in which angie fangirls over her own novel. like a boss.
When fraternal twins Ben and Charlotte (Charlie) Hawthorne's famous uncle dies, the pair find themselves facing a most unusual bequest: one hundred thousand dollars each, with the only stipulation attached that they must spend the money having an adventure. And so they set out, joined by Charlie's best friend Olivia Nettles, to explore the little known and unusual byways of America, in search of action, the bizarre, and something life-changing. Along the way they find ghosts in Washington, voodoo alive and well in Louisiana, and some unexpected truths about themselves and their family's past.
Weird, USA: A road trip for the modern generation. With Mothmen and werewolves.
BENJAMIN HAWTHORNE | JOHNNY SIMMONS
ARTWORK BY HANNAH JACKSON (sca_tte_rhe_art).
“Okay, so we’ve got-”
“Hold the phone. Ben? Is that a checklist? Seriously? You’re going to be that guy?”
“What’s wrong with being organized?”
“Guys who carry around checklists do not score with chicks, dude. Universal fact.”
Ben’s eyes narrowed. “Is this how you want to start our year together?”
Ben's the responsible one. The dutiful one. The straight-As, respectable-job-holding, polite and clean-cut one. He's always played by the rules, he's never taken risks, and he does, indeed, believe in checklists and schedules. Saying Ben Hawthorne is a nerd would be a bit of an understatement: working at Radio Shack with fellow techies means he's picked up the necessary skills to hack into most computer systems, and he does have the Lord of the Rings movies memorized. A huge fan of the Beatles, Ben has long dreamed of being in a band or playing music for adoring crowds -- if only he could get over that whole introverted, stage-fright issue... But being a shy, responsible nerd doesn't stop him from holding his own with his flashier, more confident twin. And it sure as hell doesn't stop him from facing the creepifying and unsettling encounters with the supernatural on the road. Or from finally going after what he really wants...
(BLESS cloudydaise! Not only was she the first to suggest the actress for Charlie, she also found me a just-about-perfick Ben in terms of nationality and age! Johnny Simmons is probably best known for Jennifer's Body and for playing Young Neil in Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World. He's got the look, he can play the awkwardly endearing dork nicely -- VOILA!)
CHARLIE HAWTHORNE | EMMA STONE
ARTWORK BY HANNAH JACKSON (sca_tte_rhe_art).
“So, why are we here again? Because of a moth festival?” said Charlie, slowing down to match the speed limit posted.
“Not a moth festival,” Ben corrected. “The Mothman festival. There, there’s the tourist center. Pull over here.”
Charlie maneuvered Montague into the diagonal parking space, cut off the engine, and glanced through the front window of the center. “I dunno, Ben. That guy looks like he might want to make you squeal like a piggy.”
“Charlie, seriously,” Ben said with a disgusted look. “Are you going to keep pulling the Deliverance act while we’re in the south?”
“He has a point,” Olivia said. “And it’s not like West Virginia is all that southern, anyway."
“Let me have my small pleasures in life, Livvy,” Charlie said.
While Ben was bringing home English awards and getting his name on the Honor Roll, Charlie was dropping out of school, becoming a mechanic, and doing her best to shock and scandalize her entire family. Swearing like a sailor and covered in tattoos, Charlie is brazen, bold, and just a bit crude -- but Ben and Olivia can't help loving her, anyway. She can be extremely single-minded when it comes to sex and her car Montague, but she's also extremely loyal and never hesitates to speak up or fight on behalf of her friends and brother. When it comes to a challenge, Charlie doesn't hesitate. And when it comes to kicking ass and taking names, she does so with a gusto.
(ALL OF YOU WHO SUGGESTED EMMA (ESPECIALLY SARAH {cloudydaise}, WHO WAS THE FIRST TO), YOU'RE ALL BLOODY GENIUSES. I don't know why I didn't think of it first. Damn, Emma Stone is just so bloody perfect. She could do the sass and snark, she'd look fab as a horny greasemonkey covered with tattoos, and yet she'd still be so goddamned charming and gorgeous that you could forgive her all of the faux paus and slights she's constantly making with her brash words. LOVE IT. PERFECTION. :D)
OLIVIA NETTLES | BRIT MORGAN
ARTWORK BY HANNAH JACKSON (sca_tte_rhe_art).
“Are you going to be okay tonight?”
“Yeah. I think so. God, Charlie, I don’t know. I mean, I’ve had my doubts and my worries for a while now, but we’ve been together for five years. I thought we could work through whatever the past few months have been. I didn’t think it was this bad.”
“Liv, none of this is your fault. Are you listening to me? If John decided he wanted to be Senor Douchebag, that’s his mistake. You deserve someone who’ll stick with you and put the effort in to make things work and won’t just run off when the mood strikes him.”
“Thanks, dear.” Olivia sighed and rubbed a hand over her face.
“Listen to me, okay? I don’t want you to show up at the airport tomorrow all puffy and red from crying because, honey? That son of a bitch doesn’t deserve any tears from you. You are a fierce, independent, intelligent woman.”
“And I deserve some R-E-S-P-E-C-T?” Olivia felt a weary giggle escape her.
Olivia thought her life was going smoothly: she was graduating with her degree, she had a long-term boyfriend, and she had a good idea of what she wanted out of life. But when her boyfriend John abruptly leaves her, she realizes nothing was what it seemed and now she has no idea what she really wants or needs to do. When Charlie suggests she join the cross-country road trip, Liv agrees with hardly a second thought. She just knows she needs to go somewhere, do something, before she lets real life catch up to her again. And so she finds herself living out of an old Monte Carlo and dozens of motel rooms, fighting with Charlie and running from werewolves, finding herself and learning more than she had expected about her oldest friend's brother...
(Yet another casting credit that goes to green_queen -- which was then seconded by corellianjedi, I do believe. Since I'm only now starting to watch The Middleman, and have never seen True Blood, I've actually never seen Brit Morgan in action. But I can say without a doubt that she looks almost exactly like the Olivia Nettles that lives in my brain. Just slap some long skirts on her and put her hair in a braid and VOILA, you have Liv.)
ROBBIE BEECHUM | NICHOLAS HOULT
“I know how to handle myself,” Robbie shrugged nonchalantly. “And being a sensitive has its upsides, too. It’s not all just seeing dead people and having nightmares that come true.”
“Oh? What upside in particular are you referring to?”
“If someone tries to grab me, let’s just say I can make them rethink that decision.”
“Show me,” Charlie demanded obstinately, hands on her hips and feet planted.
Robbie looked at her for a moment, bouncing his pool cue against the peanut shell-strewn floor before he shrugged again and set the cue onto the table. He stepped towards her and wrapped a hand around her arm. “Basically, I just do this.”
It felt as though she’d run into a wall; all of the air whooshed out of her lungs and she rocked backwards, her mind full of stop signs and red lights. Robbie let go of her almost immediately, and suddenly she could breathe and think clearly again.
“What. The. Fuck. Was. That?” she wheezed, raising a shaking hand to massage her throat.
“I can sort of… Project things. Images and emotions, mostly. It’s come in handy a few times, lemme tell you.”
A British transplant, Robbie came to America two years ago with his mother, Tilda, and cousin Danny when Tilda Beechum was offered a very lucrative position at a prestigious New York law firm. Robbie had never considered himself extraordinary, but one rainy summer night everything changed: the car went off the road with a screech of metal, and Robbie watched as Danny bled to death before his eyes. Three days later, as he was preparing for the funeral, he turned to find Danny standing in his doorway. Since that moment, when he realized the accident had unlocked something inside of him and he could now see and hear things others couldn't, Robbie has traveled across the country in search of answers and others like him. And then the dreams started -- dreams about a dark-haired boy and his fair artist girlfriend, and the boy's fiery and tattooed sister... Robbie doesn't know why he can't stop dreaming about the twins and Olivia, or why he's begun hearing a strange man's voice in his ear, but he knows he has to be there for them until they can sort everything out.
DANNY FIELDING | ROBERT SHEEHAN
“I believe you,” Ben said firmly. “I won’t speak for Charlie or Liv, but I believe you.”
“Of course you fucking believe us,” Danny said snidely. “You can bloody see me, can’t you? If I weren’t Casper the Fucking Ghost, would I be able to do this?” With a small jump, Danny folded his legs beneath him Indian-style and floated at least four feet from the ground. “Pretty slick, eh? Took me a couple weeks of practice to get the floating down right.”
“Danny, knock it off,” Robbie said wearily. “He’s such a show off sometimes…”
“Hey, I haven’t had a proper audience in over a year,” Danny complained. “I can’t very well ‘show off’ when you’re the only bloke who’s gonna see it, yeah? And it’s not like you properly appreciate my talents-”
Danny never expected much out of life; probably because everything he ever had was taken away from him. His father walked out when he was a toddler, unable to cope with his mother's increasingly unhinged behavior and descent into mental illness. And then his schizophrenic mother committed suicide, forcing him to leave Ireland and permanently move in with his cousin and aunt. But that was okay, since his happiest summers had been in England with Robbie, who was more of a brother than a cousin. And then America was cool, and it wasn't difficult to make friends -- unlike the more solitary Robbie, Danny had a flair for making friends, and was always the life of the party. He never admitted that he made so many friends in the hope that one of them would point out any tell-tale signs of schizophrenia. Because beneath the loud, exuberant, jovial smiles, Danny lived in fear of developing the disease that destroyed his mother. But one ill-fated rainy night changed everything, and Danny no longer has to worry about schizophrenia. No, now he has to worry about being trapped on earth forever, because not even Danny knows why he's unable to pass on, why he's stuck as little more than a spirit that's bound to Robbie. But perhaps the biggest question that plagues Danny is: what are the strange, creeping shadows that only he can see, and what do they mean for Robbie and their new friends?
....So, if you've never read Weird, USA before, and I've successfully piqued your interest, just mosey over here to start from the beginning. As NaNoWriMo approaches again, be warned: I'll be talking about this novel/these characters/this universe QUITE A LOT. So be prepared to be inundated. :D
EDIT!: Also, be sure to check out The Weird, USA Soundtrack, which covers the first half of the novel. :D