Author of Facebook Story Speaks in Portsmouth

Ben Mezrich doesn't consider himself a rock star. But after two of his books were made into movies – and with a third soon to follow – he kind of is.

The author’s whirlwind book tour brought him to Portsmouth on Thursday night, where he sat for a Q&A with New Hampshire Public Radio’s Virginia Prescott on the Music Hall stage, which has hosted its share of real rock stars over the years.

“It has been a really wild ride for me,” Mezrich said.

Mezrich is best known for writing “The Accidental Billionaires,” the story of the founding of Facebook that was made into the Oscar-winning movie “The Social Network.” His previous book, “Bringing Down the House,” about a group of card-counting MIT students, was also optioned by Hollywood and turned into the feature film “21.” His latest work, “Sex On the Moon,” has already been scooped up by the same team that produced “The Social Network.”

Though many of the questions on Thursday focused on his controversial story of Facebook, Mezrich also spoke in depth about the subject of his latest book.

It’s interesting that Mezrich’s success has come in the non-fiction genre, as he said he “hated non-fiction” growing up. He loved TV – especially “Saved By the Bell” - but his father wouldn’t let him watch television until he had read two books each week. And thus began his love of literature.

Mezrich’s story should give hope to writers everywhere. After college, he said he wrote numerous novels, which were “rejected by everyone.”

So when he wandered into a Boston bar one night and started talking with a group of MIT students carrying wads of cash, he was intrigued. It turned out they had been using the art of card counting to beat the big casinos.

This was exactly the type of gritty, true-life story Mezrich had been searching for.

He went to Vegas with the so-called "MIT blackjack team," and quickly became part of their world.

“This was better than all the trash I had been writing,” he said. “It just happened to be true.”

Mezrich said he stumbled onto the Facebook story in a similar fashion. He got an email from a Harvard senior who claimed that his best friend had cofounded Facebook. That person turned out to be Eduardo Saverin, one of the main characters in “The Accidental Billionaires.”

His new book, Mezrich said, “came just as accidentally as the other two.” He got a call from some people who were friends with Thad Roberts, who had just gotten out of prison after serving a 7 ½ year sentence for stealing moon rocks from NASA.

Roberts, it turned out, had been a college co-op at NASA when he broke into a lab and stole the precious rocks in an effort to impress a girl. And almost no one had written anything about the caper.

“This story was completely covered up by NASA,” Mezrich said.

That’s part of what intrigued the author about the story. He said he looks for stories that haven’t been told by other people. As a self-proclaimed geek, Mezrich said he also loves the stories “where it’s geek to rock star.

“I live vicariously through these stories – I want to be a part of these stories,” he said.

Given the success of “The Accidental Billionaires,” Mezrich said he now gets about 20 to 30 book pitches a week – some of them via Twitter.

“Anytime a college kid pulls off a heist now, I get a phone call,” he said. The woman who received inappropriate texts from Brett Favre, Julian Assange of WikiLeaks, and the alleged Elliot Spitzer madam all approached him about telling their stories, but he turned them down. The stories, he said, had already been written to death.

Mezrich said he’s excited for "Sex On the Moon" to be made into a film. He’s not sure yet who will play the protagonist, but said he’d be happy with Justin Timberlake, Robert Pattinson or Shia LeBoeuf.

“Whoever it is will be awesome,” he said.

Mezrich was also extremely complimentary of the Music Hall on Thursday.

“This is really the coolest gig I’ve done,” he said. “This theater is awesome.”

Upcoming appearances by writers at the Music Hall and its sister space the Music Hall Loft include Richard Harvell on July 27, Stephen Greenblatt on Sept. 27, Chris Bohjalian on Oct. 6, and Chuck Palahniuk on Nov. 3.