Reclamation Blog Tour - “Voices of Dragons” by Jackie Gamber

I'm so happy to be a part of the Reclamation Blog Tour sponsored by Tomorrow Comes Media. In this tour stop, I'm joined by Jackie Gamber who shares her dream voice cast for the Leland series. Jackie has been an incredible supporter of Kentucky Geek Girl and I'm glad to have her back on the blog.

I’m a screenwriter and movie buff as well as an author, and so I often feel as though I have one toe in the writing industry and one in the film industry. I find myself thinking, “That book would make a good movie,” and “…that kind of movie should have been a book.”

Books and screen are two very different mediums, and as the old cliché goes, it’s apples and oranges when it comes to storytelling. A book can accomplish things on a one-to-one basis that film simply can’t aspire to; words are its expression. One must have something to read in order to grasp the story. For film, it must have visuals, and words can (and should!) be sparingly and daringly used; in film storytelling, what is not said is as important as what is.

Nonetheless, plenty of books are made into terrific films, and vice versa (though less of the latter, I think). And if authors would be honest, many of them would confess that a movie adaptation of their book is a sort of culturally-motivated pinnacle of success, at least nowadays.

Yeah, I go there. With the CG capabilities these days, why not? I love the movie “DragonHeart”, which has as believable a dragon as I’ve ever seen, and that was way before Hollywood developed the kind of CG we’re seeing now.

But the truly important part, the pivotal point on which a believable film dragon must turn is: who should
voice them? Oh, I’ve got lots of them all worked out for Hollywood, no problem.

First and foremost? Kallon Redheart, of course, voiced by the talented Donald Faison (Chris Turk from “Scrubs”, among other things). Youngish-sounding and expressive enough for a wide range of emotion.

For Fordon Blackclaw, I have had my ear set for Joss Ackland for a long time. He’s a British actor, probably best known in the U.S. for Lethal Weapon 2, although he’s performed in over 100 stage plays. His voice is gravel in a glass of oil.

For Fane Whitetail, a smooth tenor for groveling, with the potential to turn hard and sharp: someone like Gary Oldman, who is among the most versatile actors ever, in my humble opinion.

Other actors whose voices I would love to hear from the mouths of my dragons? Penelope Cruz, Maggie Smith, Stephen Fry, Don Cheadle, Bill Nighy, Angela Bassett, Benjamin Bratt, Lucy Liu, Vin Diesel, Ken Wantanabe, Gene Wilder, Armand Assante, Idris Elba, Jessica Lange…I could go on and on.

But there are plenty of humans in my fantasy series, as well, and I do have one character, in particular, that I wrote as a sort of homage to one of my favorite actors—just in case she ever did become interested in being in the film adaptation. Layce Phelcher, a charming but rather inept wizard, for Lily Tomlin.

It’s actually a fun game to play while watching movies. Give it a try, and you’ll see what I mean. Don’t just look at a movie all the time; close your eyes and listen. Some actors have so much expression in their voice they almost don’t need their face to convey themselves. Sometimes, without the visual, an actor’s voice falls flat.

No, really. Try it!

Maybe you’ll come up with voices for my dragons, or my humans, that I haven’t found yet.

Jackie Gamber is the award-winning author of many short stories, screenplays, and novels, including “Redheart”, “Sela”, and “Reclamation”, Books one through three of the Leland Dragon Series. For more information about Jackie and her mosaic mind, visit http://www.jackiegamber.com

And meet Jackie elsewhere on the world wide web at:
https://www.facebook.com/AllotropeMedia
http://www.amazon.com/author/JackieGamber
http://www.twitter.com/JackieGamber
http://www.facebook.com/jackiegamber

Tour Schedule and Activities


2/24 A Book Vacation Tour Wide Contest

2/24 Azure Dwarf Promo/Spotlight

2/24 Come Selahway With Me Guest Post

2/24 Jellowquake Productions Review

2/25 Creating Estelan Promo/Spotlight

2/25 Workaday Reads Review

2/25 Alexx Momcat’s Gateway Book Blog Promo Spotlight

2/25 Jorie Loves a Story Character Post

2/25 I Smell Sheep Character Post

2/26 Kentucky Geek Girl Guest Post

2/26 Deal Sharing Aunt Review

2/26 Book in the Bag Interview

2/27 Sheila Deeth Character Interview

2/27 John F. Allen Writer Promo/Spotlight

2/28 Jorie Love a Story Review

2/28 Azure Dwarf Review

2/28 Vampires, Witches, and Me, Oh My Guest Post

2/28 MichaelSciFan Interview

3/1 Elizabeth Delana Rosa ~Book Lover & Creator of Worlds~ Post on Art of Reclamation

3/1 Coffintree Hill Guest Post

3/2 Jorie Loves a Story Author Interview/Reader Questions

3/2 Bee’s Knees Reviews Review

3/2 Jess Resides Here Guest Post

3/2 Book and Movie Dimension Blog Review



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