Libby Hellmann's "A Shot To Die For"

Libby Fischer Hellmann is the author of the award-winning amateur sleuth series featuring Chicago video producer Ellie Foreman.Here she develops some ideas about the casting for a film adaptation of the latest volume in the series, A Shot To Die For:I’m a former film-maker myself, and no one was more surprised when I “came back to words” and wrote four novels. But I haven’t completely given up the ghost – my protagonist, Ellie Foreman, is a documentary film producer, and she’s always producing some sort of show in each book. In fact, I’ve often thought about who might play Ellie and the othe

Read more »

{[['']]}

Niraj Kapur's "Heaven's Delight"

Heaven's Delight is Niraj Kapur's debut novel, part of a romantic comedy trilogy.The story, from the author:Set in Heaven, Hell and the UK, Heaven's Delight is the story of Beth, a cynical, self-centred angel who God sends back to earth to atone for her past sins. She has six days to help bring together four couples, to learn the real values of love, friendship and honour. If she succeeds, she can return to her old life on earth. If she fails, she will be condemned to an eternity in hell.Matters are further complicated when she falls madly in love with Chris and has to hide her true identity

Read more »

{[['']]}

Noria Jablonski's "Human Oddities"

Noria Jablonski, author of the story collection Human Oddities, grew up in a commune in Petaluma, California. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.Here are some ideas she had about the actors she would cast in the movie adaption of the book and, more importantly, which directors might best capture her work on screen:I’ve only ever imagined Human Oddities: The Movie as a very far off abstract idea. I never went so far as to actually imagine actors playing the characters in my stories (except for Jack Black; after seeing the movie Jesus’ Son, it’

Read more »

{[['']]}

Sylvia Warsh's "Season Of Iron"

Sylvia Maultash Warsh was born in Stuttgart, Germany, and immigrated to Canada when she was four years old. Her parents were both born in Krakow and survived the Holocaust, though much of the family perished. Sylvia grew up listening to her mother's stories about how she fled from the Nazis who had overrun Poland, then how she managed to survive the brutality of the labour camps. These stories sparked an interest in history, especially of the war, that has influenced Sylvia's fiction.Her husband, a psychiatrist, is her consultant for any medical information she requires for her physici

Read more »

{[['']]}

Mary Sharratt's "The Vanishing Point"

Mary Sharratt's most recent novel is The Vanishing Point.Here are some ideas she had about the actors she would cast in the movie adaption of the book and who might be an ideal director for the story:Set in 17th century Maryland, The Vanishing Point tells the story of two star-crossed sisters entwined in a mystery. The older sister, May Powers, leaves her native England for an arranged marriage to a tobacco heir in Colonial Maryland. When Hannah at last arrives at the backwater plantation, her sister has vanished and her grief-stricken brother-in-law, Gabriel, is entirely alone. Did May die i

Read more »

{[['']]}

John Nadler's "A Perfect Hell"

John Nadler's most recent book is A Perfect Hell: The True Story of the Black Devils, the Forefathers of the Special Forces.Here's who he would cast in the movie or miniseries version of the book:Many novelists today plan for movie adaptations even before they begin writing. Michael Crichton constructs his potboilers in the standard three-act cinematic structure. As a result, some of his novels read like fast-paced, slightly wordy screenplays.When writing A Perfect Hell I too fantasized about a big-screen (even small-screen) version. Not without precedent. My book is based on the WWII exploit

Read more »

{[['']]}

Mark Coggins's "Candy from Strangers"

Mark Coggins is the author of three novels featuring PI August Riordan: The Immortal Game, Vulture Capital, and Candy from Strangers. (A fourth, Runoff, is due for release this fall.)The notion that August Riordan could make the leap from the page to the screen is not entirely hypothetical; if (or when) that happens, who should play Riordan? The author weighs in:If Candy from Strangers were made into a movie, the key casting decision would be who to put in the role of jazz bass-playing private eye August Riordan.As it turns out, my first novel, The Immortal Game, was optioned by a producer i

Read more »

{[['']]}

Michael Allen Dymmoch's "Death in West Wheeling"

Michael Allen Dymmoch's most recent novel is Death in West Wheeling.The story:When a teacher disappears from a local missionary school in the rural town of West Wheeling, acting sheriff Homer Deters investigates. Before long, he's got three more missing persons: local ne'er-do-well Ash Jackson, a pregnant teenager, and an ATF agent on Jackson's trail. Further investigation turns up the bones of a murder victim in Goode Swamp and a second corpse dumped by the highway. Homer must determine just whose remains these are, and who — if any — among the missing might be their killer. The investigati

Read more »

{[['']]}

Kris Nelscott's "Days of Rage"

Kris Nelscott is the mystery-writing nom de plume of award-winning author Kristine Kathryn Rusch.In 2001, Nelscott received the Herodotus Award for Best Historical Mystery Novel for A Dangerous Road, which was also nominated for an Edgar.Here she develops some casting ideas for a film adaptation of Days of Rage, which Kirkus chose as one of the top ten books of 2006:For years, people have asked me which actor should play Smokey Dalton, the late 60s private eye whose most recent appearance was in my novel, Days of Rage. My answer never satisfies anyone, even though they understand.Sidney Poi

Read more »

{[['']]}

Robert J. Sawyer's "Rollback"

Science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer, winner of Best Novel Hugo and Nebula Awards, has a brand new novel -- Rollback -- in bookstores this week.Here the author offers some casting ideas for a film adaptation of the novel:Rollback is a novel about rejuvenation, and so contains an interesting casting challenge. At the beginning of the book, the main character, Don Halifax, is 87 years old, but as the story progresses he ends up having his body rolled back to the way it was when he was just 25.An elderly man, no matter how skilled an actor, can't move with the vigor and grace of a young pers

Read more »

{[['']]}

Laura Wiess's "Such a Pretty Girl"

The book description for Such a Pretty Girl reads almost like a movie pitch:Meredith was promised nine years of safety, but they only gave her three. Her father, who was sent to prison for sexually abusing Meredith and other children in their small town, has been released on good behavior. He was supposed to be locked up until Meredith's eighteenth birthday, when she could legally be free of both her abusive father and her delusional mother who dwells on a fantasy that the three of them will be a happy family once more.But Meredith is only fifteen, and her father is out of prison ... and her

Read more »

{[['']]}