As many of those who have followed me over the years know, about seven years ago, I self-published a novel "The Mu Rhythm Bluff" on Amazon. I hoped I could use my autism as a gimmick to promote it. However, you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men. It basically went nowhere and it sold about 250 copies, though seven years later, I still sell some copies from time to time.
Not only did the gimmick not work the way I wanted it to, but now autistic novelists may soon be a dime a dozen. Madeleine Ryan, the Australian writer who recently published an article in the New York Times telling parents that their autistic child is perfect has a novel published by a major house that will be released next month. Helen Hoang who is married with children and diagnosed with autism at age 34 has stated that her autism is so mild that it does not even feel like a disability. Her novels have been commercially successful and for a brief time one of her novels was in the top 100 in Amazon's kindle store.
I gave up on trying to promote it a while ago, but I suppose most novels (even those published by a major house) have a shelf life of less than seven years.
I recently purchased a web cam and have been making some videos to test it out. Just now I made one of my reading from the beginning of "The Mu Rhythm Bluff". If anyone is interested in purchasing the novel, either kindle or paperback, the link to do so is at the top of my blog, featuring the artwork of my talented cover artist Liz Ingersoll. I've decided to post the video in this blog enjoy:
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15 comments:
Hi Jon, long time follower, first time commenter to the gadfly blog. I hope you get more intereai and sales for the mu rhythm bluff. I am proud of my copy and that you autographed the book.
I bought a copy of the book, though I have barely started reading it, partly because I fear what I might read, (matters of autism and sex are deeply upsetting to me). I discovered this blog a month or two ago and it has become an addiction. All I want to do all day long sometimes is read constantly about how awful autism is, here and on some other sites.
I'm low functioning as shit, 26 years old, failed college, never had a job or girlfriend, can't drive, mum does everything for me. Every other week I beg her to kill me and I mean it. Who the fuck are these people who have what I have (diagnosed Aspergers) and have PHDs and wives and kids? I don't know what they have but what I have is a living hell. Cure for autism? Try euthanasia. That would be just fine for me.
Let me know if any of you wouldn't mind talking about autism with me. I have no contact with fellow sufferers. I need to talk to someone other than my mother or counselor. We can talk right here on this comments section if Johnathan is OK with that.
I wouldn't mind, but probably better to do in an email. My email address is jmitch955@aol.com
I can relate. Life has on the been kind of hellish.
To anonymous
We can measure the impact of this farce by seeing people's reaction to revealing one's condition to others. People don't sympathize with autistic people, and it's mostly not because they are afraid, nay, they want to celebrate it.
But if we form our identity around it, they will get annoyed and think our abnormal behaviors are character defects we embrace, it won't cross their mind we hate this disease as much as they do.
The world isn't the movie or tv show where an autistic person wishes to be normal but learns to accept it by the end of the story and gets the prize, all end up worse off at the end in real life.
Look at this fake Twitter profile of Phil Gluyas, LMAO: https://twitter.com/OhMonica00
My first thought when I heard you were trying to get this published was to try Jessica Kingsley(if you haven't tried that already) , but perhaps they too have sold out to the " Autism is beautiful" crowd and wouldn't be interested in hearing your perspective.
It seems anyone willing to sugar coat or put a " positive spin" on life with autism is able to get their work published even if it is total garbage. For example, I remember years ago, coming across a book by the name of ' Autism and the God connection' written by some Guy claiming to have Asperger's. It was one of the most utterly ridiculous pieces of trash that I have ever held in my hands, yet somehow someone was still willing to publish it (despite the fact that much of the book centered around statements supposedly made via facilitated communication, which has been conclusively debunked). It seem s more realistic portrayals of life with the condition unfortunately tend to be less successful.
Sam W
Jessica Kingsley rarely publishes fiction. I met Jessica herself at an autism conference and asked her about publishing fiction (before I completed "the mu rhythm bluff") and she said she lost money on some fiction she published so she rarely publishes fiction, so her company is not a good place to send a novel to. However, I've also written a non-fiction book about the ND movement and sent it to them and they turned it down
You're probably right, they're another org that has largely sold out to ND and are likely to publish mostly ND based things
What irks me about ND is this: These people are the same people who want mental disorders like depression and bipolar to be accurately represented in fiction, but when it comes to autism, they want it to be portrayed as "just a difference". They don't want the bad reality, with the mental disabilities and the diarrhea to ever be shown, because then "that's ableist".
Thanks for your blog. I haven't read all of your posts, and I'm not sure if I agree with everything, but I appreciate your honesty.
(I've been diagnosed myself at a young age, have doubted my diagnosis as my symptoms was never really consistent. So my diagnosis might very well be a misdiagnosis, but I'm unhappy with my symptoms, and I would love to be cured from them, and be 100 % healthy and well functioning)
Ironically I have always felt alienated from the autism movement and autism communities, as it seems like a) you should view autism as the absolute core of your being, and an explanation to absolutely every trait, action or interest and b) you're supposed to enjoy it, don't feel lumbered by the symptoms, and you should NEVER want to be non-autistic.
In fact, many of those "autism communities" seems fairly narrow minded and non-inclusive to me.
I read the •The Mu Rhythm Bluff• close to when the book was released and thought it was good.
Hi Jonathan, I just stumbled across your blog. Like many other commenters here I have also been diagnosed with ASD and ADHD.
Thank you for being one of the sole voices of truth in this new "neurodiversity" movement. Truth to be told, I also never felt at home with this the bullshit positivity about how ASD is now a "superpower".
I was diagnosed with autism late, never had any speech delays or special ed classes. EVEN THEN, it has absolutely crippled my life. I do truly think autism should be thought of as a "terminal illness".
Imagine my surprise when I brought up my desire for a cure for my autism in these online ND circles, and I was called a "bigot, Nazi" and that I was promoting genocide. Truly these ND supporters are insane.
I know this blog has not updated in a long time, but I hope you will return to it in the future. It has brought me comfort that at least someone else out there understands what a disability autism is, and is doing what they can to fight it. Thank you for what you have done, Jonathan.
I am disgusted by all those wannabe so called autistic people who lead normal lives. It was once considered rare and now has turned inti social validation for freaks who treat peoole poirly. Asperger himself calked it a personality disorder. Kanner referenced biogenic, organic neurological flaws that all these freaks just don’t get. Heritable Prosopagnosia ok but not the intellectually disabled that make up 5 %. Stop saying It’s genetic w/o proper sources. Didn’t Kanner consider special interests and sensitivities as schizophrenic phenomena described by Bergman, Escolona, Robinson & Vitale respectively in his 1965 award acceptance speech about schizophrenia. Didn’t he fear it become a fashion as Krevelen pointed out? Losers who were bullied should be ruling out autism.
I think we anti-nd autistics who suffer the most from autism should find a new label to differentiate from them and make it clear that there is no « autism community » (autism isn’t a culture).
Autistics who turn to ND are those who suffer the least from it. Often ,but not always, because they have lesser symtoms or compensate with other qualities.
Any idea of a label?
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