Latest news: I've become acquainted with a skilled new writer, Alexei Maxim Russell, who is in the final editing phases of a novel called "TRUEMAN BRADLEY - ASPY DETECTIVE." If you'd like to find out more about this project, go to:
www.truemanbradley.com
From the site, you might get the idea that it's a comic or a graphic novel, but that's just an artistic touch, drawing on the main character's fondness for comic book detectives. In fact it's a real, approximately 400-page novel, with no pictures, but lots of wonderful dialogue and characterization. This guy is great at capturing the anguish of a man with Asperger's Syndrome who has great talent and grand dreams he wants to realize, but who has yet to overcome his confusion about the behavior of humans and the use of language.
The premise of the book is outlandish but still theoretically possible: the main character devises a sort of Unified Field Equation of crime-solving, based on records of crimes throughout history. It's highly reliable at identifying perpetrators, but on an emotional level, the man who created the equation doesn't truly understand the variables he's studying, the details of human life that motivate crimes and aid in solving them. In his attempts to pitch his research to the police force, he comes up against so many heart-wrenching exchanges that reading the book is something of an emotional adventure. Here's one little snippet:
I examined her face and clothing and tried to memorize every detail. I was born with such a mind for detail, that I can concentrate on something or somebody for a few seconds, and remember every little detail of it, for months.
"I can see that you eat a lot of baloney." I said.
"What?" she asked.
"And you eat it while sitting in a chair." I said, "The stains on the lap of your dress are the kind made by greasy meats. You've dropped baloney in your lap many times. The dress was washed many times, but washing doesn't completely remove the oil stains. I've seen meat stains before and I remember how they look. I count 21 meat stains and your breath smells like baloney. Because all your stains are exactly the same diameter, they are probably all caused by the exact same kind of sliced meat. So, I can guess that you eat a lot of baloney, sitting in a chair, and drop it in your lap."
Her eyes opened wide and she silently stared at me.
"I can recognize the amazement on your face." I said, "Does that mean I'm right? Usually, if I'm wrong, people don't get amazed like that. I must be right. Now you see what kind of skills of perception I have? I could be a great detective."
Mrs Levi hid her face in her hands and moved quickly to the door. I was puzzled why she was leaving so suddenly. I had been speaking of baloney, so I thought perhaps my talk of greasy meats had made her hungry and she was going to eat.
"Enjoy your baloney!" I said.
Her eyes opened wider and her mouth opened. Tears formed in her eyes and she ran from my room.
"What's wrong?" I asked, but she was gone.
The writing style is very simple, straightforward language-- in keeping with the thought processes of the protagonist-- but the plot twists are complex and interesting, and fit together well. That is something with which I'm having a bit of trouble in my own new science fiction novel, and so I admire it when I see it well done. Likewise for the well-defined speech patterns of the individual characters.
So anyway-- if you'd like to ask Mr. Russell any questions about the book, or give him any advice about editing and publishing it, go check out his website!
That's all for today.
