#publishing contest

[vicslabpublishing]

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[inkshares]

Top Authors in the Nerdist Video Games Contest Discuss Dream Video Games Based on Books

Only a few days left in the Nerdist Video Games Contest on Inkshares, and there’s still time to pre-order your favorites and make an author’s dream come true!

This week, we asked the top contest authors: It's common for books to be turned into movies, but is there a particular title you'd like to see turned into a video game? Why do you think that story's ripe for an interactive experience?

Here are their answers!

Inkvengers, editors of Too Many Controllers

Three words. Ready, Player, and One. Go with us on this. What’s better for a video game than an entire book about a game?! But not just OASIS, the virtual universe game in the book. A game of the entire story, to include the immersive game the book centers on with its own side quests and easter egg games inside! You’d get to play Wade as he tries to escape the stacks before they explode AND compete for the grand prize inside the game in the game and defeat IOI, the evil corporation trying to take over everything. Okay, yes, that’s a little bit of a trope, but it doesn’t detract from the story. And, in case you didn’t know, OASIS is filled with pop culture references to the 80’s, including some of the best and obscure games ever made. Plus, you could not ask for a better author when it comes to converting the story to a game. He already did one and gave the winner a Delorean. So yeah, Ready Player One. Just imagine yourself in that game in your living room using your Oculus Rift/other VR set. Done. Why isn’t this already happening? Call Mr. Cline!

Peter Ryan, author of Destiny Imperfect

P.D. James’s The Children of Men would make a great mishmash of a quest-cum-worldbuilding game. The backdrop of the story is fascinating. Humanity has lost its ability to reproduce. Our lives are essentially meaningless, as we have no future as a species. Anarchy rules and the whole scenario has a wonderful dystopian feel. Video game creators would have a wonderful time bringing this background to life.

The main character in the book stumbles across a woman who is pregnant - the only woman on earth who is with child. Everybody wants this woman, as she is the key to civilization’s survival. He, along with a group of people defending the woman, needs to guide her to safety to ensure that humanity survives.

The game itself would initially revolve around the quest – overcoming danger, achieving tasks, finding where to go, beating up the bad guys. Once she’s protected, the game would then morph into a worldbuilding scenario, albeit a new world that has to defend itself from the old anarchy – the planet would need to be repopulated, resources allocated, the new world defended – complicated, I know, but the possibilities are endless.

Prescott Harvey, author of In Beta

Most good novels would be ruined by adapting them into videogames. The power of a novel is in it’s perfectly constructed plot. By giving the reader agency, you destroy the thing that makes them special. Think of Pride & Prejudice, or The Great Gatsby. Any tinkering a reader does in these worlds pulls them apart. When the audience controls the protagonist, the story loses pacing. When the audience chooses a novel’s outcome, they destroy it’s beautiful resolution.

There is, however, one novel perfectly suited for a videogame adaptation: Moby Dick. It’s has almost no plot, and is loaded with what are basically game mechanics. It’s infamous diversions and digressions beg to be transformed into gameplay. I envision it as a rogue-like game, a cross between Faster Than Light and Sim City. Upgrade your whaling ship, buy more sailors to boost ship speed or capabilities, manage freshwater and food, keep the crew happy to prevent a mutiny. Work your way up to the final boss fight, a big white whale.

Sure, you lose Melville’s wonderful language and philosophical musings. But you gain a kick-ass strategy game. So net positive, for sure.

Alisa King, author of Are You Sure You Want to Quit?

If I had to pick one book to transform into a video game I’d have to go with Joe Golem and the Drowning City, hands down. The story takes place in a submerged Manhattan and if that wasn’t cool enough the main characters are a Victorian-era detective and his assistant Joe, who can turn into a mighty stone golem when provoked. Based on what Telltale Games has done with titles such as The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead, Joe Golem would fit into their style nicely since their games are all about interaction and decision-making. I can picture myself playing a Joe Golem and the Drowning City video game where I’d be crushing a vampire one minute and picking up a clue the next. Get on it Telltale Games! 

Matthew Poat, author of Squids In

I would love to see Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas turned into a video-game. The book (and film) tells of the journey taken by two guys who go to Vegas with the express goal of ‘chasing the American dream’ but really it’s a bastardized treatise on the social and political upheaval that was present during late sixties, early seventies America.

I imagine the game version to be a visually stunning, albeit weird, romp through seventies Vegas where enjoyment is found in annoying the locals, ripping off the hotels and doing copious amounts of drugs, all while avoiding the cops. At least that is how most people would interpret it. In reality it would be a history lesson told via the medium of video-game. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas has always been a misunderstood masterpiece in my opinion and a book that everybody should read.

Regina McMenomy, Ph.D., author of Mothering: The Game

The House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast is the immediate book series that comes to mind. Imagine an immersive gaming experience where you are branded as a fledgling, marked as chosen by the goddess of night to become a vampire. In this world, vampires are not just known but often revered for their supernatural gifts and long lives. You will attend a boarding school and come of age surrounded by other fledglings and vampires while you discover what goddess given gifts have been bestowed upon you. Will you have an extraordinary talent for acting or music? Will you have a natural connection to earth or fire or animals? Throughout the initial game experience it is unknown to you, the gamer, whether you will become a peaceful blue vampire, or a feral, blood-lusting red vampire.

The game play would be standard MMORPG fare at the start: quests, achievements, and leveling up. At a random point, you would either die and resurrect as a red vampire or peacefully transform into a blue vampire. Red and blue vampires can work with or against each other, depending on your in game choices.

The world in The House of Night is filled with conflict and supernatural events. There would be endless opportunities for gameplay based in reality and in the netherworld, for interactions and conflicts with other vampires and with fallen angels or otherworldly beings. 

Andrew Fantasia, author of SideScroller

A well-crafted video game set in the world of Stephen King's Dark Tower series would be magnificent with a capital "nificent." But it'd have to done right. Take the gunplay and free-roaming frontier wonder of Red Dead Redemption and give the world the proper amount of gloom, intrigue, and hidden secrets that King's manic mind is known for. Being able to draw allies from magical doorways and trek to the Tower to face the Crimson King sounds like a swell example of gaming Nirvana to me.

Soldier’s Crest, author of A Soldier’s Crest: Imperium

I would love to see a video game adaptation of the Shannara series by Terry Brooks. If you had a chance to watch the first season of The Shannara Chronicles when it aired on TV or on Netflix, you could just tell this world would fit directly into a game. I could definitely see it as an open world RPG, where you don’t necessarily play as any of the main characters but create your own character and fight battles connected to the main story without being directly connected to the main characters. Occasionally running into the protagonists and villains of the books wouldn’t hurt, but just diving head first into that beautiful world that Mr. Brooks has created would be such a blast. The heroes, most notably the elves, are so majestic and beautiful — while the monsters and demons they face tend to be extravagantly grotesque and evil looking that both would lend themselves to such magnificent character and enemy creation!

Timothy Gauger, author of The Glorious Denial

Sin City, Frank Miller's graphic novel, would be a series I'd enjoy to explore in video game fashion. It has all the classic characters represented in gaming. Marv is a fierce brawler, Hartigan is a determined detective, and then there is the unchecked vagabond Dwight. These are a few of the wide cast in the series which have potential, but those specific three are my personal favorite. The game's graphics would have to be the same as the books are inked. I'd want it decorated with smears of black, white, and gray for the graphics but highlight certain elements of the characters with vibrant colors that pop out. Playing through this storyline would be entertaining to unfold how all the characters' stories wind and wrap around each other, seeing how they unknowingly influence one another. That's something we all experience in life. Cause and effect is the tool of fate, for we are only players here.

[inkshares]

Top Authors in the Geek & Sundry Contest Share Their Dream Casts

With less than a week to go in the Geek & Sundry Hard Science Fiction Contest on Inkshares, we asked the top authors which celebrity they could see playing their character if their novel was adapted for the big screen. 

Tal Klein, author of The Punch Escrow:

My protagonist, Joel Byram, is a reflection of the way I thought I might look in my early 30’s when I was a teenager. Joel is the embodiment of my memories of my naïve perception of what being a grown up might be like. So, he’s like a younger me, but with hair, maybe thinner. Who would play him? Maybe Shia LaBeouf? He’s got the right kind of crazy to be me. For Joel’s wife, Sylvia, it sounds like I’m kissing up, but I think Felicia Day would be a great fit. She’s brilliant, the world’s leading quantum microscopist in the 25th century, but she also loves to hang out at dive bars and tell fart jokes.

Aaaand my dream director would be Guillermo del Toro. Which leads me to the antagonist: Mad teleportation scientist William Taraval should be played by Ron Perlman! Hear that Ron? You got the part!

Brian Guthrie, author of After Man:

My first inkling was to pick someone like Jessica Chastain but she would be better playing a character from my first novel. My second inkling was Anna Torv as she played a character similar to my original concept for the role of Casey Adler. But that still didn't feel quite right. I settled on Emily VanCamp, most recently seen as Sharon Carter in the Marvel Universe. She has the look and carries herself in a similar way to how I see Casey carrying herself. As I watched Civil War last week, I could see her stepping from that role into the role of Casey with ease.

E.S. Evan, author of The Pirates of Montana:

I can see Hailee Steinfeld as my leading lady. She might be a little older than Molly is in real life, but she is an amazing actress who could pull off the character’s innocence and poise with aplomb. Molly is a smart, thoughtful, and downright nerdy young lady who is willing to do what it takes to protect those she cares about. Hailee would be perfect. She has true grit!

Yara Shahidi is easily my Lizzie. She’s confident, hilarious, and smart and whenever I think of Lizzie, I think of her. No brainer there.

Sam would be played by Jared Padalecki and Dean by Jensen Ackles. For those out there who are Supernatural fans, you can guess why. I wasn’t trying subtle here. It’s my favorite show, and frankly, these two characters are my homage to the Winchester boys.

Ronald D Valle, author of We Clocked the T-Rex:

For the young oceanographer and protagonist of the novel, Vee Whelan, I think it’d be awesome if Emily Blunt took up the role. Blunt has such incredible range. She could bring alive the fascination and love Vee has for the natural world, her dry humor, and the mix of dread and anger which swirl around inside her that she struggles to keep from boiling over.

Cung Le, the mixed-martial arts fighter would make a great Eddie Dinh, the Vietnamese-American spy investigating Project Coelurosaur. Eddie is sort of the action hero of the novel, but he prefers the subtler peaceful solution to any obstacle he faces.

For the host of supporting characters, why not Kate Micucci as Fen, Vee’s invertebrate-loving friend, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Ambassador Madelyn Truent, and for old, jaded, and paternal Alf Fisker maybe we can do some CGI shit to get the late Ernest Borgnine into the pic. And Jeff Goldblum can voice all the dinosaurs. Yeah. That’d be great.

Eric Klein, author of The One: A Cruise Through the Solar System:

It’s always hard to picture whom you would like to bring your work to life. Most cases we don’t have a character written for a specific performer (like the Deadpool comic was written based on Ryan Reynolds). That said, there are certain characteristics that fit better to what the author sees in their own minds eye. So looking at the main characters, these are the ones I would choose to play them today. For the two main characters I was looking for relatively young and tall individuals with some genre experience.

BJ Armstrong (protagonist): Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Jojen Reed in Game of Thrones). I was thinking an everyman who can become the hero. Thomas has the makings of a young MacGyver that I was looking for in BJ. 

Fay Englehorn: Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch in The Avengers). Fay is a red head, so this limits the options, but then you have her experiences as Scarlet Witch but would look comfortable ballroom dancing in evening ware.

Captain Frank Englehorn: Ben Browder (John Crichton in Farscape). I love his range. In Farscape, Ben was able to be the friendly, get along with everyone person who could turn into the dictator that a captain should be in an emergency.

Villain (name withheld for suspense): Dolph Lundgren (Andrew Scott in Universal Soldier). He would be perfect between his Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering and his physical presence he is the perfect genius mastermind.

If money was no object would love to get voice overs from Nichelle Nichols for main ship AI Vena, and Rob Paulsen for BJ's wristpad Brain.

Landon Trine, author of First on Mars:

The crew:

Hugh Jackman as Kurt. He has an amazing acting range and the right "tough guy" look as well.

Grace Park (”Boomer” from Battlestar Galactica) as Rin. Anyone from that show is great and I could see her and Hugh Jackman as a plausible couple.

Oscar Isaac (Poe in Star Wars VII) as Norbite. I needed someone of non-obvious ancestry and I loved him in Star Wars.

Anne Hathaway as Kara. I think she was great in Interstellar.

Cas Anvar (Alex Kamal in The Expanse) as Anesh. He's awesome in that show and perfect for this part.

Nazneen Contractor (Rima Harewood in Star Trek Into Darkness) as Akshara. Honestly the only woman of Indian ancestry (and the right age) I've seen in a sci-fi movie/show.

Zoe Saldana (Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy, also Uhura in Star Trek Into Darkness) as Phoebe. Do I really need to explain this one?

NASA administrative team:

Idris Elba (will be Krall in Star Trek Beyond, you may know him from Luther or Prometheus) as Terrence Woodward. He has the gravitas necessary to play this role.

Edward James Olmos (best known as Commander Adama in Battlestar Galactica) as Kirk O'Donnell. Also has a lot of gravitas, and he pulls off "war-weary" leader very well.

Jef Cozza, author of The Armageddon Countdown:

One of the main themes of The Armageddon Countdown is the global nature of the threat facing the characters, and the need for a coordinated worldwide response. I think it’s important to have a global cast of characters and actors to emphasize that this isn’t a Western or first world problem but a global one. So I’d like to have as diverse a cast as possible.

Nyssa is my favorite character, and a difficult one to play. She’s a smart, capable scientist thrown into a chaotic situation that’s completely outside of her training and experience. It requires an actress who’s able to demonstrate both intelligence and competence, but also show the character struggle with difficult decisions, self-doubt, and uncertainty.

Rosario Dawson would be great in the role, particularly given her work on Daredevil. Zoe Saldana is another actress who could bring some great depth to her. And I think Tatiana Maslany has proved she can play any emotion from any character, ever, and kick ass at the same time.

Ailea Merriam-Pigg, author of The Science of Magic:

Since my book isn't focused on any one character, we'd probably have to pull a “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” for a movie adaptation. If we did though, there are three people I'd love to have sign onto the project: Anna Faris, Chris Pratt, and Mayim Bialik. Mayim Bialik is an actual neuroscientist while Chris Pratt and Anna Faris fell in love over their mutual love of collecting dead bugs. I love working with people who get so passionate about science and things that might seem weird to other people and, bonus, they're all amazing actors! I think the three of them, if they signed onto the project, would give beautiful performances fueled by their passions and, hopefully, interest in the subject matter.

Peter Ravlich, author of Phase Three:

Hahana is tricky — I’d ideally want an actual kaumātua (Māori Elder) to play her, to ensure an appropriate representation of the indigenous backdrop of the story. While the issues explored are human, I’d want to avoid mere appropriation of specific cultural beliefs.

Gordon is an anachronism in the world of Phase Three, much like Roland in The Dark Tower series. Like Roland, Gordon knows the world, but doesn't belong to it, and I'd follow The Dark Tower's fine example and pick Idris Elba to play him.

Coral should be an implacable, slightly mysterious figure, so my current choice would be Dichen Lachman, thinking of her performances in both Dollhouse and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Child actors are always tough to cast (Game of Thrones to the contrary) but my novel outline includes a shot of Keisha Castle-Hughes back in her Whale Rider days, and that's very much the image of Sia I have while writing her chapters. Time machine, anyone?

[biglucks]

Last week, some Internet Tendency launched a contest aimed at students and it carried a $55 entrance fee.

But not this Internet Tendinitis. Instead, we've got Big Lucks's first-ever SAVE YOUR FVCKING MONEY Contest (for students and non-students).

$2 entrance fee = entrance to our general submission pool, a Mike Young .PDF chapbook, and a chance to win at least $77.80.

MORE DETAILS HERE