A Conversation with Mike Dawson, Author of Freddie & Me - Page 2

At the time I actually was working at Scholastic in a completely unrelated field—I was working as a project manager for their Web division, which is what I still do during the day—and I made friends with some of the editors on the other side of the street. They were the people who pointed me in the direction of that particular literary agent. He looked at the stuff and liked it and felt that people would be interested in buying it. But I want to lower expectations, not raise them. I just hope somebody reads it somewhere. That’s all I want. [laughs]

What was it about Queen and Freddie Mercury that attracted you to them?

It’s interesting because now that people actually are reading the book, it is a question that I am sort of realizing that I don’t have the exact answer to. Queen fans, it’s okay with them—they know, they get it: I like Queen, obviously. Everyone should. And I can’t understand why someone wouldn’t? [laughs] When I started the book, I wasn’t 100% sure how the whole thing would play out and I’m glad that I grew it beyond just sort of me remembering every moment that I sat around enjoying a Queen song, cause that could have gotten a little dull.

What I initially liked about Freddie Mercury as a kid was that he was funny. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the video that I reference in the book—“I Want to Break Free”—the one where he dresses up like a woman?

I’m 9 years old and it is a man with a mustache wearing a dress. What could be funnier? So I just liked that in general. I don’t think that I would have connected to the musicality at that point, but it sort of became my band because I was so into that video. But I think what kept me loyal was that I happened to like singing. I like people with good voices, which is why I like George Michael as well.

The reason that I think that I don’t go so much into the nuts and bolts of why I like Queen in the book is because I feel like throughout the book I’m trying to sort of say that there is another reason for me to be into Queen. When I’m a little kid it is sort of my little identity, my little attention-getting sort of thing; when I’m in high school it is a way for me to, again, get attention. “Oh, he died. I’m so sad.” The reality is that I’m upset because I don’t have a girlfriend. I’m sixteen and I like my friend’s girlfriend. So it is an excuse for me to be all dramatic and teenager-y. So the book itself isn’t just about how I feel about Queen—it is sort of about what I substitute that identity for.

Article Author: Lily Percy

Long before she hit the View Askew WWWboards at the tender age of 16, Lily Percy was a fan-girl of the highest degree. From Capra to Hitchcock, Almodóvar to Crowe, movies always occupied her conscious-and-subconscious mind. …

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