Francis Knight's "Fade to Black"

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Francis Knight was born and lives in Sussex, England. She has held a variety of jobs from being a groom in the Balearics, where she punched a policeman and got away with it, to an IT administrator.

When not living in her own head, she enjoys SF&F geekery, WWE geekery, teaching her children Monty Python quotes, and boldly going and seeking out new civilizations.

Here she dreamcasts a big screen adaptation of her new novel, Fade to Black:

When I think about casting Fade to Black, I think about who was playing in my head at the time, but also what the place looks like in my mind. The city, its atmosphere, is almost a character in its own right, so the director has to be right too. My son would never forgive me if I didn’t put forward Tim Burton for that. Myself, I’d be happy with several different directors, including Mr Burton who I think would give it a great gothic feel, though Christopher Nolan in Memento mode would be superb. Nothing like wishing for the best, right? Maybe Frank Miller could help out with the visuals. Oh, now Burton and Miller together, that would be fabulous!

Casting Rojan, the MC, is a bit tricky. I need sarcasm, cynicism but an overall humanity lurking underneath. Christian Bale might work very well, or Guy Pearce, but, no, just not quite. Adam Beach would be perfect – I could really see him playing a guy who hates everything on the outside, but on the inside….

Jake – Devon Aoki. I’ve seen her in several films now and she gets across the emotion without showing the emotion, if you know what I mean. Subtle performances. Plus, she looks like she knows one end of a sword from another and that’s going to help in this instance. In fact, I half had her in mind when the character of Jake came to me.

Dendal – Jim Broadbent without a doubt. A fantastic actor in so many things, and I think he could do Dendal real justice. I can just see him, off in his own head and humming happy songs.

Pasha, I honestly couldn’t say. I didn’t have anyone in mind when I wrote him. He’s the one character I don’t think I could cast in advance, not until I saw the guy.

And Dwarf, well the only thing I could say here is cast the guy I used to know who he’s based on!

Learn more about the book and author at Francis Knight's website.

--Marshal Zeringue