With more sci-fi and fantasy classics making their way to film and television—A Wrinkle in Time! The Xenogenesis Trilogy!—we're here to push our luck and ask for even more great speculative adaptations. Some books translate better into movies or TV series than others, of course, so the Unbound Writers turn their vivid imaginations toward more visual storytelling of their recent favorites and answer some questions before studios can say no.
Danyelle C. Overbo wants to see The Bone Doll’s Twin by Lynn Flewelling
Potential Movie Title: The Bone Doll’s Twin (why mess with an amazing title?)
Elevator Pitch: This dark trilogy is Game of Thrones with a gender twist. A line of warrior Queens has always run the kingdom of Skala, but a usurper King claims the throne and orders all women in the line of succession killed. Unbeknownst to the King, his sister has given birth to twins, a boy and a girl. At great cost to the family, the boy is sacrificed just as he draws his first breath, so that his sister can take his form. Tobin, the sister being raised as her brother, has no idea of her heritage and destiny to eventually overthrow her uncle and return the throne to the rightful line.
Amount of CGI necessary to pull it off? Same amount as Game of Thrones, likely less.
Why should Hollywood jump at the chance? With Game of Thrones winding down and strong female characters on the rise, this would be a perfect time to introduce audiences to our badass future warrior Queen, Tobin.
TV Series or Movie? HBO series. Would be amazing to see!
How best to see it? Binge watch every season just as it ends.
Amanda Baldeneaux wants to see Compulsion by Martina Boone (Heirs of Watson Island)
Potential Series Title: The Cursed Heirs
Elevator Pitch Summary: When high schooler Barrie's burn-scarred, shut-in mother dies, she's shipped off to her ancestral home and some truly weird relatives. Barrie has the house and the woods to explore—not to mention the hot boy across the river—but as Barrie settles in to her new life, she begins to understand that her mother fled the family mansion for a very, very good reason.
Amount of CGI necessary to pull it off? Rivers of fire, ghosts... nothing a few mouse clicks can't handle. Or, if necessary, with some olive oil and a cook pan, I make excellent fires. Call me, Hollywood.
Why should Hollywood jump at the chance? Because True Blood left a gaping hole in all of our lives after jumping multiple sharks, and because we need this mystery-laden, southern Gothic romance ghost story strung with Spanish moss the way we need Christmas trees strung with tinsel.
TV Series or Movie? TV series, à la Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series, but with less angst. (Let’s be real: I want 40-minute episodes because I can’t stay awake through a two-hour movie).
How best to see it? Anything remotely scary requires my husband nearby holding my hand because I am the biggest wimp. Once I've got my ghost-guard nearby, I'll need a glass of red wine and fleecy PJ pants emblazoned with some sort of arctic animal (because nothing says "adult" like wine and pajama bottoms) to watch spry teenagers on adventures in absurd footwear. Then I will go to bed at a reasonable hour.
Unbound Guest Brandon Boldenow wants to see The Licanius Trilogy by James Islington
Potential Title: A Shadow of What Was Lost
Elevator Pitch Summary: As a student of the Gifted, Davian suffers the consequences of a war fought—and lost—before he was born. Despised by most beyond the school walls, he and those around him are all but prisoners as they attempt to learn control of the Gift. When Davian discovers he has the ability to wield the forbidden power of the Augurs, the very people overthrown during the previous war, he sets into motion a chain of events that will change everything. Soon, he meets a young man suffering from amnesia, who is accused of murder and whose fate is intertwined with his own. Maybe this mysterious stranger isn't the murderer he's made out to be—maybe he's something much worse.
Amount of CGI necessary to pull it off? Not a ton to this point in the series, but certainly with magic there is some amount of CGI, and some scenes would be grand.
Why should Hollywood jump at the chance? The mystery keeps building without revealing which really interesting characters are good or bad. I've gotten three people hooked on this series so far, and the speculation is wild. James Islington does a wonderful job of making you ask questions as a reader. One friend made the comment, "This series makes me question if I'm in control of anything in my own life..." Also, the magic system is one of the more intriguing I've read, without it being convoluted.
TV Series or Movie? It would make a great TV series if done properly, but it will only be a trilogy, so they would need to go into the past wars and political situations.
How best to see it? At home, on the couch, with my wife. The best way to see anything.
Lisa Mahoney wants to direct The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin for TNT
N.K. Jemisin won two Hugos for her Broken Earth Trilogy. Get them for your favorite reader this Christmas.
Potential Title: The Evil Earth (because naming it The Fifth Season would result in confused viewers searching for the show's First Season. And so on.)
Elevator Pitch: In a future dystopia, disastrous quakes and volcanoes causes “fifth seasons,” unpredictable periods that smother plant life, people, and civilizations. Orogenes, people with a genetic ability to quell earthquakes, protect the population but are persecuted or enslaved—like all powerful and uncontrollable Others wind up. Suddenly the worst, most unnatural volcanoes in thousands of years rip open the earth, and one orogene mother searches desperately for her stolen daughter.
Amount of CGI necessary to pull it off? Not too much CGI required, except perhaps to show pyroclastic flows and ashfall on walled towns.
Why should Hollywood jump at the chance? Scenes of desperate, hungry people wandering through ash clouds with grayed-out faces and clothing, miraculous flying obelisks, and secret volcanic tunnels throbbing with orogenic power would be a great contrast to the flashbacks of our heroine’s travails and injustices prior to this catastrophe. In this era of women resisting powerful men, the world Jemisin imagines is populated with women who inspire us as pragmatic leaders, respected fighters and powerful orogenes. Also, our heroine is a mother whose love for her daughter is the driving force of her journey. Who doesn't want to see that?
TV Series or Movie? TV series, one season per book, three seasons total. The richly imagined history and magic, and the conflicts between groups, are way too complicated for a movie, but there are not many superhuman feats calling for CGI. And because, well, stone people appearing or melting into rock, scary and sudden as Doctor Who angels. Turns out, this one is under discussion for production into a TNT TV series.
How best to see it? By marathon with loved ones well-fed.
Theodore McCombs wants to see “Angel, Monster, Man,” a short story by Sam J. Miller
author and former butcher, Sam J. Miller
Potential Movie Title: The Heat of Us Will Burn You Down
Elevator Pitch: In a New York City ravaged by AIDS and official indifference, three artist friends decide to promote the unpublished art of those lost to the plague under a single persona, “Tom Minniq,” who embodies all the hope and rage of this cheated generation. But when Tom literally takes on a life of his own, have they summoned an angel or created a monster—or something else entirely?
Amount of CGI necessary to pull it off? For a philosophically rich psychodrama, this story has lots of explosions. It also has thrilling alt-history moments with infamous ‘80s politicians, which would be so much more satisfying with Rogue One/Tarkin-style CGI doctoring than with lookalike actors.
Why should Hollywood jump at the chance? One word: Arrival. Sci-fi short stories rooted in psychological realism, rich with speculative philosophy and “grounded” on Earth—as if there were anything grounded about seven-legged alien visitors—make for compelling cinema that performs equally well in the box office and at awards season. Especially at this historical moment, with a swath of the nation craving narratives of resistance, Sam Miller’s rage is an untapped potential.
TV Series or Movie? Movie, but it’d be intriguing to try a TV series combining “Angel, Monster, Man” with his similarly themed alt-history short, “The Heat of Us: Notes Toward an Oral History.”
How best to see it? Directed by Tom Ford, that’s how. Look, I know Ford isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but his louche gusto would be perfect for this violent, lusty, beautiful story.
CS Peterson wants to see the Ship Breaker trilogy by Paolo Bacigalupi
Potential Movie Title: Ship Breaker is a perfect title, but an alternate might be After the Global Climate Collapse
Elevator Pitch Summary: In the near future, climate change has reshaped human society and corporate nation-states divide up the planet. Wars are fought by child soldiers in the territories that used to be Washington D.C., and crews of the desperate and disenfranchised scavenge for copper and oil on rusting tankers beached upon the new Gulf Coast. We got into this together, and together we will have to find our way out.
Amount of CGI necessary to pull it off? Well, there's the Wolf/Man soldier Tool (who should definitely be played by Andy Serkis) and another augment who is mostly tiger. There are action scenes are set high in the sky, deep in the ocean, or in abandoned oil tankers. But what I most look forward to is the long-lost environmental warrior who painted the anticipated waterline across Boston buildings to warn us. It would make for an awesome timelapse of ocean tides encroaching on the city until they pull right up to the line.
Why should Hollywood jump at the chance? Yes, I know, the current conventional wisdom is that YA trilogies don’t make money anymore. But that was because Hollywood was dumbing them down to a collection of formulaic yet, ahem, divergent cliches. But American youth can smell quality and relevance; don’t sell them short. These books are current and hot. Tool of War, the last book in Bacigalupi’s Printz award-winning Ship Breaker series, which we reviewed earlier this year, came out in fall, and there is a waiting list for the book at our middle school’s library—unprecedented for a third book in a series.
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