Meet The Life and Death of Terry Dodd's Cast of Characters + Giveaway

Terry Dodd has a new cover! 

Hurray! I'm so excited to release this new cover. It's been an absolute bomb to create and I really am loving the whole new design, the colors, the interior format, everything. 

To celebrate, I thought I'd give you a little insight into the story and the characters, and I'm holding a Goodreads Giveaway. Three weeks, three copies of the Terry Dodd. And if you don't have a Goodreads account, you should. Scroll down to enter Giveaway!

All my favorite actors are pretty much . . . dead. They no longer exist in Hollywood and they are certainly not making any more movies. So this narrows down the list of potential actors considerably. But it also made it much harder to choose. 

Who I'd cast today if Terry Dodd ever made it to Hollywood:

Terry Dodd

Hugh Jackman. Think a more solemn, dreamless, foreboding version of Charlie from Real Steel and you'd be pretty close to Terry Dodd. Terry Dodd looks like a shady character on the outside, and by his outward appearance he looks as if all he likes to do is drink and fix cars. But did anyone ever ask him?

From the book:
    Terry Dodd wore blue jeans and a white t-shirt most days and sometimes a white straw cowboy hat with aviator sunglasses pulled down to the end of his nose. And Bambi kept telling me how old he looked.
     It wasn’t how he looked. It was the way he just plain did things and never needed to say a word while doing it. 

Joann Shea

Joey King. I was pretty picky when it came to Joann. But Joey King made it. She's cute, but unique, and has just enough sweetness for shy Joann Shea.

From the book:
     And one day he knocked on the door. Just walked up and knocked, and I thought—I grabbed Michael to hold onto because I didn't know what I thought. Maybe he wouldn’t do anything if he saw Michael. Maybe he wouldn’t want to come in. Maybe he wouldn’t ask.
      Mom said I’d look just like Trixie Belden if my hair were blonde and short. Right then I hoped I didn’t look like anybody. Just a shadow behind a screen.

Wanda Shea

Julia Ormond is just what I imagined Mom would look like, thin and dark haired, but still has that classy and sophisticated spark needed for Mom's background as the daughter of a wealthy businessman. Mom is a very tortured character, but she has a certain strength about her which proves true in the climax of the story. 

From the book:
     Mom stood up from bending in front of the washer. “Hang these clothes up for me, will you? I’ll be out in a minute.” She plopped the basket into my arms and I trucked out the back door. The clothesline stood between our house and Terry Dodd’s.
     I set the basket on the ground, pulling one of Dad’s white t-shirts out of the mess.
     The wind blew a breeze around, and Mom came out humming “The Great White Horse” by Buck Owens.
She pulled a few clothes out and hung them over her shoulder, starting a little way down the line. I sang the chorus, smiling at her.
     Mom joined in again, too.
     We grinned big at each other and reached for more clothes.
     “I love that song,” I said. “Reminds me somehow of you and Dad.”
     “Oh, it does?” Mom laughed.
     “How he swept you away from all your dragons, and Uncle Barry, when you most needed him, when he most needed you.”

Jim Shea

Dad was hard. And I still don't think I've settled on him completely. There's got to be someone who's a mix between Bruce Greenwood, Dennis Quaid and John Corbett. But in the end  Robert Taylor won out, even though Dad in the book has way less hair and is a bit younger. Dad's quiet and studious, but he's a jack-of-all-trades and holds the family together. I'd peg him as an ISFJ.

From the book:
     “You do watch him a lot, Joann,” Daddy said, turning a page without looking up. “He’s old as I am.”
     “I’ve never liked him,” Mom said through the screen door. She held her arms crossed in front of her. “Thought he was strange. He drinks and he smokes and he never goes to church. Sleeps in his hammock all Sunday afternoon. I’ve always been afraid for you when he’s around, Joann. And now more that you’re older, and you’ve nothing to do this summer.” 
     Dad smiled as he read his book.“Going to church doesn’t make you anything any more than not going to church does, Wanda. You don’t have to be afraid of him. He won’t hurt our kids.”
     “Well, I worry,” Mom said, rubbing her arm. “When you’re gone for days trucking, I worry.”

Uncle Barry 

Michael Shannon completely personifies Uncle Barry. He fit the bill as the villainous, cruel uncle just from his looks. The money and control is all he cares about.
  
From the book:
     “Uncle Barry’s worse than him. Drinking makes him mad,” Julie said, her pigtails flowing over Dad's knee. “But—he’s the only uncle we’ve got!”

Aunt El 

 Especially Rachel Weisz with blonde hair. She is a high society rich girl who married Barry Roberts for his money. But she never fit into that world and always knew life was something more than money, connections, and beauty.

From the book:
     “Why did you call him?” I whispered.
     Aunt Elizabeth came up behind us. She rested a hand on my shoulder.
     “Come, children. Let’s go find something to eat, shall we? Barry and your mom probably have lots to talk about.” She turned us away, but she looked down the hall after Mom, her brow furrowed.