Anne Lawrence-Mathers's "The True History of Merlin the Magician"

Anne Lawrence-Mathers is senior lecturer in medieval history at the University of Reading.Here she shares some ideas for the leads and director of an adaptation of her new scholarly book, The True History of Merlin the Magician:When I wrote The True History of Merlin the Magician I had no real visual image of Merlin in my mind – how can you tie down someone who ‘lived’ from the 5th century to the 16th, and took the forms of boy-prophet, scholar, doctor, hermit, Welsh warrior-prince and half-demon, to one physical incarnation or appearance? The one thing I was clear about was that the histori

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Timothy Hallinan's "Crashed"

Timothy Hallinan is the Edgar- and Macavity-nominated author of numerous widely praised books—twelve novels and a work of nonfiction—including the Poke Rafferty Bangkok thrillers and the Junior Bender mysteries.Here he dreamcasts an adaptation of his newest book, Crashed:Crashed is the first in a series featuring Junior Bender, a San Fernando Valley burglar who moonlights, usually reluctantly, as a private eye for crooks. I've been fascinated for years with the shadow world of crooks, which exists in the same towns and on the same streets as the world most of us inhabit. But let me tell you

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Karen Engelmann's "The Stockholm Octavo"

In Karen Engelmann's The Stockholm Octavo, Emil Larsson is a self-satisfied bureaucrat in the Office of Customs and Excise in 1791 Stockholm. He is a true man of the Town—a drinker, card player, and contented bachelor—until one evening when Mrs. Sofia Sparrow, a fortune-teller and proprietor of an exclusive gaming parlor, shares with him a vision she has had: a golden path that will lead him to love and connection. Set against the luminous backdrop of late eighteenth-century Stockholm, as the winds of revolution rage through the great capitals of Europe, the novel brings together a collection

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Derek Haas's "The Right Hand"

Derek Haas is the co-writer of the films The Double, Wanted, and 3:10 to Yuma, and author of The Assassin Trilogy: The Silver Bear, Columbus and Dark Men.Here he dreamcasts an adaptation of his new novel, The Right Hand:Since I've already sold the rights to Universal and producer Scott Stuber, this is an intriguing question. My book centers on a middle-aged spy trying to get a nineteen-year-old Russian girl out of her country and out of harm's way. I'd love to see someone like Bradley Cooper, who has yet to really conquer an action movie tackle the role… and I'd pair him up with a beautiful

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Stacey Madden's "Poison Shy"

Stacey Madden holds a BA from the University of Toronto and an MFA in creative writing from the University of Guelph. He lives in Toronto.Here he shares some ideas for casting a big screen adaptation of Poison Shy, his first novel:Poison Shy is full of unattractive characters, so any actors I mention here would have to ugly themselves up a bit for their roles in the film.I think Poison Shy would make a great low-budget, grindhouse-type movie. It’s full of sex, violence, and people doing horrible things to each other, and what better way to emphasize the book’s gritty nature than by adapting

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R. Kent Newmyer's "The Treason Trial of Aaron Burr"

Kent Newmyer is Professor of Law and History at the University of Connecticut School of Law. His books include The Supreme Court Under Marshall and Taney, John Marshall & the Heroic Age of the Supreme Court, and Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story: Statesman of the Old Republic.Here Newmyer shares some suggestions for casting an adaptation of his latest book, The Treason Trial of Aaron Burr: Law, Politics, and the Character Wars of the New Nation:I've been telling friends, jokingly of course, not to buy my book on the treason trial of Aaron Burr until they see the movie. But now the momen

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David Carnoy's "The Big Exit"

While David Carnoy lives in New York City with his wife and children, his novels take place in Silicon Valley, where he grew up and went to high school (Palo Alto). His debut novel, Knife Music (2010), was a Top-10 bestseller on the Kindle and also a bestseller on the Nook. More medical thriller than high-tech thriller, to research the novel Carnoy spent a lot of time talking with doctors, visiting trauma centers, and trailed a surgeon at a hospital in Northern California to help create the book's protagonist, Dr. Ted Cogan.The Big Exit (2012) isn't a sequel to Knife Music per se. Howe

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Courtney Miller Santo's "The Roots of the Olive Tree"

Courtney Miller Santo grasped the importance of stories from listening to her great-grandmother. She learned to write stories in the journalism program at Washington and Lee University and then discovered the limits of true stories working as a reporter in Virginia. She teaches creative writing at the University of Memphis, where she earned her MFA. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Los Angeles Review, Irreantum, Sunstone, and Segullah.Here the author shares her ideas for director and cast of an adaptation of her latest novel, The Roots of the Olive Tree:I’ve heard it

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Matthew Costello's "Home"

Matthew Costello is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter and video game writer. His best-selling video games include The 7th Guest, Doom 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean. His horror novel, Beneath Still Waters, was filmed by Lionsgate. He also has written episodes and created TV formats for PBS, Disney, SyFy, and the BBC.Here he shares some ideas for cast and director of an adaptation of his latest novel, Home:Actors? There are two key adult roles that I would focus on. About those in a minute.The kids would require finding a 9/10 year old boy and 13/14 year old girl. The boy, Simon, needs h

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Antoine Wilson's "Panorama City"

Antoine Wilson is the author of the novels Panorama City and The Interloper. A contributing editor of the literary quarterly A Public Space, he lives and surfs in Los Angeles.Here he dreamcasts an adaptation of Panorama City:Oppen Porter, the narrator of Panorama City, is an open-hearted, bicycle-riding, binocular-toting self-described “slow absorber.” After his father's death, he has to leave his idyllic small-town life in Madera, CA to live with his watchful and sharp-tongued Aunt Liz in Panorama City, CA, a suburb of Los Angeles. He's 27 years old, terribly naïve, and functionally illitera

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Dayna Lorentz's "No Safety in Numbers"

In Dayna Lorentz's No Safety in Numbers a strange device is discovered in the air ducts of a busy suburban mall; the entire complex is suddenly locked down. No one can leave. No one knows what is going on.At first, there's the novelty of being stuck in a mega mall with free food and a gift certificate. But with each passing day, it becomes harder to ignore the dwindling supplies, inadequate information, and mounting panic.Then people start getting sick.Here Lorentz shares some suggestions for casting an adaptation of No Safety in Numbers:I’m a movie person, and this cinematic sensibility info

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Mary Stewart Atwell's "Wild Girls"

In Mary Stewart Atwell's Wild Girls, Kate Riordan fears two things as she grows up in the small Appalachian town of Swan River: that she’ll be a frustrated townie forever or that she’ll turn into one of the mysterious and terrifying wild girls, killers who start fires and menace the community. Struggling to better her chances of escaping, Kate attends the posh Swan River Academy and finds herself divided between her hometown—and its dark history—and the realm of privilege and achievement at the Academy. Explosive friendships with Mason, a boy from the wrong side of town, and Willow, a

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D. J. McIntosh’s "The Witch of Babylon"

D. J. McIntosh’s The Witch of Babylon has been sold in nineteen countries, was short-listed for the Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger Award, and won a Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Award for best unpublished novel.Here she shares some suggestions for director and cast of an adaptation of The Witch of Babylon:The Witch of Babylon is an antiquity thriller which pretty well signals feature film territory. I love movies and think cinematically as I write. But it’s actually music, a soundtrack, that would most influence the kind of movie The Witch might become and therefore I’d start

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Iris Anthony's "The Ruins of Lace"

Iris Anthony is a pseudonym. The writer behind the name is an award winning author of ten novels.Here she dreamcasts an adaptation of The Ruins of Lace, her first novel with Sourcebooks:My novel, The Ruins of Lace, has seven point-of-view characters (one of them a dog), so there are quite a few roles to cast. The story takes place in seventeenth-century France, so part of my casting goal is to achieve the right look, not only in terms of actors having ‘European’ faces but also an aesthetic appropriate to the seventeenth century.My lacemaker, Katharina Martens, is thirty years old, but she’s b

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Howard Pollack's "Marc Blitzstein"

Howard Pollack is John and Rebecca Moores Professor of Music at the University of Houston and author of, among other books, John Alden Carpenter: A Chicago Composer; Aaron Copland: The Life and Work of an Uncommon Man; and George Gershwin: His Life and Work. His latest book is Marc Blitzstein: His Life, His Work, His World.Here Pollack shares some insight on the stage and screen adaptations of The Cradle Will Rock, words and music by Blitzstein:The life of the American composer-librettist Marc Blitzstein (1905-1964) had its fair share of drama, from his early years as a piano prodigy and enfa

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Carolee Dean's "Forget Me Not"

Young Adult author Carolee Dean lives in Albuquerque, NM with her husband, teenage daughter, and a boxer named Maya. She works at a local high school as a speech-language pathologist where she finds inspiration from students, hallways, and the ravens who occupy the courtyard when the kids are all in class.Dean says she envisions all of her books as movies. In fact, she hired a media arts student from UNM to create this book trailer for Forget Me Not that looks a lot like a preview for a film. Here the author dreamcasts an adaptation of her latest novel:Forget Me Not is a paranormal verse nov

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