What's Fresh with Sean Beaudoin's Fade To Blue and Giveaway!

So what is fresh about Sean's Fade to Blue...Let's find out!

Sophie Blue started wearing a black skirt and Midnight Noir lipstick on her last birthday. It was also the day her father disappeared. Or spontaneously combusted. Which is sort of bad timing, since a Popsicle truck with tinted windows has started circling the house.

Kenny Fade is a basketball god. His sneakers cost more than his Jeep. He's the guy all the ladies (and their mommas) want. Bad.

Sophie Blue and Kenny Fade don't have a thing in common. Aside from being reasonably sure they're losing their minds.

Hello Sean, it's great to have you back with us! Please tell us about your latest novel Fade to Blue.

Sean: Hi Kelly. Fade To Blue is my second novel. The release date is Aug. 1st ’09 from Little, Brown.

“Acclaimed author Sean Beaudoin’s wildly innovative novel combines uproarious humor with enough twists to fill a large tube sock. Part thriller, part darkly comic philosophical discussion, and accompanied by a comic book element, Fade To Blue is a whip-smart romp that will keep readers guessing until the last paragraph.”

Could you share a bit about the main character of your book and what makes her unique?

Sean: Sophie Blue wears black lipstick, a short leather skirt, and big black boots. It’s not doing a lot for her popularity. She’s also fairly sure she’s being followed by a possibly demonic ice cream truck. Her dad is missing, her mom is still there but pretty much missing, her best friend fell off the top of a cheerleader pyramid, and her brother recently gained about two hundred pounds for no good reason except rampant eating. Aside from that, she’s not really unique at all.

How did the idea for this novel come about?

Sean: Everyone kept asking if the character Stan from Going Nowhere Faster was really me. I kept answering, mainly since it’s the truth, that Stan is just a character I made up and is not me at all. I decided to write Fade To Blue in such a way that no one would ever ask me if I’m really Sophie Blue.

haha! What do you hope readers will gain from reading this novel?

Sean: When I was sixteen, I was really interested in the meaning of identity. Why did I wear my hair the way I did? Why did I wear certain band shirts and the knees of my jeans cut out. Who was I trying to impress and what was I trying to say? And, mainly, did any of it really matter? But I also felt like there was this sort of oppressive condescension that ideas about identity and the afterlife and metaphysics were best left for adults and adult literature. So, I guess I hope I’ve dealt with these subjects, but in such a way that doesn’t claim to have any answers, just ideas that might spur thoughts.

Thanks for sharing, Sean. Would you like to close with a novel you highly recommend and why?

Sean: Absolutely. I am of the opinion that Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle is the best YA novel ever written. Most people don’t consider him YA at all, but that book got me through any number of the number of bad months of my freshman year.

And thanks to Sean for throwing in a cool copy of Fade To Blue!!! Leave a comment for a chance to win and I'll pick a winner Monday, August 10th. See you then!

Sean Beaudoin is the author of Going Nowhere Faster, Fade To Blue, and You Killed Wesley Payne (Little, Brown-fall, 2010). His stories and articles have appeared in numerous publications, including The San Francisco Chronicle, the Onion, Glimmer Train, Narrative, Opium, Redivider, The New Orleans Review and Barrelhouse. He is currently working on a crime novel. Visit his website, http://www.seanbeaudoin.com.