Lights...Camera...ACTORS!

By Melissa Landers

Somewhere in Manhattan, a Disney-Hyperion team is sorting through headshots to choose the models for the ALIENATED cover shoot! (ZOMG, pinch me!) That, combined with the recent Bunheads recaps and our discussion of books-to-movies, has me thinking of one thing: Who would I choose to bring my characters to life?

::rubs hands together:: This is going to be fun!

Let's start with Aelyx, (pronounced A-licks), my super-hot alien exchange student. His planet is much older than Earth, and individual races ceased to exist tens of thousands of years ago. Aelyx has bronze skin, long brown hair typically worn in a low ponytail, and chrome eyes. His likeness wasn't easy to find, but actor Steven Strait captured the look when he played Warren Peace in Sky High.

That's a pretty good Aelyx! (No leather jacket, though.)

Now for Cara Sweeny, the fiercely-competitive valedictorian who hosts Aelyx during the exchange. Cara's got flaming red hair, blue eyes, and a wicked sense of humor that reminds me of Emma Stone's character in Easy A. I'd cast her in my hypothetical movie...minus the A-emblazoned bustier.

"Hot aliens? Hell, yeah!"

Cara's parents are a bit outside the YA norm as they're not absentee or dead. In fact, a recent health scare served as a wake-up call for Bill and Eileen, and now they can't keep their hands off one another...which Cara finds horrifically embarrassing. I'd cast Alan Tudyk (from Firefly) as Bill and Lauren Graham (from Gilmore Girls) as Eileen, but only if she agreed to gain at least twenty pounds. Eileen's rockin' some serious junk in her trunk.

There are a bunch more characters I could cast, but I have a sequel to finish. However, I hope my characters seem a bit more real to you now, and I double hope you'll add ALIENATED to your Goodreads shelf ----> linky <---- because Goodreads adds are better than chocolate! (And they don't contribute to the ever-growing junk in my trunk.)

Thanks for sharing my daydream. Now it's back to work for me. J

Melissa Landers is the author of ALIENATED, a seriously foreign exchange coming in February, 2014 from Disney-Hyperion. You can learn more about Melissa on her website, and she'd love for you to add ALIENATED to your Goodreads bookshelf!