When I write a book people ask if I write character sketches or profiles, do in depth back stories, and the like. No. As a pantster I like to discover all of that while I’m writing the story. Having spent twelve years trying to break into the film industry as a screenwriter I don’t do those things. What I do is ‘cast’ my book. Who would I like to play my hero? My heroine? The villain?
For GLADIATOR everything sprang from character of a man destroyed by indecision who is called upon to make the biggest of decisions. A jaded, disillusioned, man who buried a soul once filled with only the desire to keep his family together. Confronted with the Queen’s command to kill the Healer or save her and save the world. Who did I want to spend the course of the novel with, rooting for, falling for, and be totally invested in. Who did I dream of portraying that role on film. Daniel. Daniel Craig.
I’ve read interviews with the man. He is at once intensely private and protective of his and his loved ones privacy. He’s smart. He’s talented. He’s articulate. He’s loyal. He does not suffer fools. And he is 100% bad ass. He may not be Bond, but who cares? He’s authentic and genuine in a business that rewards the ability to fake sincerity, and the art of the deal. And his ability to convey that in his characters is why I envisioned Tristan Shane being portrayed by him. He has what it takes as an actor to anchor a story like this.
The heroine was equally easy. Kate Winslet with dark hair. She is an Oscar winning actress and is passionate about what she does. I fell in love with her in Titanic and thought she could do vulnerable and strong in the same breath. Innocence and wisdom. Someone not only for the hero to fall for, but someone the reader wants the hero to fall for. And Kate is an unbelievable actress and she’s who I would cast. For me when I write, I always see myself as the heroine. Why the hell not? But if I have to pick someone to play me, I pick Kate.
And the Queen who can play a devilish, deeply unhappy woman, who revels in her power, but make you believe that maybe somewhere down the road she too might have redemption. Well, she doesn’t have red hair but she recently one an ALMA for her role in Once Upon A Time on ABC. I can’t think of her name but who better to play the queen the queen of b*******, the wicked queen from Once Upon A Time. She relishes causing pain, but the actress is skilled at letting the humanity bleed through in places.
That’s my dream cast. And that’s what I do when I write. I ‘cast’ my ‘movie’ and let it play out as such.
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Ten years ago Tristan Shane had failed to pick sides and he paid with the ultimate price—his family. Enslaved as a post-apocalyptic gladiator, he is now faced with a similar dilemma, serve the despot Queen and murder her innocent sister, or face certain death himself. What will he choose?
Tristan Shane was a moderate before the nuclear and economic crisis which plunged the world into darkness. While his sister Aidia ran off to fight the rebel’s war he desperately tried to hang onto normalcy and lost his wife and children in the process. Spending the next ten years as the Crown’s favored and the mob’s favorite Gladiator, he never expects to meet the Queen’s sister, Alexandra, a Healer.
She claims to be the much whispered about Savior sent to heal the wounded Earth and oceans, the one who would bring about her cruel sister’s dethroning. But is she? Or is she just a fraud? But he quickly learns her erotic touch has the power to heal his heart and his to save her life. But as the passion heightens and the danger increases will they have forever or will he have to give up everything to save the planet?
Available from:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
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Amy McCorkle was born and raised in Louisville, KY. She has lived in New Mexico and Texas as well but she currently makes her home in Shepherdsville, KY.
An award winning blogger she is also a successful author in both the sci-fi erotic romance genre with No Ordinary Love and the upcoming release a dark romantic suspense tale Another Way To Die. She also has been contracted for GLADIATOR a Mad Max meets Gladiator series set to be a trilogy. She has placed second in the 2011 Preditors & Editors Readers Choice Poll for Best Short Romance Story. And semi-finaled with Another Way to Die in the 2012 Moondance International Film Festival.
From Hydra Publications, Set Fire to the Rain recently released and her first print novel, Bounty Hunter is due out in October. She is also contracted for the Gunpowder & Lead series she is co-authoring with Melissa Goodman.
Her work is flavored by her childhood heroes, pop culture, music, and the cinema as well as the writers she still enjoys reading today.
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WIN!!!
5 ecopies of GLADIATOR, a short story prize pack of ebooks No Ordinary Love, Another Way to Die, Set Fire to the Rain, and Halloween Trick or Treat mystery prize basket.