THE PHYSICAL:

Hair: Straight. Medium blonde. Fairly thick. Short (stops before base of neck). Worn trimmed on the sides and shaggy on top, feathered in bangs over his eyebrows and the tops of his ears.

Eyes: Wide-set. On the small side of average. Granny-Smith-apple-green. Downward-angled fairly thick eyebrows that give him a severe expression most of the time.

Nose: Small and turned up.

Mouth: Thin lips. Straight, average teeth.

Skin: Naturally lightly tanned skin, but does not go outside often enough or long enough to get much color.

Face: Sharp chin. High cheekbones. A bit delicate-looking.

Age: By book 5, 21 years old.

Height: Tall (6’4”).

Weight: Fairly thin.

Body: Has gangly limbs and a lean body that looks like it could use some beefing up—definitely a beanpole type. Right-handed.

Ethnicity: Caucasian—claims ancestral roots in the Netherlands and Poland.

Distinguishing features: Spindly hands and feet, pixie-ish features, looks much younger than he is except for his height.

Voice: High for a grown man. New York accent. Laughs in short bursts.

Gestures: Tends to break eye contact with anyone who tries to make it with him. Cocks his head a lot and has this way of making gestures that help others figure out what he is thinking about. His smile is crooked, it pulls up on one side before the other, so if he is only partially amused he’ll smile halfway.

Clothing and style: Doesn’t care about clothes at all. Wears jeans almost all the time, regular unobtrusive tennis shoes, and pocket tee shirts or shirts that he got for free or cheap at work-related software shows or secondhand stores. He is partial to blue and green, but otherwise he doesn’t think about clothes.

THE PERSONAL:

General mood: Generally in a rather let’s-get-going set-on-high mode, excited and alert and optimistic. Has a capacity for depression and sulking, though.

Talents and abilities: Around the end of his teenage years, Max developed a condition where once in a while he would move things without touching them, without noticing it at the time or knowing how to do it. Ivy helped him hone that talent into a low-grade general telekinetic ability, lifting just under ten pounds. Very limited not only by the weight limit but by his lack of dexterity with that ability. Eventually he improves in more ways than one. Mundanely, he’s a wonderful cook and has quick reflexes. Has a literal and technical mind and knows computers very well.

Weaknesses and shortcomings: Somewhat quick temper and occasionally prone to taking digs at himself. Very self-conscious about certain things. Sometimes moves too fast to notice the world flying by.

Interests: Computers, math games, cooking and eating.

Pet peeves: Feeling alone, being confronted (it makes him feel badgered), when other people’s impulsiveness clashes with his own.

Phobias: At the onset of his ability to control his energy, quickly develops a fear of others finding out about it and immediately fearing or hating him.

Eating habits: Eats everything in sight. Especially fond of foods that require condiments and/or special preparation to eat, because he likes a variety of tastes on his plate. Likes gourmet cooking (especially the meats), salads with many ingredients, and ice cream.

Education: Has a high school diploma and dropped out of college a year and a half in, because he already knew what he needed to know to get a good job. His strength is in the maths and computer sciences.

Language abilities: Speaks one language, English. Likes slang. Tends to cut off word endings and use sentences in which he removes the subject from the sentence (like “was goin’ to the store” instead of “I was going to the store”), giving his speech a clipped, unrefined sound.

Occupation: Works exclusively from home on Internet projects for several different companies.

Political affiliation: Mostly, politics baffle him, but he tends to focus on the individual issue rather than the party, so his vote is situation-specific.

Religious beliefs: Does not practice any religion, but has no strong opposition to it. He believes in God but believes there is no way to know what He’s like.

Sexual orientation: Heterosexual and quite interested in women, but not very vocal about it.

Marital status: Single and unattached, which will remain the case until/unless someone comes his way. He does not really consider it important enough to be actively looking for a girlfriend.

Family information: Has a nuclear family that lives in the same general area as he does, with an uncle who lives in the same state.

Friend information: Max has online acquaintances and not many real-life friends—still has a couple college pals but doesn’t see them often because they are still in college and busy. Has a rather close relationship with Ivy now, but more as a mentor than a person who just gets together and hangs out. Is forging an interesting relationship with each member of Handprints.

Other information: Moves very fast all the time unless something is wrong. Does not respond well to having his world rocked.

THE STORY:

Born in Pennsylvania but raised in New York City. Moved around in the Midwest for some of his teen years and then ended up back in New York for college, then dropped out to pursue his computer jobs. After moving out of his parents’ house, sometime in his late teens, Max noticed strange things happening that he couldn’t explain. Usually occurring while he was sleeping, objects in the room with him would break or end up in different places. Since it happened anywhere he slept and he didn’t have pets, he began to wonder if something weird was going on with him, and then he noticed it happening when he was awake. Things were moving without him touching them, only when he was distracted. He couldn’t do it on purpose.

Researching the phenomenon taught him what it was called and brought his attention to the Grant Institute, an organization interested in finding proof of ESP; he decided to follow the directions to apply to satisfy a contract from them, because in return for proof of some ESP ability, he could receive a million dollars.

While he was at the Institute, Max talked with a janitor named Drew, who pretends to be stupid but is actually quite intelligent, using his mentally challenged façade to make others drop their guard. He told Drew about why he was applying and they had a good talk about it. But during the tests they gave him, Max was unable to demonstrate the ability. Even though they let him sleep in a lab a few times, nothing ever happened there, so he was disqualified and sent home without winning the money, ending up just another busted case file in the Grant Institute records.

A couple years later, Ivy called him out of the blue, having won the money herself and having heard about him from Drew. She was looking for others like herself, and since Max was intrigued by her and interested in the possibility of her having an insight on how to master his power, he invited her to visit him. She did so and managed to teach him to get a handle on his ability by showing him that he was already using it to win in skee-ball. He got a basic grasp of it and was disturbed by it, and though he sometimes enjoyed practicing and was excited by the prospect, he was also very alienated by his new power and thought maybe he had gone crazy. It depressed him to see reality turned on its ear, so Ivy attempted to counsel him and even took him to a psychiatrist once. Eventually she created the Handprints group, whose mission was to help people with extraordinary abilities trying to feel at ease in society. Through that organization and Ivy’s personal counseling, Max is getting better both with his self-concept and his telekinetic dexterity.

FAVORITE MAX QUOTES:

“Airplane virgin, huh?” –Book 4, chapter 13

“Well, you think it feels good to know that I could now legitimately join the circus? Not that you can sympathize, but after growing up thinking you’re normal, how do you think it feels?” . . . “Now I can put ‘freak’ on my résumé.” –Book 4, chapter 15

“Damn, Ivy. You sure know how to . . . make sense.” –Book 4, chapter 21

“I do envy you, but at the same time I wouldn’t be you for a million bucks.” –Book 4, chapter 21

“Are we the only ones, Ivy? You and me?” –Book 4, chapter 21

“Human ain’t a disease, get used to it.” –Book 4, chapter 21

“Ivy, in real life solid objects are not supposed to do what you think!” –Book 4, chapter 30