Danielle Girard's "Expose"

Danielle Girard is the author of Chasing Darkness, The Rookie Club series, and Exhume and Excise, featuring San Francisco medical examiner Dr. Annabelle Schwartzman. Girard’s books have won the Barry Award and the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award, and two of her titles have been optioned for movies.

A graduate of Cornell University, Girard received her MFA at Queens University in Charlotte, North Carolina. She, her husband, and their two children split their time between San Francisco and the Northern Rockies.

Here Girard dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, Expose:

I don’t know any writer who hasn’t toyed with the “perfect cast” for his or her novel. I’m certainly among the masses.

And some days when the words don’t come, I’m on the IMDb website for much much longer than I should be, going back and forth between Idris Elba and Michael B Jordan to play Inspector Hal Harris. Medical Examiner Annabelle Schwartzman is a little tougher as most actresses are simply gorgeous and I think of Anna as being an attractive woman but not so gorgeous. That said, I think an actress who can shift her look—Charlize Theron and Jennifer Lawrence come to mind—could play Schwartzman perfectly.

So, there you have it. Idris Elba and Charlize Theron.

Now, you decide! Who do you think should play Anna and Hal?

Visit Danielle Girard's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Amber Brock's "Lady Be Good"

Amber Brock teaches British literature at an all-girls’ school in Atlanta. She holds an MA from the University of Georgia and lives in Smyrna with her husband, also an English teacher, and their three rescue dogs. Her new novel, Lady Be Good, is set in the world of the mischievous, status-obsessed daughter of a hotel magnate and the 1950s electric nightlife of three iconic cities: New York, Miami, and Havana.

Here Brock dreamcats an adaptation of Lady Be Good:

This is a particularly easy exercise for me, since I tend to use actors and actresses as “models” for my characters. I’m careful to avoid letting the people I know inspire my work, so using famous figures is a foolproof way to do that. If Lady Be Good were a movie, this would be the cast:

Kitty Tessler: Emma Stone. She does cool and mischievous better than anyone.

Hen Bancroft (the best friend): Mamie Gummer. Her classic, upper-class look is perfect for Hen.

Max Zillman (the love interest): Jake Johnson. He’s snarky and handsome in an unexpected way.

Nicholas Tessler (Kitty’s father): Stanley Tucci. He would suit Kitty’s “no-nonsense-but-with-a-softer-side” father to a tee.

Andre Polzer (dad’s second-in-command): Vincent D’Onofrio. He’s older now than Andre is in the story, but he has the perfect look for big, bearded Andre.

Sebastian Armenteros (the sexy one): Gael Garcia Bernal. He’s not Cuban, but it’s hard to deny he’s got Sebastian’s sex appeal!

Visit Amber Brock's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Gwen Florio's "Silent Hearts"

Gwen Florio grew up in a 250-year-old brick farmhouse on a wildlife refuge in Delaware and now lives in Montana. Currently the city editor for the Missoulian, Florio has reported on the Columbine High School shooting and from conflict zones such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia. In 2013, Montana, her first novel in the Lola Wicks detective series, won the High Plains Book Award and the Pinckley Prize for debut crime fiction.

Here Florio dreamcasts an adaptation of her latest novel, Silent Hearts:

Such fun to think about this. One of the things I’d wish most for Silent Hearts: The Movie is that a film about Muslim characters will actually feature Muslim actors – Ayesha Omar or Nazanin Boniadi for Farida, say, or Azita Ghanizada as Khurshid. Fawad Khan would make an appropriately handsome Gul (it’s possible I watched several YouTube clips just to be sure).

As for my Americans, some of Leonardo DiCaprio’s roles feature the hard, controlling persona I imagine Martin to have. And, where I wrote the character of Liv as a blond Scandinavian from Minnesota, Maggie Gyllenhaal manages to look both wounded, as Liv starts off, and tough, as she becomes.

I also hope that whomever makes the film would convey empathy for Afghanistan and its people. Too often, it’s the scary backdrop for bad things happening to Americans there without acknowledging the decades of terrifying things happening to the Afghan people. And I hope they leave in a scene featuring Afghanistan’s wonderful food. Oh, and a couple of shots of what I thought of as the “big-butt sheep.” No matter how bad a day I had there, the sight of one of those sheep trotting past, fat pads wobbling wildly, would make me laugh.

Visit Gwen Florio's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Gwen Florio & Nell.

--Marshal Zeringue

Danielle Banas's "The Supervillain and Me"

Danielle Banas, a Pittsburgh native, earned a degree in communication from Robert Morris University. After years spent dreaming up characters instead of paying attention in class, Banas joined the storytelling platform Wattpad, where her work has received millions of views online. When she isn’t writing, she can be found loudly singing show tunes, spouting off Walt Disney World trivia, and snuggling with her puppy.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of ​The Supervillain and Me, her debut novel:

When I write I always imagine the scene playing out as if it were part of a movie, however, I don’t picture specific actors as my characters until either very late in the first draft or until the first draft has been completed. I flip-flopped between many actors while I was writing and editing The Supervillain and Me, but finally I settled on Lili Reinhart for my main character, Abby. I love watching her play Betty Cooper on Riverdale, and she definitely has the right look for Abby. The version of Betty that she plays is a total badass, and Abby has many badass qualities as well, so I think she would knock it out of the park.

To play the accused supervillain Iron Phantom, I hands down choose Casey Cott, also of Riverdale fame. He can do the right combination of serious, flirty, and utterly adorable that is needed for the character. The first time I saw his photo I couldn’t believe how similar he looked to the boy that I had pictured in my head for so many years. The resemblance is actually really scary. I’m not totally convinced that he wasn’t born straight from my imagination or something.

And this last one isn’t Riverdale related, but Michael Keaton. He can be any character he wants, he can direct, he can produce, I don’t really care. Just Michael Keaton. I’ve been following his career since I was a little kid. He and I are from the same town, my dad grew up in the house that Michael Keaton’s parents once owned, and a couple of my family members know his family members, but no one I know has actually met him. I’m just looking for an excuse to say hello. Also, he’s been in so many superhero films that he might as well add one more.

Visit Danielle Banas's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Danielle Banas & Cooper.

--Marshal Zeringue

Susan McBride's "Walk A Crooked Line"

Susan McBride is the USA Today bestselling author of the Debutante Dropout Mysteries and the River Road Mysteries. The debut of her Jo Larsen series, Walk Into Silence, was a #1 Kindle bestseller in the US and the UK, and #3 in Australia.

Here McBride dreamcasts an adaptation of the second Jo Larsen novel, Walk A Crooked Line:

Oh, how I would love to see Jo Larsen come to life! She’s the protagonist of both Walk A Crooked Line and Walk Into Silence, my police procedurals that tiptoe on the dark side. Jo is kind of a mystery herself, and, as I peel back the layers of her family history, I can see several actresses who could walk in her shoes. When I first wrote Walk Into Silence, I envisioned Jennifer Beals, the actress from Flashdance, who’s physically pretty much the perfect Jo. The only drawback is Ms. Beals is a little older than I am, and, for that reason, perhaps too seasoned to play Jo Larsen now, since Jo is in her mid-thirties. Still, I think she could pull it off. Age is just a number, right?

My next pick would have been Meghan Markle, because she’s another one who doesn’t look too white bread, which is important. Both actresses have the dark eyes and dark hair that Jo has. Both seem quite able to play a tough woman who persists despite the odds yet feels about to crack into a million pieces on the inside. I guess Beals would be a better bet these days since Meghan seems busy performing her royal duties. So, if anyone knows Ms. Beals and can slip her a copy of Walk A Crooked Line, you have my blessing.

Learn more about the book and author at Susan McBride's website.

My Book, The Movie: Walk Into Silence.

The Page 69 Test: Walk Into Silence.

--Marshal Zeringue

Tiffany Brownlee's "Wrong in All the Right Ways"

Tiffany Brownlee was born in San Diego, California, and, as with many authors, her love for reading and writing began at an early age. Because her father was in the Navy, she and her family moved around far more often than she would have liked (she went to five elementary schools–not kidding!), but despite the many moves, her love of education, books, and writing remained.

Her family’s final move brought her to New Orleans, Louisiana, where she went on to study for and earn her B.S. in Psychology at Xavier University of Louisiana. Immediately after graduation, Brownlee began work as a Teacher’s Assistant while also pursuing a teaching certification from The University of Holy Cross. Juggling both school and work as a full-time teacher’s assistant was a little hectic for her, but she still managed to squeeze in some time to read and work on a YA novel idea that she’d thought up while rereading Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights (one of her favorite classics). That idea eventually became Wrong in All the Right Ways, her newly released debut novel.

Brownlee currently works as a middle school English teacher in New Orleans.

Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of Wrong in All the Right Ways:

When I wrote Wrong in All the Right Ways, I didn’t have any specific actors or actresses in mind. It wasn’t until I turned in the final edits for this novel that my friends got me to think about who the dream cast would be in a film adaptation. I’ve probably given this casting way more thought than I should have, but here goes:

Emma Ellenburg: Sabrina Carpenter

Dylan McAndrews: Nick Robinson

Karmin Ortega: Victoria Justice

Keagan Ortega: Jake T. Austin

Lauren Ellenburg: Kristen Bell

Daniel Ellenburg: Scott Eastwood

Matthew Ellenburg: Zackary Arthur

This is definitely what I call a dream cast! And if Wrong in All the Right Ways ever gets made into a movie and one of these stars lands the role I chose for them, I’m going to fangirl like crazy.

Visit Tiffany Brownlee's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Prentis Rollins's "The Furnace"

Prentis Rollins has over twenty-five years of experience working as a writer and artist in the comics industry.

Here he dreamcasts an adaptation of The Furnace, his debut full-length graphic novel:

When I was writing the script for The Furnace, I was picturing Nick Nolte as the protagonist Walton Honderich—in fact, for a while I was planning to basically draw Honderich as Nolte. Nolte (I’m thinking of Nolte at about 45 years of age here) is handsome, affable, masculine—but I always found him able to project a sense of helpless, floundering desperation really well (just watch 15 or so minutes of Cape Fear if in doubt). And that’s Walton Honderich. I ended up designing Honderich without referring to Nolte, precisely because I wanted the character to not be so handsome—I wanted him to appear to be a squishy, bespectacled middle-aged nebbish (he’s a physicist wracked with guilt over his youthful involvement with a nefarious government scheme to house prisoners in a really horrible new way).

Okay, we’re blue-skying it here, so let’s go for broke.

Walton Honderich: Brad Pitt (if he did a De Niro and packed on 30 pounds). Brad Pitt is (I think) quite a fine screen actor, and he can project damaged-goods desperation mightily when he sets his mind to it (check out Troy and Seven!) I know he’s (of course) handsome—but age and weight could go a long way in masking that out.

Piper Honderich (Walton’s wife): Jennifer Connelly. She’s the perfect age, she’s gorgeous, smart, projects empathy, devotion, and the patience of a plaster saint. Her turn in House of Sand and Fog is unforgettable. And she looks like the character as drawn.

Marc Lepore: Ben Whishaw. He’s young, he’s English, and he can be positively Mephistophelean when he wants to—and that’s Lepore. Whishaw’s tour de force turn in Cloud Atlas (in which he plays multiple characters) is proof positive that he could project Lepore’s cunning, ambition, and visceral (but thwarted) need for human contact supremely well.

And my dream director? Denis Villeneuve. Arrival, his filmed realization of Ted Chiang’s ‘Story of Your Life’, is the kind of cerebral yet ultimately rooted-in-the-human-situation science-fiction that I love best and that you see so little of on screen these days. It was a seamless blend of craft and substance, form and function—and his directorial style is quiet, submerged, the opposite of the show-boating gimmickry other contemporary auteur directors could be accused of.

Yes indeed, we can all dream.

Visit Prentis Rollins's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Derek Milman's "Scream All Night"

Derek Milman has worked as a playwright, screenwriter, film school teacher, DJ, and underground humor magazine publisher. A classically trained actor, he has performed on stages across the country and appeared in numerous TV shows, commercials, and films.

Here Milman dreamcasts an adaptation of his newly released first novel, Scream All Night:

So this is actually something happening with Scream All Night, and I can't discuss specifics just yet, but I write without ever seeing faces or actors. And I'm grateful for that, so I can focus on their inner lives. That said, I did see a film called Hereditary with some friends, and everyone agreed the boy in that movie, played by Alex Wolff, would be a great Dario; he has the right intensity and the brooding dark looks, and the right edge to his humor and his speech. The same could be said of Timotheé Chalamet, after we all saw Call Me By Your Name--but everyone immediately wanted this kid to play the lead in the adaptation of their YA novel, so it seemed silly to even entertain such notions. Hayley is Irish Catholic in SAN, but there was a wonderful actress I saw in this Netflix coming-of-age flick called Alex Strangelove and if Hayley were Jewish she could totally be played by Madeline Weinstein, who had the right energy and intelligence. I can't go near Oren, that one's too hard. Weirdly, I always thought there could be a fun little casting coup and Project Runway mentor Tim Gunn could play Franklin, The Fixer, which was one face I did see, for some mysterious reason. Because Jack Nicholson is my favorite screen actor of all time, I'd kill to see him play Lucien (he's nearly the same age!) with a slight Romanian accent--I mean who wouldn't want to see that!

Visit Derek Milman's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sibel Hodge's "Into the Darkness"

Sibel Hodge is the author of the number-one bestsellers Look Behind You, Untouchable and Duplicity. Her books have sold over a million copies in the UK, USA, Australia, France, Canada and Germany.

Here Hodge dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, Into the Darkness:

When I'm writing a novel I see the scene playing out in my head exactly like a movie so I always have a visual of my characters. Of course, I'd love every book of mine to star the fantastic Tom Hardy if they were ever made into films, and for Into the Darkness, I think he would play an amazing Mitchell, ex-SAS operative who is searching for his missing goddaughter. He may be a little young for the role, though, so as a second I'd choose Ray Winston. It's a gritty British thriller so they would both be perfect.

For Mitchell's opposite, Detective Sergeant Carter, who is a maverick and someone very disillusioned with the police force, I'd choose Gerard Butler. He's kick-ass enough to follow his own hunches and disregard the political correctness and not toe the official party line of his bosses.

For Toni, Mitchell's missing goddaughter I'd choose Emma Watson. Although in real life she's a little older Toni, I think her wonderful acting in the fabulous Harry Potter films would be spot on.

Visit Sibel Hodge's website.

My Book, The Movie: Untouchable.

--Marshal Zeringue

Sheena Kamal's "It All Falls Down"

Sheena Kamal was born in the Caribbean and immigrated to Canada as a child. She holds an HBA in political science from the University of Toronto, and was awarded a TD Canada Trust scholarship for community leadership and activism around the issue of homelessness.

The Lost Ones/Eyes Like Mine is her debut novel. The sequel It All Falls Down has just been released.

Prior to writing novels, Kamal worked as a crime and investigative journalism researcher for the film and television industry--among other rather unsavoury professions.

Here Kamal shares some thoughts on casting the lead roles in an adaptation of It All Falls Down:

I don't write to actors, but sometimes it's fun to let my mind wander in that direction. Every now and then I get asked who I would cast as my main character, Nora Watts. The truth is, I don't know who could play Nora. I would absolutely love for an intrepid producer to take a chance on an indigenous actor for this part--and there are a few names that kick around in my mind--but it can be tough when you write a character of mixed-heritage.

The other important characters are much easier. I'd love to see Nora's love interest, Jon Brazuca, played by Vancouver actor Ryan Reynolds. Deadpool fame aside, he was in a fantastic movie called Buried where it was just him in a coffin for 90-minutes. He did great work in that film and I can absolutely see him as Nora's mercurial ex-sponsor, a man with mysterious motives.

The other person I cast in my imagination sometimes is Nora's mentor, Seb Crow. He could easily be played by Adam Beach or Mahershala Ali. I also love to imagine Manal Issa, John Cho and Bryan Cranston as just a few of my villains. Strange that it's easier to cast my villains than my hero. I'm sure there's something more to that...

Visit Sheena Kamal's website.

The Page 69 Test: The Lost Ones.

--Marshal Zeringue