That Eden Movie Deal...

This has been the giant white elephant in the room for me for a long while now.  Something I've avoided talking about and just kind of let die.  Because it kind of sucks to talk about.  And it's all SUPER complicated.

You know that The Eden Trilogy started out as a standalone novel titled EDEN.  It was one book and I had no plans to turn it into a trilogy.  And then THIS happened.  Eden got optioned by the producer of the Twilight Saga.

So, what happened after all the hype, and all the articles, and all the awesome?

Well, everyone wanted Eden turned into a trilogy.  So I spent a lot of time deciding if I could do it.  And then I decided that I could.  Then, everyone wanted to see it traditionally published.  I hesitantly said okay.  From there, everyone helped me find an agent who we thought would be a good fit, because you need a literary agent before you get a traditional publisher.  So we found one.

This agent and I spent nine months reworking Eden into what would be book one in a trilogy.  There were some changes I knew the story could benefit from anyway, and we needed to set up new elements that would support a book two and book three.  So we spent a lot of time doing this.

Meanwhile, this whole time, the producers are breathing down my neck, asking when I would have a finished manuscript so that they could start getting a screenplay worked on.  They teased me about different actors they had talked to about being in it, but never telling me who...

During these nine months, it was becoming apparent that me and this agent didn't see eye to eye on what should happen in my story.  They wanted one thing, I wanted another.

We weren't a good fit.

But we rolled forward.

Finally, I sent this agent what I thought would be the FINAL round of edits.  And then didn't hear from them for two months.  My emails were ignored and unanswered.  The producers were practically breathing fire at me for the first month of waiting.

So, I sent one last, very demanding email.  I had to know what was going on.

Explanations were given, and I won't go into all of the reasons, some were their own, some I think were due to the bad fit, but in the end, the bottom line was that this agent thought it best we parted ways.

Which was VERY okay by me.

I went back to the producers and said "this is what's going on.  Now what?"

Come to find out, during the last month of silence and waiting, the production company I was signed with dissolved.  And they dropped ALL their projects.

All of them.  Including EDEN.

So there I was, with this finished, re-vamped manuscript, no more movie deal, no more agent.

So what's a girl to do?

Shake it off and move on.

I republished EDEN as THE BANE, and gave you all the awesome news that there was going to be a trilogy.  Despite everything that happened, I'm glad that it did.  Because it was an amazing experience writing books 2 and 3.  I LOVE Eve, and Avian, and West, and Royce, and everyone else.  In fact, THE EVE may be my favorite book I've written.  Maybe.

And even though the movie didn't happen, it was still AMAZING to get as far as I did.  Most authors will never have their book optioned and it was even more amazing because back then, in 2011, there were almost NO self-published books that got optioned.  So I will forever be grateful for the experience.  I have no hard feelings, I still have a good relationship with most everyone involved.

So there you have it, the full story, the full explanation.

Thank you for supporting me and for loving the Eden trilogy.  Thank you for demanding more books.  I'm so grateful that you did.

The World of EDEN

I have now been in the world of EDEN for three and a half years.  I very first started writing the first draft of Eden in June of 2010.  I was struggling to make my way through FORSAKEN.  I was hitting a wall and things just weren't working, so I decided to set it aside for a while and work on something else.  That something else was Eden.  I wrote half a first draft before I returned to FORSAKEN and set it aside.

Then I published EDEN in June of 2011, almost exactly a year after I wrote the very first words.

From there I went on to publish VINDICATED and WHAT I DIDN'T SAY.

And then I returned to the world of Eden.  Things happened.  Things changed.  And I decided that Eden needed to be a trilogy.

I've been in this world for a long time now.  Far longer than I ever expected to be in it.  Eve, Avian, West, Royce, Tristan--all the characters have become so real to me.  I can almost reach out and touch their world.  I can picture a Bane crashing through my window at any moment.  I know exactly what kind of weapons I would need to fight one off.

THE EVE, the final book in the Eden trilogy releases tomorrow.  So today I thought I'd pay homage to that world and let you step inside it with me for a while.  I will use a lot of images and songs throughout this and I will disclose now that I do not hold rights to any of them.

This is Eve.  This picture of Gillian Zinser is exactly how I picture Eve.  She is not traditionally pretty.  Her features are very sharp and angular.  She doesn't really care how her hair looks.  Cloths?  As long as they cover her body and she can move in them, she doesn't care.  Eve can take care of herself.

Avian is a rock.  98% of the time he knows what to do and he keeps his cool doing it.  He has lost nearly everyone who means anything to him and he will do anything to protect those who are left.  He's a soldier.  He's an ill-trained doctor.  He's an excellent marksman.  He is selfless.

West is fire and ice, existing in the same space.  He's lived with the weight of what his family has done for years now.  West has potential and is smarter than even he realizes.  West is driven by his passions and knows what he wants in life.

Bill is one of the simplest but most complicated characters in the story.  Bill loves his life in the post-Evolution world.  He knows how to survive.  He's good at it.  He is quiet and a man of few words but this is for a reason.  But one thing is for certain: he always has your back.

Dr. Beeson.  This is a man driven by his guilt.  If it weren't for him, Eve wouldn't be what she is today.  He's brilliant, but he almost hates himself for that fact.  He's learned his lesson and thinks he knows what is best now, even if he isn't always right.  But he'll do anything to fix his mistakes.

I have a confession: Royce is one of my favorite characters I have ever written.  I can't quite say he's my favorite, because really all my main characters are my favorite.  But I LOVE Royce.  We have bonded.  He is stubborn and always thinks he's right.  He's cocky.  But his is a LEADER.  He will do anything to protect his people.  He would literally die for them.  He is strong in ways no one can ever understand.  He is the type of man I would follow.








I am a very visual person.  Thanks to Pintrest, I could literally come up with the concept and plot for an entire book via images I find through that site.  These are some of the images that have inspired me throughout the series.

And music.  This part probably won't really mean that much to most of you. But to me, I couldn't have written these books the way I did without them.  Music touches me.  It makes me FEEL.  It makes me EXPERIENCE.  These are some of the songs that played a very vital part in creating the world of Eden.

There are some spoilers below.  Read my explanations with caution.

This is very much a song about Eve.  But there is one very specific scene this will always play during in my head.  After Eden joins the group on Los Angeles and Eve is going to the transformer to hook the Pulse directly into the power supply.  This entire scene goes with this song.

Spoiler Alert (so don't read this if you haven't read THE BANE):  This is how Avian feels toward Eve in book one.

This one is for book two.  Eve gets put through some serious s*it in this book.  But in the end, Eve is still Eve.  She isn't afraid to die, and she's going to go at what she wants with everything she's got.

Again, Eve gets put through a lot in book two.  And she has her human moments.  Every once in a while we all break.

SPOILER ALERT (so skip ahead if you haven't read THE HUMAN):  This one is for West.  He feels like he's been screwed over and in reality he's been dealt some very unfair cards.  He gets infected and wakes up only to find the girl he thinks he loves has picked the other man.  Que a lot of crap happening.

 

On to book three:  After everything Eve has been through in book two and in book one, she can still come out of the darkness with a bullet in her hand...

No explanation to be given here.  You will understand.

I hope this gives you a little bigger understanding of what the world of Eden is like for me.  And I hope this is somewhat like it is for you.  As authors we do our best to show you what we see, but in the end, the story isn't ours alone.  The moment we release it it becomes yours as well.  I love Eden.  I love Eve and Avian and West and everyone else.

After three and a half years though, I am ready to kiss them goodbye and move onto other characters who are begging to have the spark of life breathed into them.

Get ready.

Tomorrow, the past and future will come full circle.

THE HUMAN - Available Now!!!

That's right, you guys know me, I can't help but release a book early.

THE HUMAN IS NOW AVAILABLE!

You can get a Kindle copy HERE.

You can get a Nook copy HERE.

It will be available in print and in the iBook store VERY soon!  It is available from Smashwords HERE.  They have formats for any e-reader.

I had three reasons for releasing it early.

1. I am actually going out of town to visit family on the 18th, the original release date.  That was the only time that really worked for me to go.
2. It was almost exactly two years ago that I released the original Eden.  It seemed appropriate that I release the second book that was begged for so much on Eden's birthday.
3. Well, it was done and ready, so I thought, why make all of you wait!

This seriously would not have happened if you guys hadn't have loved Eden so much.  I told a lot of you that no, there would not be a sequel, that I was done with the book, that was it.  But the more you asked, the more I had to think about it, the fact that there was indeed a lot more to the story.  I had to face my fears of committing to another trilogy, and decide that I missed the characters enough to give them what they needed, and that was more story.

If you have not read THE BANE (book one) yet, I just dropped the price to $2.99.  Here are the links:

KINDLE | NOOK | IBOOKS | SMASHWORDS

PAPERBACK

Oh!  And both THE RAID: AN EDEN SHORT STORY and THE ASHES: AN EDEN PREQUEL are now available places other than for Kindle!  You can now find them on Barnes and Noble.  The will be available through the iBook store soon, but they take forever to upload.  Sorry, I'm a little linked out and being lazy about grabbing links for these ones, lol.

Now, go and grab your copy!  I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Clarification: REBIRTH

I think a few people have been confused as to what Rebirth is and I wanted to clear some things up.  I've seen a few things pop up here and there about the length of it and as to where it falls in with Eden.  I talked about it in my post HERE if you'd like to refer to that.

Rebirth takes place BEFORE Eden.  It happens as the Fall is going down.  So this takes place 5 years before Eden.

That makes Rebirth a PREQUEL, NOT a sequel.

It is SHORT.  It is only 11,000 words long.  Technically it is called a novelette.  It equals about 45 book pages.

It is NOT told from Eve's point of view.

There is no ROMANTIC factor.  This is all about survival.

I think that clears up most of the questions people have had.  I am sorry if you were confused before, I didn't mean to do so.

If you have any other questions please feel free to email me: me@kearytaylor.com.

I hope everyone has a great day!

My Next Release!

After a lot of secrecy and teasing, I'm finally going to let you in on one of the things I've been working on.

So, in the past I've talked about writing a prequel.

A prequel to Eden...

COMING OCTOBER 2012

REBIRTH

AN EDEN PREQUEL

One week ago I thought I knew exactly how I was going to spend the rest of my life: looking at the gray walls of a prison cell. Figuring out how to survive the apocalypse wasn’t something I’d planned for. 

Yet here I was, getting a second chance at the end of the world. 

Rebirth is the 10,000 word prequel to the novel Eden.

Now, a few things about Rebirth:

• It is NOT told from Eve's point of view.
• Despite the fact that in the past I talked about telling the prequel from West or Avian's point of view, it isn't from either of their points of view.
• It will be a surprise who's POV it is told from :-)  You'll have to read it to figure it out.
• You do not have to have read Eden to get what is going on in Rebirth.  It does stand on it's own.  But they obviously very much tie together.
• Rebirth takes place when the world is Falling apart.  So about 5 years previous to Eden.
• It is short.  10,000 words is the equivalent to about 45 book pages.
• It will only be available in digital form.

And the biggest things:

• Rebirth has NO romantic factor.  This is a first for me.  This book is entirely about survival.
• The one hint I will give you about the main character is that they are in their mid 30's.  This is also different for me.

I said coming October 2012.  That means I don't know exactly what day it will release.  Like I said earlier, this is just one of the things I've been working on lately and working on multiple projects is tricky business.  But, I will be releasing it before Halloween!  So hold tight.  Hopefully I'll have a more solid date soon.

You all excited?!  I'm excited!

If you want to add Rebirth on Goodreads  you can do so HERE!

Bookmark Clean Out GIVEAWAY!

I have WAY too many bookmarks lying around.  Eden bookmarks.  What I Didn't Say bookmarks, and Fall of Angels bookmarks with the old covers.  I need to get some of them out of my office.

So why not do a giveaway?!

There will be winners.  Lots of them.

Like... 20!

That's right!  I'm going to give 20 people a handful of bookmarks.  And I'll probably even sign them!

So here are the rules:

1. US only.  Sorry, shipping gets too expensive outside of the US.
2. Giveaway will run for 1 week.  Closes the 19th.
3. Fill out the Rafflecopter form!
4. You can gain extra entries.

Easy enough?  Okay, go!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

"If love dies, that's when we've all truly died."

I thought I'd make some EDEN art in honor of the new blog design, which was created with a heavy sci-fi tendency in mind ;-)  It's been a while since I created anything for EDEN so I thought I'd throw something together!

Again, these actors won't have anything to do with the movie adaption of EDEN, but until we get the actual actors cast, these three work beautifully for how I imagine Avian, Eve, and West! (movie details)

THE EDEN TRILOGY

AVAILABLE MARCH 5, 2013

Before the Evolution there was TorBane: technology that infused human DNA with cybernetic matter. It had the ability to grow new organs and limbs, to heal the world. Until it evolved out of control and spread like the common cold. The machine took over, the soul vanished, and the Bane were born. The Bane won't stop until every last person has been infected. With less than two percent of the human population left, mankind is on the brink of extinction. 

Eve knows the stories of the Evolution, the time before she wandered into the colony of Eden, unable to recall anything but her name. But she doesn't need memories to know this world is her reality. This is a world that is quickly losing its humanity, one Bane at a time. 

Fighting to keep one of the last remaining human colonies alive, Eve finds herself torn between her dedication to the colony, and the discovery of love. There is Avian and West – one a soldier, one a keeper of secrets. And in the end, Eve will make a choice that will change the future of mankind. 

The Bane is The Terminator meets The Walking Dead with a heart-twisting romance.

Previously published as Eden, due to reader demand it has been revamped and rereleased as The Bane: book one in The Eden Trilogy.

Eden has been optioned by Black Forest Film Group (Mark Morgan ("Twilight Saga"), Kami Garcia ("Beautiful Creatures"), Brett Hudson ("Cloud 9"), and Eric T. Thompson ("Rites of Spring")) for a major motion picture.

Letting your writing take it's natural course

Sorry for the major lacking of decent blog posts lately.  With this writing break it seems that I've also taken a huge step back from the computer and the internet in general.  Which has been a good thing.

But I've had some time to reflect lately on writing in general.  Like: what really makes good writing?  How can I improve my own writing?  How do we get from point A to point B in plot 1, 2 and 3?  I've also had my book EDEN on my mind lately.

EDEN was an interesting book for me.  As I've said before, it was an experiment when I started it.  I didn't think I could write sci-fi/dystopian/post-apocalyptic.  I always thought of myself as a fantasy writer and I honestly didn't read much in those other genres.  But I had the idea so I went for it.

But things changed so much throughout the story.  Getting from point A to point B took a lot of unexpected turns.

Did you guys know that West's name was originally Tyler?  Yeah, I named him Tyler in the beginning because for some reason I really like that name so I decided to give it to him.  But as I got 20 or 30 pages into the book, I realized that I HATED Tyler.  I couldn't figure out his character.  He felt forced.  He was annoying.  

And then it dawned on me.  I couldn't figure out this character because I had given him the wrong name.

Honestly I don't remember how I came up with the name West, I guess it was just born into my head, or maybe West just finally told me his real name.  But suddenly this elusive character slid into place and I knew exactly who he was.

And there is one scene in EDEN that changed the entire course of the rest of the book.  I'll tell you which one it is.  Grab your copies of EDEN and kindly turn to chapter thirteen.  This was a chapter that surprised me.  I didn't expect it to play out as it did.  And then Eve unexpectedly said this line to someone:

 "You mean more to me than anyone here in Eden."

And that was the line that changed the course of the rest of the book.

I don't know if I've ever said this online, but I'll let you in on the big EDEN secret.  Eve did not end up with who I had planned her to end up with at the end of the book.  When I started the book I had it very clearly planned out who she would end up with and how I was going to take care of the guy that she didn't end up with.

Because in chapter thirteen she surprised me by saying that line to the other guy.  Eve's feelings went to a place I hadn't planned.  And in the end, I realized she made the right choice.

Letting your writing take it's natural course is a bit scary.  It takes you off your charted course at times.  It throws huge kinks in your outlines.  But it makes for more natural, better writing.  Sometimes your characters know their story better than you do.

EDEN, the TWILIGHT movies, and Mark Morgan

I'll keep this post brief, since I'm still on my writing break until the beginning of June.  But it just popped into my head last night to share this little YouTube clip.  This is Mark Morgan, one of my producers for EDEN.  At the premier of Breaking Dawn part 1, he talked about what he did with the TWILIGHT saga and this is the process that he's taking EDEN through.  I know a lot of people have questions on how all of this is working so maybe this will answer a few of your questions! :)

(This is from when my husband and I went out to Beverly Hills to meet with Mark Morgan, Kami Garcia, and Brett Hudson - Black Forest Film Group)

Eden Sketches #4!

Up next in the Eden sketches we have Eve and Avian!  This one is also a specific scene from the book, think you can figure out which one?

Artist: Ashley Riot

*You can click the image to make it bigger.

Eden Sketches #3

I'm having a blast with these sketches, guys.  Seriously, this is just too fun for me, lol!  Up next for you I have Eve and West!  This is a specific scene in the book, think you guys can find the chapter that it's from?

EDEN Sketches #2

Next up in the awesome EDEN sketches we have 

Avian, Eve, and West!

Artist: Ashley Riot

Awesome EDEN Sketches!

I recently hired the incredibly talented artist Ashley Riot to do some sketches from EDEN for me and I am stoked at what she came up with.  So I wanted to share them with you over the next few days.  I hope you like them as much as I do and hope you might think about sharing some of them with your web family :)

The first is of our beloved, kick-butt Eve!

I'm thinking about releasing a new special edition version of Eden that includes the sketches in the back of the book.  We'll see though!  But I hope you enjoy Ashley's awesome artwork!

Movie news, meetings, California, and catch up!

I'm back from California!  And I must say, I'm missing the warm weather already... lol!  But I missed my kids even more so, I guess I'll deal with the cold ;-)

The trip went fantastically!  I really had a blast with my husband, bumming on the beach, visiting Universal Studio's, and meeting with Kami Garcia, Mark Morgan, and Brett Hudson!  The meeting went fantastic, better than I could have even imagined.  These guys are amazing and I am beyond stoked for what is to come in the next year+.

My husband, Kami Garcia, Me, Mark Morgan, and Brett Hudson

I just wanted to quickly share a few things with you relating to the whole exciting movie deal business.  This was an article from The Film Stage, and it totally just made my day!

Feature Adaptation Planned For Keary Taylor’s ‘Eden’; Described as ‘Hunger Games’ Meets ‘Terminator

Posted by Amanda Waltz, on December 16, 2011 at 3:45 pm

The success of Suzanne Collins’ young adult fantasy series The Hunger Games, as well as the highly anticipated March release of its film adaptation, has the industry clamoring to cash in on the newest teen pop culture obsession: strong-willed dystopian heroines.


It was announced this week that the independent production company Kerry, Kimmel and Pollack (KK&P) purchased the film rights to the post-apocalyptic novel Eden by Keary Taylor. The story follows Eve (of course), a teenage girl struggling unravel the secrets of her past in a futuristic world where all but two percent of the human population was wiped out by killer robots. The similarities to Collins’s literary hit seem to end with the female protagonist, but that hasn’t stopped it from being marketed as a “cross between The Hunger Games and The Terminator.” [Variety]


As if it couldn’t be more primed to become the next teen sensation, Mark Morgan, who helped bring such adolescent literature as the Twilight series and Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief to the big screen, is producing. Brett Hudson, Michael Pollack and “Beautiful Creatures” series co-author, Kami Garcia, have also been tapped to produce, but no word yet on possible choices to pen and direct the film.


Has the teen sci-fi/fantasy craze hit its peak? Will young audiences embrace Eden?  (source)


How cool is that?!  "As if it couldn't be more primed to become the next teen sensation"... that is just way too awesome.

Here's a few more online articles about it:

HERE

HERE

HERE

And HERE

Just in case you missed the announcement on Variety.com, here's the screen shot of the announcement:

Get EDEN on Amazon or Barnes and Noble

So yeah!  Lots and lots of exciting things going on!  I feel so distracted lately and I can't seem to make myself focus on much of anything else, lol.  Thank you all again for all of your support!  You've all been amazing!  I'll be playing catch up on everything over the next few days so if it takes me a bit to respond to comments/emails/tweets, etc, hang tight while I catch up on things! :-)

"KK&P Lands Film Rights to 'EDEN'!"

So, I kind of hinted and some way-beyond-exciting things that were happening about a month ago on Facebook, but I just couldn't talk about it. Well, now I can!

Remember, back a few months ago when I posted this picture, titled "A Girl Can Dream, Right?", a project I made out of boredom...

This just came out today on Variety.com.  The official link is HERE.

KK&P lands pic rights to 'Eden'

Dystopian thriller to be based on Keary Taylor novel
By JEFF SNEIDER


Independent financier and production company Kerry, Kimmel and Pollack has acquired rights to Keary Taylor's novel "Eden," a dystopian thriller described as a cross between "The Hunger Games" and "The Terminator."


Story follows Eve, a teenage girl living in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity is on the brink of extinction and robots that were created to serve humans have turned against them. As Eve struggles to fight the Fallen and help her friends find safety, she must choose between a boy she has always trusted and one who holds the secrets to her past.


"Eden" will be produced by Mark Morgan ("The Twilight Saga"), Kami Garcia (the "Beautiful Creatures" series), Brett Hudson ("Fast Flash to Bang Time") and Michael Pollack ("Black Forest").


KK&P, which recently acquired feature film and TV rights to pop culture guru Caprice Crane's novel "How to Be a Hater," is currently in pre-production on the W. Peter Illif-scripted psychological thriller "Fast Flash to Bang Time."

Holy freaking cow!!! You guys have no idea how excited I am about this!!!!! My husband and I are actually flying out to California on Friday to go meet with Mark Morgan and Kami Garcia. How amazing is that?! Meeting the producer of the Twilight movies and a NYT bestselling author of some seriously fantastic books!

(Note: The actor's I put in my picture above probably won't have anything to do with my movie, who knows... and honestly I have NO idea when it would actually be released)

So if you feel like it, share the news! This is pretty exciting, especially considering that I am a self-published author who was told "no" by more than 100 literary agents between all of my books. And you know what? KK&P wasn't the only production company in Hollywood to contact me ;-) This could be really big news in the self-publishing world.

So never give up on your dreams people! Amazing things can happen if you believe in yourself enough!

Thank you all so much for your support! It really does mean the world to me.

Wasting Time

I've really, really been missing the world of Eden lately.  I really sank myself into Eve, Avian, and West's world and it's been hard being out of it again.  So to put myself back in it just a little bit I've been wasting time today with fake covers ;)

Don't worry, I'm not planning to replace my amazing eye cover, just needed to clear my head today with a little graphic design!

Eden Kindle Review Copies

Hey guys!  I'm offering up some EDEN Kindle review copies, "gifting" them I suppose as I will be sending them through Amazon.  So if you have a Kindle or a Kindle app and have a blog you post reviews on, fill out the form and I'll send a copy your way!

FORM

Take care all!

My Sarah and Royce Cast Picks (EDEN)

Wow, it's been forever since I've done a post!  Sorry about that!

So to wrap up my EDEN cast picks I have Sarah and Royce for you!  Sarah is Avian's younger sister and has been like a sister to Eve ever since she showed up in Eden.  She's the caring type who'd take in anyone who needed taking care of, she's a tender-hearted person.  My cast pick for Sarah would be Erica Durance from Smallville.

Up next is Royce.  You don't meet Royce until the last third or so of Eden but he's an important character.  Without giving too much away if you haven't read Eden yet, Royce is the leader of another group of survivors.  He's ex-military with a background in weapon's development.  He doesn't take any crap and he's a natural born leader.  My cast pick for Royce would be Eric Dane from Grey's Anatomy.

What about you?  Who would you pick to play Sarah and Royce?

My Bill and Graye Cast Picks (EDEN)

I'm going to do two of my cast picks today, since the two are kind of always together in Eden.

Let me introduce you to Bill and Graye.  They're both always a part of Eve's scouting and raiding team.  They're the best protector's Eden's got, aside from Eve of course ;)  The two of them are like family to Eve, the brother's she never had.  They've got each other's backs no matter what.

First up is Bill.  He's the tough silent type who traveled across the country by himself after the world Fell to the infection.  He keeps his past quiet, doesn't talk about where he came from, and despite his years in Eden, no one really knows much about him.  My cast pick for Bill would be Jason Statham from the Transporter movies.

Next up is Graye, Eve's other partner in war and protection.  He's the type that just might blow up at any moment, who keeps everything bottled up inside until he explodes.  Despite his  young age, he lost his wife and child to the Fall, he was the only survivor.  Some in Eden might think of him as selfish, but Eve starts to realize that he's just trying to take something back from the world that took everything away from him.  My cast pick would be Kellan Lutz from, well, Twilight, lol.

What about you?  Who would be your Bill or Graye cast picks?