Zoë Marriott's "Shadows on the Moon"

Zoë Marriott lives in a little house in a town by the sea, with two rescued cats, a springer/cocker spaniel known as The Devil Hound, and over 10,000 books. Her first YA novel -The Swan Kingdom, a fairytale retelling based on Hans Christian Andersen's 'Wild Swans' - was written when she was only twenty one, and published to wide critical acclaim when she was twenty-four. She has since had two more award-winning young adult fantasies published, and has five further novels scheduled for publication in the next four years.Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, Shadows on the

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Richard Harland's "Liberator"

Richard Harland is the author of many fantasy, horror, and science fiction novels for young readers, including Worldshaker, Liberator, the Eddon and Vail series, the Heaven and Earth Trilogy, and the Wolf Kingdom quartet, which won the Aurealis Award. He lives in Australia.Here Harland shares his conviction about the right director for an adaptation of Liberator, as well as some suggestions for the principal cast:For the film of Liberator, the one thing I’m definite on is my director. David Fincher! Sorry, Hollywood, I just won’t accept anyone else. When Se7en came out, it blew my mind away,

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J.T. Ellison's "A Deeper Darkness"

J.T. Ellison is the international award-winning author of eight critically acclaimed novels and multiple short stories.Here she shares some ideas for adapting her new novel A Deeper Darkness, the first featuring medical examiner Samantha Owens, for the cinema:I’ve never started a book with a preconception of the actors who may play the parts in mind, but that wasn’t the case for A Deeper Darkness. I picked the actors before I wrote the story, mostly because it’s a new series for me, with lots of new characters, and I wanted the visuals for the main characters so I could more easily identify w

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Meg Donohue's "How to Eat a Cupcake"

Meg Donohue has an MFA from Columbia University and a BA from Dartmouth College. Born and raised in Philadelphia, she now lives in San Francisco with her husband, daughters, dog, and a weakness for salted caramel cupcakes.Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of How to Eat a Cupcake, her first novel:It would be so fun to see How to Eat a Cupcake on the big--or little!--screen. I think America Ferrera would be a great Annie Quintana—she’s Latina, is winsomely feisty, and can be very funny. I think January Jones does a fantastic job playing an ice princess on Mad Men and she is a classic,

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Joseph Olshan's "Cloudland"

Joseph Olshan is the award-winning author of ten novels including Nightswimmer and The Conversion. He spends most of the year in Vermont.Here he shares his preferences for the lead in an adaptation of his latest novel, Cloudland:I feel lucky to have had at least one of my books made into a movie (Clara's Heart that starred Whoopi Goldberg) and perhaps less lucky to have had the story-line of another book stolen by a Hollywood studio and made into a television movie that was so bad I couldn't bring myself to start a legal proceeding. As Cloudland makes the rounds of the movie studios, I am im

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Tupelo Hassman’s "girlchild"

Tupelo Hassman graduated from Columbia's MFA program. Her writing has been published in Paper Street Press, The Portland Review Literary Journal, Tantalum, We Still Like, ZYZZYVA, and by 100WordStory.org and FiveChapters.com. Hassman is a contributing author to Heliography, Invisible City Audio Tours' first tour and is curating its fourth tour, The Landmark Revelation Society. She kept a video journal of girlchild's book tour for the short documentary Hardbound: A Novel's Life on the Road.Here she shares some ideas for adapting her debut novel, girlchild, for the big screen:Imagining girlchil

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Kathy Hepinstall's "Blue Asylum"

Kathy Hepinstall is the author of The House of Gentle Men (a Los Angeles Times bestseller), The Absence of Nectar (a national bestseller), and The Prince of Lost Places. She is an award-winning creative director and advertising writer, whose clients have included top brands in American business.Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of her new novel, Blue Asylum:When casting Blue Asylum I'd have to look for some actors and actresses with a bit of an edge. Some thoughts:Dr. Cowell: The pompous and yet dissatisfied and restless psychiatrist of the insane asylum Stanley Tucci could capture both his

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Wiley Cash's "A Land More Kind Than Home"

Wiley Cash is from western North Carolina. He has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette and teaches English at Bethany College.His stories have appeared in Crab Orchard Review, Roanoke Review and The Carolina Quarterly.Here he shares some casting insights in the event that his first novel, A Land More Kind Than Home, is adapted for the big screen:A Land More Kind Than Home tells the story of two young brothers and the evil they face in a small North Carolina town in the form of Carson Chambliss, a snake-handling, poison-drinking, fire- carrying pastor whose past is j

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Robin Wasserman's "The Book of Blood and Shadow"

Robin Wasserman is the author of the Seven Deadly Sins series, Hacking Harvard, and the Skinned trilogy, which bestselling author Scott Westerfeld called "spellbinding." She has a master's degree in the history of science, and is fascinated by Renaissance philosophy, religion, magic, science, and the interplay among them.Here she shares some ideas for casting an adaptation of her new novel, The Book of Blood and Shadow:I’m the kind of writer who never really pictures what her characters look like (just as I’m the kind of reader who has no idea what anyone else’s characters look like), so

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April Henry's "Girl, Stolen"

April Henry is the New York Times bestselling author of many acclaimed mysteries for adults and young adults, including the YA novel The Night She Disappeared and the thriller Face of Betrayal, co-authored with Lis Wiehl.Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of her YA novel, Girl, Stolen:Girl, Stolen would make a great movie. With no CGI, the budget would be pretty reasonable, and it offers two strong roles for young actors looking to expand their skills.Girl, Stolen is about sixteen-year-old Cheyenne Wilder. Sick, she is resting in the back of her car while her step-mom fills her prescription a

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Tiffany Baker's "The Gilly Salt Sisters"

Tiffany Baker is the author of the New York Times bestselling The Little Giant of Aberdeen County and the newly released The Gilly Salt Sisters.Here she shares some ideas for casting a big screen adaptation of the new novel:I think The Gilly Salt Sisters would look gorgeous on film—all those ocean shots, and think what someone could do with the setting of the salt marsh on Cape Cod. The heart of the story is the relationship between the two sisters. Jo is all grit and determination. The actress who played her would have to have a bit of a rough edge. Maybe someone like Holly Hunter? Claire is

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Peter Behrens's "The O'Briens"

Peter Behrens is the author of The O'Briens and The Law of Dreams (which received Canada’s Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction and was published around the world to wide acclaim) and Night Driving, a collection of short stories. His stories and essays have appeared in many publications, including The Atlantic and Tin House. Honors he has received include a Wallace Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University’s Creative Writing Program.Here he dreamcasts an adaptation of The O'Briens: The protagonist of The O'Briens is Joe O'Brien, a poor boy who grows up in the backwoods of Canada, d

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Deborah Grabien's "Uncle John's Band"

Deborah Grabien is the author of the JP Kinkaid Chronicles, including the newly released Uncle John's Band.Here she shares some ideas for casting an adaptation of the series:Show me a fiction writer anywhere in the western world who claims they haven’t cast the film version of their work, and I’ll show you a writer I don’t think I believe. I’m not personally big on popular culture these days – since everything from writing to cooking to singing has become a form of competition, the only TV I watch regularly are BBC America’s Top Gear, weather shows like Stormchasers, and hockey games (which a

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James Thompson's "Helsinki White"

James Thompson is an established author in Finland. His novel, Snow Angels, the first in the Inspector Vaara series, was released in the U.S. by Putnam and marked his entrance into the international crime fiction scene. Booklist named it one of the ten best debut crime novels of 2010, and it was nominated for the Edgar, Anthony, and Strand Critics awards. His second Vaara novel, Lucifer’s Tears, released in March, 2011, earned starred reviews from all quarters, and was named one the best novels of the year by Kirkus.When the third book in the series, Helsinki White, was released las

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Michael Norman's "Skeleton Picnic"

Michael Norman is a Salt Lake City mystery author who has written four novels. His Sam Kincaid novels include The Commission and Silent Witness. His mysteries featuring Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Law Enforcement Ranger J.D. Books include On Deadly Ground and his new novel, Skeleton Picnic. Norman’s books are published by the Poisoned Pen Press in Scottsdale, Arizona.Here he identifies some possible actors and directors for a movie adaptation of his J.D. Books mystery, Skeleton Picnic.Skeleton Picnic tells the story of Rolly and Abigail Rogers, a prominent and well respected southern Utah

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Katherine Govier's "The Printmaker's Daughter"

Katherine Govier is the author of nine novels and three short story collections. Her novel Creation, about John James Audubon in Labrador, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 2003.Govier's fiction and non-fiction has appeared in the United Kingdom, the United States, and throughout the Commonwealth, and in translation in Holland, Italy, Turkey, and Slovenia. She is the winner of Canada's Marian Engel Award for a woman writer (1997) and the Toronto Book Award (1992).Here she shares some ideas for casting a big screen adaptation of her most recent novel, The Printmaker's Daugh

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