Interview & Giveaway: All Wounds by Dina James

Hello, Jessica! Thanks for having me as a guest on your blog today. Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it!

It's so hard making a book into a movie. People have their own idea of how they see the characters, the writer had an image in their mind when they wrote it, and so on. Sometimes the director is limited by an unchangeable script (Breaking Dawn Part 1) and sometimes the movie is a completely revised version of the book (The Devil Wears Prada).

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is about to come out as a film. Many fans are upset because the cast has been significantly altered along racial and even biological lines. The same thing happened with The Last Airbender. Actors can be too old for a role, too young, too tall, too short, too something, not enough something…no one is ever going to be happy with a movie version of a beloved book.

Having said that, I've been asked to "dream cast" a fictitious movie version of my novel All Wounds [Mundania Press, October 2011], and here are the actors I saw in my head while writing. Most of them are significantly older now than they were in the films that made me see them as my characters, so I've given you the films that inspired them.

For our fledgling Healer Rebecca, I envision actress Ellen Page (Juno era) or Allison Scagliotti (Warehouse 13). A young girl, dark-haired, pretty without even trying.

For the Master vampire Syd I thought of a young Travis Fimmel (Model/Tarzan). Longish blond hair, gorgeous, animal magnetism.

For the bad-boy delinquent Ryan I saw Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows) or Lee Mead (UK Model). Charismatic, charming smile, dark messy hair.

Billy wasn't hard. I always saw Daniel Cudmore (circa 2003 – the X-Men2/Colossus days when he was huge!) as Billy, because Daniel is very tall and a body builder. He's much more of an actor now and not as big as he used to be, but just a few short years ago he would have been perfect for the role of Billy. I'm not familiar with another young, big, body-builder type actor, but I'm sure they'd find someone similar to Daniel Cudmore for the movie-version of Billy!

Robin is pretty and blonde. Perky and cheerful, very popular. For her I saw someone like Clémence Poésy (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) or Evana Lynch (Harry Potter).

Nana was probably the easiest to cast in my dream movie, as she was the first in my mind. I'd love for Dame Judi Dench (Casino Royale) to play Nana, or someone like Betty Buckley (The Happening). Older women RULE!

So there you have it! If I could have a dream cast (or even a movie contract!), those are who I'd pick.

All Wounds by Dina James
Publisher: Mundania Press (October 11th, 2011)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Paperback: 228 pages

It's said that when opportunity knocks on your door, you have only one chance to take it.

No one said what you're supposed to do when it kicks it.

All Rebecca MacDonnell wants to do is get through high school with grades good enough to win a prestigious scholarship so that she can finally leave her miserable life behind. One evening, after a particularly bad day, she finds out that people other than her aging grandmother need her help, and desperately so.

Well, not “people,” exactly. Vampires, werewolves, demons, ghosts, goblins, and other things thought only imaginary all need help sometime, and Rebecca was born with the unique ability to heal ethereal beings. She is about to turn seventeen, the age at which her talent will manifest in its entirety, and become a true Healer…if she lives through the event. A war between various ethereal factions is brewing, and Healers are a valuable commodity to any side. Those who wish to harness Rebecca’s manifesting healing powers for their own purposes must get to her before her seventeenth birthday.

Only two vampires and a rogue werewolf stand between Rebecca and those determined to make her serve them, and the fact that Rebecca has no clue what she's doing doesn't exactly help matters.

Neither does being seriously attracted to more than one of those just trying to protect her.

For a soon-to-be seventeen-year-old Healer-in-training, that's a lot to handle.

Especially on top of her homework.

Prize: 

• 1 winner will receive a SIGNED copy of All Wounds (or ebook).

Rules:

• You must be at least 13 to enter. 
• Name and email must be provided.
• Extra entries are possible and links must be provided.
• Contest is INTERNATIONAL and ends December 10th.
• Once contacted, the winner will have 48 hours to respond.
• The form must be filled out to enter.

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