Author · Adventurer · Veteran
Stories on the page.
Adventures in the world.
Meet Austin
Meet Austin
From the deserts of Egypt to the fjords of NorwaY,
Austin has spent his life collecting adventures. A traveler by nature and a writer by trade - turns out a life of stories makes a great storyteller.
Who is Austin?
Austin Leffel grew up between Colorado and New Mexico. From a young age, a self-described black sheep of the family, he was quieter than most and, often, more drawn to history books than the people around him. He moved at his own pace, toward something he couldn't quite name yet.
He found structure in the Marine Corps, but then challenges in what came after: not the deployment, but coming home. He returned from the Marines carrying emotions he didn't have words for in a culture that told men not to look for them.
What followed was a mental health crisis that brought him to a true breaking point. He decided to turn the hardest chapter of his life into something purposeful by earning a Master of Public Health and saying yes to travel - something that ended up shaping his life in huge ways.
And, he spent years asking himself, “How can people live better?”
The Hard Years > Traveler > Debut Author
Austin had always wanted to write. He just hadn't yet.
Then, in 2018, on a seven-week trip abroad, a stranger asked him a question he didn't have a good answer for: Why haven't you been writing?
So he started.
The thing that fuels his writing, and his life, is something he knows personally…
You can’t change what’s happened.
But you can become the author of your own story, starting now.
THE MYSTIC PAGES
The Mystic Pages was born walking through castle ruins in Europe and sitting on the floor of a 2,000-year-old amphitheater in Croatia, wondering what all of it looked like in its prime.
The story of Eldon, a haunted WWII veteran who discovers a mysterious journal that transports him through time. Named after Austin's grandfather, his hero, and the reason he joined the Marines, Eldon carries the weight of a man who wishes he could change what happened.
He just might get the chance.
A historical fantasy spanning realms, time periods, and the depths of what it means to choose love over survival. The Mystic Pages is the first in a planned five-book series
In the Margins
Country Count
49 (with plans for #50 in the works!)
Favorite writing spot
A café anywhere in a foreign country
core writing memory
Taking notes at the Pyramids & Machu Picchu
inspired by
Tolkien, Dumas, Louis L'Amour, Vincent B. Davis II
Top 3 Fav Countries
Italy, Turkey, Norway
Questions, thoughts, or just want to say hello?
I'd love to hear from you.