Gary Corby's "The Ionia Sanction"

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Gary Corby is a novelist and former systems programmer at Microsoft. He lives in Australia with his wife and two daughters.

Corby's debut novel is The Pericles Commission.

Here he writes about the actors he could see playing his characters in an adaptation of his new novel, The Ionia Sanction:

The Ionia Sanction is the story of Nicolaos, the only investigating agent in classical Athens, as he searches for stolen information that threatens the safety of Athens. One man has already died trying to protect the secret, another died trying to recover it. Now it's up to Nico to hunt it down, wherever it might be.

About half of the people in my stories are real people, the other half being figments of my demented imagination. So forthwith, I'll cast the major characters!

My wife tells me that Orlando Bloom would be perfect for my hero, Nicolaos. She also tells me that she's willing to take on the role of his girlfriend Diotima.

For Asia, the girl-slave who proves to be quite a handful, we'll have Chloe Moretz. She starred in Kick Ass; the movie was terrible, but she's the right age, and I like the promo shot of her holding a massive, silenced pistol.

For Themistocles, the strategic genius who saved Greece from the Persians, and then defected to the hated enemy, we'll have Laurence Olivier, firstly because it probably takes one genius to play another, and secondly because it would take an amazing actor to portray someone as deep and multi-layered as Themistocles.

For Mnesiptolema, the hardcase daughter of Themistocles, we'll have Helena Bonham Carter, because she dresses up well as a zombie. No, there are no zombies in this story, but if there were, Mnesiptolema would be one.

For Salaminia, the most famous warship of the ancient world, we'll use Olympia [photo left]. There's a good reason for that. Olympia is the world's only remaining trireme, so it's not like we've got a lot of choice. But in fact Olympia was built to ancient specs and probably looks exactly like the original triremes used to.

Barzanes, the devoutly religious and clinically cruel Persian agent, is a tough one to cast. Here's his first appearance: "A man stood there, a Persian, with the nose of a hawk and expressionless eyes under hair that was black as Hades." And later: "He wore a simple, unadorned tunic and no jewelry or display of any kind, yet stood out at this table of well dressed officers and overdressed civilians. The ringleted beard, the curled, black hair, the piercing dark eyes and the hawk-like nose gave him the air of a predator." After a lot of thought, I'm going with Jack Gwillim. Who, you ask? Well, he played King Aeetes in the original Jason and the Argonauts. A fitting finale for my cast.

Learn more about the book and author at Gary Corby's blog.

--Marshal Zeringue