Dennis Drabelle's "The Great American Railroad War"

Dennis Drabelle is author of Mile-High Fever. He has written for multiple publications and is currently a contributing editor and a mysteries editor for The Washington Post Book World. In 1996 he won the National Book Critics Circle’s award for excellence in reviewing. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Here he dreamcasts an adaptation of his new book, The Great American Railroad War: How Ambrose Bierce and Frank Norris Took On the Notorious Central Pacific Railroad:

For Collis Huntington, I would cast Ed Asner, who has the right gruffness quotient. For Frank Norris, it should be Ryan Gosling, who has the good looks and can radiate the innate goodness that everyone who knew Norris raved about; and since Gosling needs to transcend the Marlon Brando clipped-speech imitation he often gives, this would be a good chance for him to play an aristocrat. As for Ambrose Bierce, I think Alec Baldwin could capture the cynicism and eagerness to refute fools.

Learn more about The Great American Railroad War at the St. Martin's Press website.

The Page 99 Test: The Great American Railroad War.

--Marshal Zeringue

Read more »

{[['']]}

Linda Grimes's "In a Fix"

Linda Grimes is a former English teacher and ex-actress now channeling her love of words and drama into writing. She grew up in Texas and currently resides in northern Virginia with her husband.

Here she shares some ideas for a big screen adaptation of her new novel, In a Fix:

I suppose most writers have imagined—either with excitement or horror—Hollywood zeroing in on one of their books and splashing it onto the screen. I'm no exception. But I vacillate between thinking it would being the coolest thing ever and being totally terrified at the prospect.

Which way I'm leaning depends on the most recent screen adaptions I've seen. If it's something like The Hunger Games or Holes, or even the sadly short-lived Dresden Files TV series, which I think are excellent translations of print to screen—they all capture the atmosphere of the books very well, in my opinion—then, yeah, I get pretty excited thinking about my characters coming to life in a visual way.

If it's something like The Shining (the Jack Nicholson version) or The Great Gatsby (the Robert Redford version from way back), then the trepidations set in, and I start to feel a bit queasy.

As for how I'd cast In a Fix, given the opportunity … well, I have to admit that I couldn't come up with just one actor for any of the main characters. Nobody I've run across looks exactly how I imagine Ciel, Billy, or Mark. The best I could do is come up with "types."

For Ciel, either Hannah Spearritt or Michelle Williams might do, though they're both a bit older than Ciel. Still, they capture the essence of my mc, and I think either of them could rock the role if they had to.

Billy, the charming scoundrel, might be played by Callum Blue (from Dead Like Me, another sadly short-lived series), Matt Bomer (of White Collar fame), or even Ian Somerhalder (the bad-boy vamp from The Vampire Diaries). Though I suspect they're all a bit too busy to consider it.

I've always seen Mark, the badass CIA agent Ciel has been crushing on for years, as a young Steve McQueen type. Or, if being alive is essential, I suppose Charlie Hunnam (from Sons of Anarchy) could handle the role. If he doesn't mind keeping a short haircut, that is.

But if I'm ever lucky enough to have my book optioned for film or TV, I'm sure a casting director will have his or her own ideas, so I'm trying not to worry over-much about it. I'll just jump off that bridge when I get to it.

Learn more about the book and author at Linda Grimes's website.

Writers Read: Linda Grimes.

--Marshal Zeringue

Read more »

{[['']]}

Vincent Lam's "The Headmaster's Wager"

Dr. Vincent Lam is from the expatriate Chinese community of Vietnam, and was born in Canada. Dr. Lam did his medical training in Toronto, and is an emergency physician in Toronto. He is a Lecturer with the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto. He has also worked in international air evacuation and expedition medicine on Arctic and Antarctic ships.

Lam's first book, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, won the 2006 Scotiabank Giller Prize, and has recently been adapted for television and broadcast on HBO Canada. Dr. Lam co-authored The Flu Pandemic And You, a non-fiction guide to influenza pandemics.

Here he dreamcasts an adaptation of The Headmaster’s Wager, his first novel:

The Headmaster’s Wager is set in the Chinese community of Cholon, which was once a sister city to Saigon. Percival Chen is an English school headmaster and a compulsive gambler. We follow his adventures, loves, and losses over a period that spans from the Second World War, through the end of the French colonial era in Vietnam, into the closing chapters of the Vietnam War.

With various armies coming and going, political leaders shuffled like cards in a deck, and disaster or immense wealth often potentially just around the corner, people who lived through that era in Vietnam experienced the kinds of plot twists that most of us only witness in feature film. Vietnamese and Chinese, French and Americans were all torn between the forces of colonialism and independence, tradition and modernity, east and west, and finally capitalism and communism. This was the volatile mix of that era. The actors in the film adaptation of The Headmaster’s Wager should be able to portray these tensions. Many of the best actors now working in Asia will come to this intuitively – because the Asian cultural scene is actively grappling with these issues both in what it represents, and how it represents it.

Tony Leung will play my protagonist, Percival Chen. Tony will portray the kind of cool self-regard that allows a man to accept both his own temptations – and their fulfillment – with total equanimity, as does Percival Chen. The on-screen vibe is "Buddhist calm meets the moral vacuum of lust and hedonism."

Maggie Cheung will play Percival’s wife, Cecilia, the heiress to a shipping empire which is lost to the Japanese Imperial Army after the fall of Hong Kong in World War Two. Maggie will perfectly embody Cecilia’s brittle and yet self-assured beauty. Cecilia later becomes a successful black market money trader, which is a role I know Maggie will pull off in a cinch. Tony and Maggie have tangled on-screen before and I can’t wait to see this riff continue.

Han Han, a Chinese novelist, intermittent magazine publisher, and professional race-car driver for Volkswagen, will play Dai Jai, the son of Percival and Cecilia. Han Han’s only acting experience is that he played himself in a film called, I Wish I Knew. That’s fine. He can basically play himself as Dai Jai, because Dai Jai is an irreverent, intelligent, and unpredictable young man who attracts attention even as he scorns it, just like Han Han. Also, Dai Jai becomes embroiled in the Cultural Revolution in China. I bet Han Han has a few thoughts on this that he might like to share. (I’m also pretty sure that Han Han would deny that suggestion, so why not channel it through film?)

Percival’s best friend, Mak, is a teacher in Percival’s profitable English school. Mak will be played by Byron Mann. Byron plays a bad dude opposite Russell Crowe in the upcoming film The Man With The Iron Fists. He also plays a naïve, good-hearted doctor in the TV adaptation of Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures (I wrote that book, too!) The point is that Byron is able to dish out both martial arts and melting stares. He is ideal for playing, concealing, and revealing the many faces of Mak. Once you finish reading the novel, you’ll know exactly why this is so important.

What about Jacqueline, the mysteriously sexy, French-Vietnamese beauty who captures the heart of every reader of The Headmaster’s Wager? Obviously, this role must go to Tran Nu Yên-Khê. Her performances in The Scent of Green Papaya and The Vertical Ray of the Sun are stunning. We will watch, captive with admiration and desire in the quietly simmering portrayal of Jacqueline that she will deliver.

Learn more about the book and author at Vincent Lam's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Read more »

{[['']]}

Stephen Leather's "False Friends"

Stephen Leather was a journalist for more than ten years on newspapers such as the (London) Times, the Daily Mail, and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. He began writing full-time in 1992. His bestsellers have been translated into more than ten languages.

Here Leather shares a suggestion for casting the lead in an adaptation of False Friends, the ninth book in the bestselling Dan "Spider" Shepherd series:

The actor I’d most like to play my hero Dan “Spider” Shepherd is Clive Owen, star of Sin City, Children of Men and Killer Elite. He’s brilliant and looks fit enough to have been a special forces soldier and an undercover cop. He’s got that brooding menacing presence that makes for a great hero, or a great villain.

I didn’t have an actor in mind when I started writing the first Spider Shepherd book – Hard Landing – almost ten years ago. I don’t know how most writers work but when I’m writing a scene I tend to picture myself as the hero. That’s not to say that I see myself as a thirty-something action hero who can jump out of a plane with guns blazing. It’s just that the dialogue comes from me and as I write I imagine I am in the scene relating to the characters. Also I tend to keep the description of my heroes as brief as possible. That’s an old writer’s trick – the less you describe the hero, the more likely the reader is to identify with him.

Shepherd was in his early thirties when I started writing Hard Landing, and now that the ninth, False Friends, is on the shelves he’s in his forties. During that time he has progressed from being an undercover cop, working for SOCA (the British FBI) and lately as an MI5 agent. Clive is 47 but looks younger. I know because I’ve seen him in the flesh. I had dinner with him and a group of pals in London and within minutes I realised he’d be perfect for the part. He’s a lovely man and signed autographs for anyone who came up to him, always with a smile and a friendly word. In person he’s much softer and gentler than his screen persona, and I could see him easily playing the action man parts but also portraying the softer side to Shepherd’s character. Shepherd is a single parent as well as a Government agent and has a teenage son to deal with in between missions.

I didn’t mention the Shepherd books during the dinner. It wasn’t the time or the place. In fact he was more interested in my previous career as a journalist. I had fish and chips. I can’t remember what he ordered. I did mention to my agent that he’d be the perfect actor to play Spider Shepherd, but nothing ever came of it. Maybe one day…

Learn more about the book and author at Stephen Leather's website and blog.

--Marshal Zeringue

Read more »

{[['']]}

Cyn Balog's "Touched"

Cyn Balog is the author of the young adult paranormal novels Fairy Tale, Sleepless, Starstruck, Touched, and Dead River. She lives outside Allentown, Pennsylvania with her husband and daughters.

Here she shares some suggestions for casting the leads in an adaptation of Touched:

I know of authors who cut out pictures of famous actors and actresses so they can better understand what their characters look like. I'm not one of those people, as I've slowly come to learn that readers care less about the color of one's hair and eyes than what makes a character tick. In selecting characters for my movie, I'd love to find characters who are actually young, since the two main characters are 16 and 17. The viewpoint character, Nick, has led a very sheltered life, so there is a lot of innocence there. I see him looking like the young actor David Lambert. The main female character, Taryn, who has a little more worldly experience, would be Chloë Grace Moretz. Neither are household names yet, but they're young, give them time!

Nick's mother would be Zooey Deschanel. The expression she wore during all of The Happening is the exact expression I'd imagined Nick's immature, bed-ridden, guilt-ridden mother would have. And Frances McDormand would make a great grandmother-- she's caring, but fair, and not overly emotional.

Learn more about the book and author at Cyn Balog's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Read more »

{[['']]}

Charity Shumway's "Ten Girls to Watch"

Charity Shumway received an MFA in Creative Writing from Oregon State University and a BA in English from Harvard University. After graduate school, she spent nine months reporting on the 50th anniversary of Glamour’s "Top Ten College Women" contest. Her writing has appeared in Glamour, Ladies Home Journal, Fitness, and Garden Design, and her short fiction has been honored by Glimmer Train and Slice magazine, among others. She lives with her husband in Brooklyn, New York.

Here Shumway dreamcasts an adaptation of her new, debut novel, Ten Girls to Watch:

Long before Ten Girls to Watch was a book, back when it was just a few chapters on my computer, I indulged in regular daydreams about the movie premier—publishing a book already felt like an outlandish fantasy. Why stop there?—so I’ve been thinking about who I’d cast in the fantasy film version for years. Funnily enough, the leads weren’t the first people I thought of.

In the novel, Dawn interviews hundreds of women who’ve won Charm Magazine’s “Ten Girls to Watch” contest over the past 50 years (That sounds exhausting, but don’t worry -- the book isn’t an endless stream of interviews). Those women are my favorites to dream-cast.

Here are a few ideas:

Helen Thomas is a 1975 winner who also happens to have been Dawn’s college thesis advisor. She’s a scholar, an artist, and wildly stylish. Helen Mirren will do quite nicely. I’ll take Diane Keaton too!

Gerri Vans, 1984 winner, is a media mogul. Sort of like fake Oprah. Who better to play her than Maya Rudolph? (I thought of this even before Up All Night, I swear).

Jessica Winston, 1987 winner and opera diva has to be played by Renée Fleming. So what if she doesn’t really do movies? She can do this one!

Meryl Streep, Susan Sarandon, Jodie Foster, Jane Fonda, Angela Basset,  Emma Thompson, Shirley MacClaine, Michelle Yeoh, Phylicia Rashad, Tilda Swinton, Lily Tomlin... I’ve got parts for all of them.

For the rest of the characters, I’ve done some dreaming as well. Dawn, the novel’s narrator, is 23, trying to pretend she’s more confident than she is, and pretty goofy when you wipe away her thin layer of faux-sophistication. I say Emma Stone!

Lily, who is Dawn’s ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend (got all that?), is a sort of lovably brazen well-to-do Texan. Dawn wants to hate her, but can’t ever get there. Rooney Mara, would you like to play her?

Dawn’s ex-boyfriend needs to be played by Andrew Garfield (Don’t you want to see him and Emma in more movies together? I do!)

The charming-but-can-you-trust-him journalist Dawn starts dating just has to be James Franco.

I’m casting Nicole Kidman as Dawn’s Mary-Kay-Saleslady Mom.

And of course there is the part of Charm’s Editor in Chief, Regina Greene. Tina Fey or Kristen Wiig, will one of you ladies please do it?

Last but not least, I obviously cast myself as an extra...in every scene.

Learn more about the book and author at Charity Shumway's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Read more »

{[['']]}

Padgett Powell's "You & Me"

In Padgett Powell's You & Me "two loquacious gents on a porch discuss all manner of subjects, from the mundane to the spiritual to the downright ridiculous."

Gary Shteyngart, bestselling author of Absurdistan and Super Sad True Love Story, claims that "You & Me, mixed with 750 ml of fine bourbon, is the most fun you can have in many states without getting arrested.”

Here Powell shares some suggestions for the above-the-line talent should the novel be adapted for the big screen:

I feel fairly sure that I want my book to be done by unknown actors, of whom there are so many who are so good. We won’t make money if we go good before hot, but who cares. Probably Warren Oates and Fred Ward could have done it well, but aren’t they gone?

Director: Louis C.K. would be a good rogue choice-–he could be one of the guys, come to think of it–-and since I have bought one of his $5 CD downloads he owes me.

Learn more about You & Me at the HarperCollins website.

--Marshal Zeringue

Read more »

{[['']]}