Randall Silvis's "The Boy Who Shoots Crows"

Randall Silvis is a novelist, screenwriter, essayist and teacher.Here he dreamcasts a big screen adaptation of his latest novel, The Boy Who Shoots Crows:When I can see a scene playing out in my head like a scene in real life—as if I am not at the moment creating a scene but standing off to the side and observing the scene play out--I know that the writing is going well. This process is facilitated when I have a physical model for each the characters. And from the first day of conception of The Boy Who Shoots Crows through the last tweak of the final paragraph, I saw Diane Lane as my Charlott

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Will McIntosh's "Hitchers"

Will McIntosh is a Hugo award winner and Nebula finalist whose short stories have appeared in Asimov’s (where he won the 2010 Reader's Award for short story), Strange Horizons, and Science Fiction and Fantasy: Best of the Year, and others. His debut novel, Soft Apocalypse, was published in 2011, and his second novel, Hitchers, has just been released. A New Yorker transplanted to the rural south, McIntosh is a psychology professor at Georgia Southern University. In 2008 he became the father of twins.Here he writes about the actors he could see playing his characters in an adaptation o

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Pam Houston's "Contents May Have Shifted"

Pam Houston divides her time between her ranch in Colorado and the University of California at Davis, where she is director of the Creative Writing Program. She has been a frequent contributor to O, The Oprah Magazine, and her writing appears regularly in More and other publications. She in the author of the best-selling Cowboys Are My Weakness.Here Houston shares some ideas for director and main cast members for an adaptation of her new novel, Contents May Have Shifted:If they make Contents May Have Shifted into a film, I would want Sandra Bullock to play the Pam character. I say

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Kevin Fox's "Until the Next Time"

Kevin Fox is a producer and writer for the Fox TV series Lie to Me, and his professional screenwriter credits include the film The Negotiator. He splits his time between coasts, living in both Los Angeles and New Jersey.Here he dreamcasts a big screen adaptation of his debut novel, Until the Next Time:Until the Next Time is actually comprised of two intertwined stories – that of Michael Corrigan, who is fleeing a murder charge in the United States and gets caught up in the ‘Troubles’ in Ireland in 1972 – and that of Sean Corrigan, his nephew, who goes back to Ireland twenty-five years later t

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Elizabeth Hand's "Available Dark"

Elizabeth Hand, a New York Times notable author, has won the Shirley Jackson Award, the James Tiptree Award, the Nebula Award (twice), the World Fantasy Award (three times), and many others. Her novella, “The Maiden Flight of McCauley’s Bellerophon,” was nominated for a Hugo Award.Here she writes about her preference for the director and principal cast of an adaptation of her new novel, Available Dark:I have a long list of directors, but lately I’ve been leaning toward Quentin Tarantino, because he’s got such great taste in rock and roll. He could just write the screenplay if he wants to —

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Elly Griffiths’s "The House at Sea’s End"

Elly Griffiths’s Ruth Galloway novels have been praised as “highly atmospheric” (New York Times Book Review), “remarkable” (Richmond Times-Dispatch), and “gripping” (Louise Penny). Now, in The House at Sea’s End, the beloved forensic archeologist returns, called in to investigate when human bones surface on a remote Norfolk beach.Here Griffiths shares some ideas about casting a cinematic adaptation of the novel:In The House at Sea’s End six bodies are found buried at the foot of a cliff in a remote Norfolk village. Dr Ruth Galloway is called in to investigate and is once more in contact wi

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Thomas A. Robinson & Lanette Ruff's "Out of the Mouths of Babes"

Thomas A. Robinson  is Professor of Religious Studies at The University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, and Lanette D. Ruff teaches Criminology at Eastern College in New Brunswick, Canada.Here they dreamcast a big screen adaptation of their new book, Out of the Mouths of Babes: Girl Evangelists in the Flapper Era:Our book is about girl preachers in the 1920s, the decade that represented one of the most radical changes in the perception of the feminine, with the rude and risqué flapper providing the new image, and girl evangelists standing for traditional manners and morals. This was the

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David Schiff's "The Ellington Century"

David Alan Schiff is R.P. Wollenberg Professor of Music at Reed College. He is a composer, journalist whose articles have appeared in publications including the New York Times and the Atlantic, and the author of George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue and The Music of Elliot Carter.His new book is The Ellington Century.Here Schiff shares some thoughts on casting an adaptation of the book:The Ellington Century is a celebration of Duke Ellington's music, not a biography. The star of a movie version could be Ellington himself since there is lots of film footage going back to 1930 and the short "Black

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Andromeda Romano-Lax's "The Detour"

Born in 1970 in Chicago, Andromeda Romano-Lax worked as a freelance journalist and travel writer before turning to fiction. Her first novel, The Spanish Bow, was translated into eleven languages and was chosen as a New York Times Editors’ Choice, BookSense pick, and one of Library Journal’s Best Books of the Year.Here Romano-Lax shares her suggestions for casting a big screen adaptation of the recently released The Detour, a novel set in Italy 1938, about art, adventure, and second chances:When The Detour opens, in 1938, my young Bavarian narrator, Ernst Vogler, is a little naïve. He des

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Marie Brennan's "With Fate Conspire"

Marie Brennan is a former academic with a background in archaeology, anthropology, and folklore, which she now puts to rather cockeyed use in writing fantasy. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.Here Brennan dreamcasts adaptations of A Star Shall Fall and With Fate Conspire, the latest novels in the Onyx Court series:The Onyx Court series has always been very hit-or-miss for me when it comes to imaginary casting. Some characters, I know right off the bat; others never get cast at all. When I posted before, discussing the first two books of the series, I had good faces for Lune (the

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Sara Benincasa's "Agorafabulous!"

Sara Benincasa is an award-winning comedian, writer and host of the popular podcast, Sex and Other Human Activities, available on iTunes. Her outspoken, sexually-charged comedy has won praise from the Chicago Tribune, CNN, The Guardian, and The New York Times, and has earned her an ECNY (Emerging Comedian of New York) Award and a Webby nomination. Her new book is Agorafabulous!: Dispatches From My Bedroom, which is based on her critically acclaimed solo show about panic attacks and agoraphobia.Here Benincasa shares her suggestions for casting a big screen adaptation of Agorafabulous!:Agorafab

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Amy Hatvany's "Outside the Lines"

Amy Hatvany's books include Best Kept Secret.Here she shares some ideas for director and main cast members for an adaptation of her new novel, Outside the Lines:As an author, it is only in the dark, quiet moments of morning that I allow myself to ponder the “what ifs.” What if someone wants to make a movie of this book? What if this particular dream came true?The story is told from two points of view - David West, a talented artist who slowly deteriorates into mental illness and Eden, the daughter he abandons when she is ten years old. For David, I imagine Robert Downey, Jr. in the role, sim

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Mike Mullin's "Ashfall"

Mike Mullin is the author of Ashfall, which was recently named one of the top 5 young adult novels of 2011 by NPR. He’s not much of a movie buff, however, so he invited Jenny at Forever Young Adult to dreamcast Ashfall:In Ashfall, the super volcano in Yellowstone National Park erupts, bringing an end to the world as we know it. Not only is most of the continental U.S. covered in feet of ash, but food sources have been privatized and the general population has turned into thieving, murdering cannibals (you know, like they do). Alex stayed behind when his family headed across state lines to vi

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Bill Fitzhugh's "The Exterminators"

Bill Fitzhugh is a writer. He’s published novels and short stories, has written television and film scripts, and he writes, produces, and hosts a show on the Deep Track Channel of Sirius-XM Satellite radio.His latest novel is The Exterminators.Here Fitzhugh shares some insights into bringing his written work to the big screen:My first novel, Pest Control, started life as a screenplay that every studio in Los Angeles rejected. After I turned it into a novel, Warner Brothers bought the rights and paid several people to turn it back into a screenplay and then didn't bother to make it. And

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Jeffrey Abt's "American Egyptologist"

Jeffrey Abt is associate professor in the James Pearson Duffy Department of Art and Art History at Wayne State University. He is the author of A Museum on the Verge: A Socioeconomic History of the Detroit Institute of Arts, 1885–2000.Here he writes about his choice for the lead in a big-screen adaptation of his new book, American Egyptologist: The Life of James Henry Breasted and the Creation of His Oriental Institute:Harrison Ford, of course, is my first choice. But I’d cast him as he is today: older, seasoned by life’s travails, less swashbuckling, but still charismatic. Though seemingly f

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Wessel Ebersohn's "The October Killings" & "Those Who Love Night"

Wessel Ebersohn is an internationally published author who was born and lives in South Africa.Here he dreamcasts adaptations of his recent novels, The October Killings and Those Who Love Night:These two thrillers have the same central characters, Yudel Gordon and Abigail Bukula, but the settings are very different. The October Killings takes place in South Africa, a country where utilities work and much of the population lives by the standards of developed countries. The future is still uncertain but, for now, things function and human rights are observed.Those Who Love Night, on the other ha

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