The Story is About   +  novel

Andrew Auseon

Andrew Auseon is a writer of novels for young people, and a designer of video games. He holds a B.A. from Ohio University and a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults from the prestigious Vermont College.

He lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife, Sarah Zogby, and their two daughters.

Books:

• Funny Little Monkey (2006)
• Jo-Jo and the Fiendish Lot (2009)
• Alienated (2009)
• Freak Magnet (2010)

In this he said / she said tale of love, loss, and lucky signs, two young strangers at a crossroads in their lives become friends by happy accident (okay, maybe some harmless stalking is involved – and not by the person you think!) and forever change each other.

Hi! I’m Andrew, and I’m dropping by the Story Siren as part of the blog tour for my new novel, Freak Magnet, a love story. It’s a romance set in our real world, which means that for every dull, trudging step in the routine there’s another moment so unpredictable that it feels… well, magical. And, of course, Freak Magnet is a tale inspired by actual events. What good story isn’t? :)

When I relocated to Washington, D.C. a little over ten years ago, I didn’t know what to expect. Sure, I’d taken the class trips and seen the robotic U.S. presidents (maybe that was Disney World), and, like a good American, I’d studied the landmarks in my unnecessarily heavy school textbooks; but when it came to where to work, where to live, or where to find a social life, I was clueless.

That’s where Sarah came in. She was why I moved. And she was amazing.

Over the next few months, Sarah and I fell in love. There was nothing very extraordinary about what we did, or where we went. Our nights were a whirl of friends, new and old, of restaurants and bars that have long since closed, of strip mall pharmacies, where we might stop to buy a bottle of water, or to withdraw money from a stained and dented ATM. Friends were made, loves were lost, fights broke out, and many games of pool were played, as the clock wound down to morning. Wherever we went, Sarah and I were together. And despite the hugeness of our growing emotions, we rarely even left our neighborhood. Magic usually happens within a mile of where you live.

I wrote Freak Magnet because I wanted to recapture that magic, the magic of not knowing what will happen, but being excited to find out. The main characters—Charlie and Gloria—are both stuck in very busy lives complicated with tragedy; but what they’re really stuck in is the past, where they’ve lost their way thanks to events that have come and gone and left them scarred.

One day, Charlie and Gloria meet. The meeting is unlike any experience they’ve had before, and it has them wondering about what else is out there, beyond what’s become their daily lives. Freak Magnet is about their journey, as they slip free of the past and get caught in each other’s orbits. For a few special weeks over the summer, Charlie and Gloria get lost in the enormity of their feelings, all while barely leaving the strip mall they both frequent. That’s the story I wanted to tell: a real life romance.

Ever since that long ago spring in Washington, I’ve been enchanted by this notion—that each of our lives really is as full and rich as we perceive it to be, regardless of where we live, who we know, or what we do for a living. Sarah and I lived in the most powerful city in the world. The lights of Georgetown beckoned from across the Potomac River, as did the mansions of Embassy Row, and the glowing, beady red eyes of the Washington Monument. But we didn’t care. Our lives were changing on the street corner across the CVS, or in the parking lot of a video store. Real life is what happens in the corners.

Like Charlie and Gloria, all of us tell our stories in what we do every day. And sometimes those stories take on a life of their own and change who we are, without us ever expecting it.

I really hope you get a chance to read Freak Magnet, and if you do, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks.

I have two signed copies of Freak Magnet up for grabs thanks to Andrew!

Official Contest information:

• to enter, please fill out the form below
• entrants must be 13 years of age or older
• contest deadline is July 31, 2010
• contest open to US residents only!*
• check out my Contest Policy/Privacy Policy