much in the last couple years. Or maybe it’s my fault for watching too many American movies. Yeah, it’s probably that.

The sketchy pseudo-CIA agent Ben could be Mekhi Phifer, maybe. That’d be a fun role for an actor, I think. He’s this mysterious guy—very friendly and very menacing person. Vincenzo’s friend Walter would be another fun role. Some incredibly waspy man in his fifties or sixties? Surely they’re a dime a dozen, right? But who’s sufficiently wicked and smart and wounded? Albert Finney, but a little younger. Vincenzo’s daughter Leonora could be Ellen Page or someone. And her boyfriend Sam would clearly have to be Alex Karpovsky.

Actually, writing this, I’m seeing how it could be a cool movie. A reviewer compared it to About Schmidt, which seems an inapt comparison in a number of ways, but I could see how tonally that’s sort of right. Hey, do you happen to have Alexander Payne’s phone number?

Learn more about the book and author at Peter Mountford's website.

The Page 69 Test: A Young Man's Guide to Late Capitalism.

My Book, The Movie: A Young Man's Guide to Late Capitalism.

Writers Read: Peter Mountford.

The Page 69 Test: The Dismal Science.

--Marshal Zeringue

Susanne Antonetta's "Make Me a Mother"

Susanne Antonetta is the author of the memoirs A Mind Apart and A Body Toxic, a New York Times Notable Book, as well as the poetry collections Bardo, Petitioner, Glass, and The Lives of the Saints. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, The New Republic, Best American Essays, and other publications.

Here Antonetta dreamcasts an adaptation of her latest book, Make Me a Mother: A Memoir:

Make Me a Mother is the story of my adoption of, and life with, my son Jin, who came to me from South Korea. Always funny, though sometimes just a little harrowing (hello, age thirteen! It inaugurated a period of a year and a half that Jin’s father and I still refer to as the Dark Ages), my book takes readers from Jin’s arrival at a few months of age to our trip back to Korea to visit the dozens of cribs of babies—and too few exhausted caretakers--at the orphanage where he once lived.

We first met our Jin at the South Satellite of SeaTac Airport in Seattle, “meeting cute” with our baby under the harsh lights outside of Customs. I was so nervous I raced through the airport security gate, all but tackled by the guards. My husband Bruce and I learned to stay up strolling him through our house all night, and later, how to connect with our son’s Korean culture. We joined a Korean church where we had barely a word in common with much of the congregation, but which we attended for years and with great love on all sides. There we had the signal joy of celebrating Thanksgiving with a feast of Korean meats and vegetables—bulgogi, kimchee, rice in nori—followed by a flock of roasted American-style turkeys.

In the end, through learning to be a mother I learned to be a daughter—to forgive and care for my own aging parents, to overcome my history as a high school dropout and drug user to become a mother. I learned how, time and time again, all families have to learn to adopt one another.

Casting? My tall, dimpled and adorable son is the easy choice. He’s a dead ringer for a Korean actor named Song Joong-Ki. I can’t really tell you much about Song Joong-Ki as an actor, but I can say confidently his face is plastered on random items all over Korea--I tote a little package of shaving cream with Song Joong-Ki’s face on it in my purse, sometimes pranking my friends by telling them Jin has turned model. When we last visited Korea, Song had begun his mandatory period of military service for his country, and teenage girls all over the country sobbed into their handkerchiefs. (Some of those teenage girls took to following my cute boy around, giggling behind their hands.)

My husband, the sweet, smart guy who rescued me from security at the airport and has been rescuing me ever since, is sardonic in that soft-spoken funny way so endearing in men from the South (he’s from Macon, Georgia). I’m going for Chris Cooper to play him.

As for me, I’m a big-haired Jersey girl who loves food, wine, and spoiling my guys, as long as they don’t expect me to. I grow my own produce and love to make things, but I also swear like a long-haul trucker with four blown-out tires. I’d say I channel a mix of Martha Stewart and Edie Falco as she appeared in The Sopranos.

Visit Susanne Antonetta's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Adrian Bonenberger's "Afghan Post"

Adrian Bonenberger deployed twice to Afghanistan with the U.S. Army infantry, witnessing some of the most savage fighting of the counter-insurgency. He has written for the New York Times and Policy Mic, and is currently a student at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. He recently published his war memoirs, Afghan Post, through The Head and The Hand Press.

Here Bonenberger dreamcasts a big screen adaptation of Afghan Post:

If I had an opportunity to bring Afghan Post to screen, the first thing I’d do is cast Channing Tatum as myself. Tatum is a healthy, strong young man (like I was at the time – I mean, I was probably a bit stronger, and I remember myself being handsomer), and capable of delivering emotionally honest performances with an intensity that many other mainstream actors seem to lack these days (see his work in Side Effects). At the same time, his comedic timing is usually dead on, and much of living through war, is keeping a very wide bandwidth for possible laughs – 21 Jump Street and its sequel look to be equal blends action and humor, which would be perfectly suited for Afghan Post. The book walks a line between dark humor and drama, and the movie would require an agile protagonist, capable of inhabiting several roles simultaneously, as so much of what occurs is emotional.

Because Afghan Post is epistolary, and delivered entirely by my voice, the movie would have to depart significantly from the book – I think that would make it exciting to re-invent given the space available to create coherent visual wholes within the space of ten years. I suppose the simplest thing to do would be to set it during my second deployment, with flashbacks to training and my first deployment – sort of an expanded vision of Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line subplot, wherein a former U.S. Army Engineer officer is left by his beautiful wife while fighting in the Pacific. My girlfriend at the time could be played by Helena Bonham Carter, and the woman I’m with at the end of Afghan Post could be played by Anne Hathaway, on both accounts due to superficial resemblance and acting skill.

The truth is that there are stories far better suited to the screen than my own – I wasn’t writing this story to be adapted, or read, so much as felt – the transition of a combat veteran from a basically decent, ordinary human being to an alcoholic wreck. Because I wrote Afghan Post as the latter, it was difficult to imagine the former.

Learn more about Afghan Post at The Head and The Hand Press.

Read about Bonenberger's list of ten of the best contemporary war novels.

The Page 99 Test: Afghan Post.

--Marshal Zeringue