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BLURB
Oliver Andrews was wholly focused on the final stages of his education at Cambridge University when a well-meaning friend up-ended his world with a simple email attachment: a clip from a U.S. morning show.
The moment he watches the video of his one-time love Seth Larsen, now a Broadway star, Oliver must begin making a series of choices that could lead him back to love—or break his heart.
The Bones of You is full of laughter and tears, with a collection of irritated Hungarians, flirtatious Irishwomen, and actors abusing Shakespeare that color Oliver and Seth’s attempts at reconciliation.
GUEST POST
If you could cast your characters in the Hollywood adaptation of The Bones of You,
who would play your characters? Why?
Oh, I love this question! When I write, I do actually like to “cast” the characters in my head, if only to have a physical reference in mind. (I also do location scouting, pouring over Google Earth pictures to make sure I'm describing neighborhoods accurately, or at least to affix the setting more firmly to mind.)
Oliver, without a doubt, was physically based off of an incredibly handsome male model, Tao Fernandez. I stumbled across a picture of a handsome, slightly scruffy man, long limbed, perfectly furred, hair mussed, nerdy glasses and a cup of coffee and knew that I'd fallen in love. With my character! I meant that I had fallen in love with the mental picture of my character. Ha. But who knows if that—very, very handsome—gentleman acts in addition to modeling, so I could definitely see Jack Falahee, who plays Connor on the amazing show “How To Get Away With Murder,” stepping in. He's such an amazing actor, sensual and emotionally controlled. As Connor, he's in total command of himself, even though he's falling apart inside. Perfect (in that respect) for my Oliver!
Seth is a tough one, because it would need to be someone adept with singing and dancing to portray a Broadway actor believably and also have a bit of a baby face in order to convince audiences he was the Immortal Youth. If I had my druthers, it would be Grant Gustin, currently playing the role of The Flash. He's a song and dance man, adorable, and can hold his own on screen. He looks youthful and sexy. Seth's dad needs to be Joe Manganiello. And not just because Joe Manganiello is absolute perfection: six foot five, muscled, handsome, can play gruff and sweet, looks astoundingly good astride a motorcycle, and could be made to look old enough to be the father of a twenty year old. But mostly that whole “perfection” thing.
Moira was one of the first characters I mentally cast back when I first wrote this story. (Hey, it's good to think positive!) There's an amazing Irish actress who is spunky, funny, and sexy, all in one: Nora Jane Noone. She's someone you want to go out for a drink with as well as curl up by a fire and talk all night about everything. She not only looks like trouble, but like someone who will bail you out of your own mess. Everything a beloved partner in crime should be.
Dough-Face Brandt was also an early mental casting after I had the chance of seeing this particular actor on a Broadway stage in “How To Succeed.” Christopher Hanke is a theater legend—funny, sharp, talented as all get out, and plays the most delightfully smarmy jerk you ever laid eyes on. And last, but not least, Janos. Does anyone know if the handsome Colton Hanes can speak Hungarian? Because he's perfect. No one can play a cocksure, headstrong jock as well as he can. Plus, I think the idea of him flirting with Nora sounds hilarious.
Now if we can just get movie rights sold to HBO... Thanks so much for such a wonderful question!
EXCERPT
They walked into the house, laughing (“I haven't seen one tweed cap, Oliver. I feel cheated.”), and realized that Janos was home. He was watching a football game, and looked over the back of the sofa at them and held a hand up in greeting before turning back to the television.
“He's not what I expected,” Seth whispered as they moved into the kitchen with their food.
“Oh? What did you expect?” Oliver asked, pulling out two plates and silverware.
“Viktor Krum.”
Oliver grabbed the edge of the counter and laughed loudly.
Oliver bit his lip to keep from laughing again and motioned for Seth to take his plate to the small table against the far wall. “Janos,” he called out, “there's enough for you, if you want any?”
Janos turned and looked their way, giving Seth a thorough once-over. “No, thank you,” he said; his voice sounded mildly disgusted.
Seth went still briefly and bristled with visible indignation. “Don't worry. We didn't order it with a side of homo, so you should be fine. Although it seems like you had a helping of jackass earlier; no wonder you're not hungry. Must have had seconds.”
Janos twisted on the sofa, his arm draped over the back as he gaped at Seth. Oliver was momentarily shocked into silence, but Seth had never really needed assistance in the face of bigotry—only support.
“Van egy nagy heréje, akkor a buzl. Én szeretem.”
Oliver and Seth both narrowed their eyes at him, Oliver trying to figure out what the hell Janos just said.
“Translate. Now.” Seth's voice was positively icy; he vibrated with anger. “Or you're going to learn in a very painful way that I'm a hell of a lot tougher than I look.”
Janos seemed to pick up on this and answered quickly, with his hands up in surrender. “I say: for a f-, uh… homosexual? You have… what, balls? Testicles.” He grabbed his crotch and continued. “I say I very much like this about you.”
With as droll a voice as Oliver had ever heard, Seth replied, “Isn't that interesting that you're fond of my testicles so quickly; normally it takes until the third date for me to hear that.”
AUTHOR Bio and Links
She began telling stories to her parents at the age of four. She was so successful in catching her parent's attention that her father actually dislocated his back, trying not to sit on her imaginary cat, Doka.
She lives in Texas as proof that it's not totally populated by hard-line right-wingers—and because that's where the good tamales are from.
Connect with Laura:
Website: http://wwwlaura-stone.com
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/stoney321
tumblr at Stoney321
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StoneyboBoney
GIVEAWAY
Prizes:A $25 Interlude Press GC to one randomly drawn winner and multi-format copies of THE BONES OF YOU to ten randomly winners via Rafflecopter.
One randomly chosen host will win a $25 Interlude Press GC.
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Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for hosting! This was one of my favorite questions of all.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a very interesting story!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part of today's post was the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteNancy
allibrary (at) aol (dot) com
Grant Gustin as Seth . . . I could see that, actually. The voice I hear in my head will always be Chris Colfer's, though, despite the fact that he's aged out of the part. :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat excerpt, thanks!
ReplyDelete