Gail Dayton's "Heart's Blood"

Gail Dayton was born in Ohio, only because her dad was in the Air Force at the time. She got to Texas as soon as she could—at one year old. She was raised in Texas and Idaho, reading everything she could get her hands on, especially adventure stories. She was reading and loving fantasy and science fiction back when she still thought kissing was icky. Then she grew up.Now, Dayton lives with her husband of 30-plus years on the Texas Gulf Coast two blocks from the beach, and writes fantasy romance for Tor Paranormal Romance. She reads in the back yard—the beach is too sandy for her Sony reader—b

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Vonda McIntyre's "Starfarers"

Vonda N. McIntyre's publications include the Nebula and Hugo award winning novel Dreamsnake, which is based on the Nebula-winning story “Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand.”Here she shares the tale of the genesis of Starfarers, “the best SF TV series never made,” and the novels it spawned:Starfarers didn’t start out as a novel quartet. It didn’t start out as a single novel, a short story, or prose.It started out as a hoax.Some years back, I was to be on a SF convention panel, “Science Fiction on Television.” This panel used to turn up at conventions with some regularity, and it always followed the

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Claudia Dain's "Courtesan Chronicles"

Claudia Dain is a two-time Rita finalist and a USA Today bestselling author.Here she shares her thinking about the director and principal cast for a film adaptation of the Courtesan Chronicles:This is so easy, the actor part of the equation, anyway. I always work from a photo to create and cement a character. I like to be able to stare at an intriguing face, to see the subtle and not so subtle differences between one brown-eyed brunette and another. Plus, then I don't forget the details, like the scar is on the left cheek and not the right.I didn't use to need physical props to remember my ch

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Joel Shepherd's "Sasha"

Joel Shepherd was born in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1974. He has studied Film and Television, International Relations, has interned on Capitol Hill in Washington, and traveled widely in Asia. His first trilogy, the Cassandra Kresnov Series, consists of Crossover, Breakaway and Killswitch.Here he shares some ideas about casting opportunities for a film adaptation of Sasha, the first book in the A Trial of Blood and Steel series:One giant plus for any movie made of Sasha, is that unlike my previous ‘Cassandra Kresnov Series’, Sasha would be relatively cheap to film. Yes there are some qu

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Meg Gardiner's Evan Delaney series

Meg Gardiner's novels include the Jo Beckett series -- The Dirty Secrets Club and The Memory Collector -- and several Evan Delaney novels, which feature "a smart-aleck freelance journalist, deal with religious extremism, a high school reunion killer, and sex, drugs, and rock’n'roll. (They’re set in California. Of course they do.)"China Lake (of the Evan Delaney series) won the 2009 Edgar award for Best Paperback Original; Stephen King calls the series “simply put, the finest crime-suspense series I’ve come across in the last twenty years.”Here Gardiner explains some casting choices for a big

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Ellen Byerrum's Crimes of Fashion mysteries

Ellen Byerrum is a journalist in Washington, D.C., and a produced and published playwright. She holds a Virginia private investigator’s registration.Here she shares her thinking about the characters in her Crimes of Fashion mysteries, both on the page and on the screen:It’s funny how many people ask me who would I cast in movies of my books. At least I don’t have to make up an answer on the fly because two of my books, Killer Hair and Hostile Makeover, have already been made into Lifetime Movie Network films. They aired this past summer in June and July. As it turned out, I was pretty lucky w

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Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's Saint-Germain Chronicles

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro is the first woman to be named a Living Legend by the International Horror Guild. She has been nominated for the Edgar, World Fantasy, and Bram Stoker Awards and was the first female president of the Horror Writers Association. She is best known as the creator of the heroic vampire, the Count Saint-Germain. The latest volume in the Saint-Germain Chronicles is Burning Shadows.Here she shares some insights about the difficulty of casting the principal parts in any adaptations of her Saint-Germain Chronicles ... and names some actors who might have done the story justice:Whe

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Jordan Summers' "Red"

Jordan Summers' many books include the Atlantean Quest series as well as the Phantom Warriors series.Here she shares her preferences for director, producer, and stars in a big screen adaptation of Red, the first book in her Dead World series:If I could choose a director for my novel, Red, it would be an easy decision. I love a lot of different directors, but Peter Jackson would have the job. I believe he (and Weta) could do wonders with the post-apocalyptic world I established, especially since there are genetically created werewolves, vampires, chimeras hiding in plain sight.I’d want Jerry B

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Luke Lively's "A Questionable Life"

Luke Lively has over twenty-five years experience as a bank executive and currently runs Lively Consulting Services, providing leadership, training and operational support to the financial services industry. His clients include banks, insurance, internet and software companies. Lively regularly lectures on organizational change, leadership and client service to a variety of businesses, governmental, community and non-profit organizations and has been published in a number of banking publications including The American Banker.If his debut novel A Questionable Life is adapted for the big screen

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Gail Dayton's "New Blood"

Gail Dayton was born in Ohio, only because her dad was in the Air Force at the time. She got to Texas as soon as she could—at one year old. She was raised in Texas and Idaho, reading everything she could get her hands on, especially adventure stories. She was reading and loving fantasy and science fiction back when she still thought kissing was icky. Then she grew up.Now, Dayton lives with her husband of 30-plus years on the Texas Gulf Coast two blocks from the beach, and writes fantasy romance for Tor Paranormal Romance. She reads in the back yard—the beach is too sandy for her Sony reader—b

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Lara Zielin's "Donut Days"

Lara Zielin is a magazine editor by day and young-adult author by night. She grew up in Wisconsin eating cheese and watching the Packers, both of which she never really stopped doing even after moving to Ypsilanti, Michigan.Here she shares some thoughts about the actors and director for a big screen adaptation of her debut YA novel, Donut Days:Donut Days’ protagonist, Emma, is something of a budding hipster living in a community of conformists. Her parents are evangelical ministers who want her to attend a Christian college when she graduates from high school, but Emma can think of nothing wo

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A.W. Hill's "Nowhere-Land"

A.W. Hill is the author of Nowhere-Land: A Stephan Raszer Investigation, as well as two previous Stephan Raszer novels; he has won numerous literary prizes. He is a Grammy Award-winning music supervisor for films, and was vice president of music for Walt Disney Pictures.Here he shares some ideas for casting a cinematic adaptation of Nowhere-Land:Stephan Raszer (the name is an acronym), protagonist of Nowhere-Land and the two novels that preceded it, was real for me long before any of his plots took shape.The first tic I pictured was the squint he registers when something doesn't smell right,

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Roxana Robinson's "Cost"

Roxana Robinson is the author of Cost, three earlier novels, and three short-story collections, as well as a biography of Georgia O’Keeffe. Four of these were named Notable Books of the Year by the New York Times. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper’s Magazine, the New York Times, Best American Short Stories, and Vogue, among other publications. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the MacDowell Colony.Here she shares her preferences for casting the main roles in Cost...and reminds us of the importance

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Vincent H. O’Neil's "Exile Trust"

Vincent O’Neil won the St. Martin’s Press “Malice Domestic” award in 2005 with his debut novel Murder in Exile. The “Exile” series consists of Murder in Exile, Reduced Circumstances, and Exile Trust. Exile Trust was also published as a large-print book by Thorndike Press, and will be released in early 2010 as a paperback in Harlequin’s new “Worldwide Mystery” imprint. His short story “Finish the Job” was selected for the anthology Quarry: Crime Stories by New England Writers (Level Best Books, November 2009) and another of his short stories, “Blood Tells” will appear in the anthology Ba

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Lawrence Watt-Evans' "Dragon Weather"

Lawrence Watt-Evans has been a full-time writer and editor for more than twenty years. The author of more than thirty novels, over one hundred short stories, and more than one hundred and fifty published articles, Watt-Evans writes primarily in the fields of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and comic books. His short fiction has won the Hugo Award as well as twice winning the Asimov’s Readers Award.Here he shares some casting ideas for the principal roles in an adaptation of Dragon Weather, a novel in the Obsidian Chronicles, the story of Arlian of the Smoking Mountain, a man obsessed with r

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Jim DeFelice's "Leopards Kill"

Jim DeFelice is the author of many military thrillers and has frequently collaborated with New York Times bestselling authors Stephen Coonts, Larry Bond, and Richard Marcinko. DeFelice’s solo novels include Threat Level Black, Coyote Bird, War Breaker, and My Brother's Keeper.Here he shares an idea about which action-movie star might be a good lead for adaptations of a few of his novels, including Leopards Kill:There’s one at every book signing – the reader who comes up and says, “You don’t look anything like your book.”If I’m in a certain kind of mood – in other words, if the person is buyin

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Rebecca Barnhouse's "The Book of the Maidservant"

Rebecca Barnhouse teaches and writes about medieval topics and children’s literature set in the Middle Ages.Here she shares some casting ideas for a cinematic adaptation of her new novel, The Book of the Maidservant:I thought about this and then took a look at the blog. Can't believe it: THE EXACT SAME ACTORS were just cast in a zombie movie that I was considering for my middle grade novel set in the Middle Ages. I thought about changing things, but decided these actors are talented enough to pull off both roles with ease. So here's my vote:Abigail Breslin would be perfect for Johanna, the ma

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Lauren Bjorkman's "My Invented Life"

Lauren Bjorkman grew up on a sailboat, sharing the tiny forecastle with her sister and the sail bags. She now lives in Taos, New Mexico.Here she shares some ideas about actors and director for an adaptation of her debut YA novel, My Invented Life:When my agent called to say that Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B had expressed an interest in My Invented Life, I immediately thought about actors. Not that they were going to ask me for suggestions. It was just plain fun to think about. Eventually the deal fizzled. But the question remained. How would I cast a movie of my book? To add to the c

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