Trueman Bradley: Aspy Detective

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.

Summertime

It's been in the 80's and unbreathably humid the past few days in Minneapolis, revealing to all confused non-Minnesotans the reason why this supposedly cold northern state is home to the same vampiric insects as equatorial Africa. I have five mosquito bites already. Argh.

But on the brighter (and cooler) side, I invented an orange smoothie the other day. It's incredibly easy to make, and tastes a bit like a Creamsicle and a bit like an Orange Julius. And I'm too lazy to figure out the nutrition information, but since it contains nothing but orange juice and soymilk, it's probably way better for you than it tastes like.

You'll need
4 cups of orange juice (I use Simply Orange original without pulp)
4 cups of vanilla-flavored soymilk (I use Very Vanilla, the extra-vanilla variety from Silk)
An ice cube tray
A blender
A pitcher

Directions:
Mix the orange juice and soymilk in the pitcher.
Pour into the ice cube tray until the tray is full.
Freeze the ice cube tray; refrigerate the leftover liquid.
When cubes are frozen, put them in the blender with enough of the liquid to cover them.
Puree until the mixture is the consistency of a smoothie.
Pour into cups and drink.

Hope that helps cool off someone else's summer. Now I'm gonna go clean the apartment. Later.

Life is OK

Hi everyone! Things are going well. We've been giving a lot of speeches lately-- I guess the economy has been picking up a bit. We've spoken for St. Thomas University, Spring Lake Park High School, Oak Grove Middle School, and some others. I spoke alone in Eden Prairie on a day when John wasn't able to come, and I also had a table to sell my handmade jewelry at the screening of the movie "Autistic License" at Eden Prairie High School.

I've redone my jewelry page, with individual photos of individual items, so that customers know the appearance of the specific piece they're ordering. I'm going to take a break from buying new jewelry supplies for a while, and try to make as much as I can with the leftover supplies I have. I'm going to see how much I can do with hemp cord, since I have a lot of that.

For those who are wondering what's happening with our science fiction novel... we submitted it to Daw, and it was turned down. We're reexamining it to see how we can make the beginning more gripping, and then we'll eventually send it to Baen.

And, guys, I am trying to stop the spamming on this journal, but I don't always have the time lately to delete every junk comment, so I apologize if you have to wade through pages of crap to find any worthwhile replies to my posts. I'll try to find a good way to get it under control soon.

Helping out

For the next 2 months (now through the end of March 2010) I'm going to donate 80% of my profits from selling stuff to Doctors Without Borders to help them with their work in Haiti. This goes for merchandise for my comic Abby and Norma, books of my comic Abby and Norma, and my handmade jewelry as well.

If I could donate proceeds from my book Born on the Wrong Planet, I would, but it's professionally published and I don't get my next royalty check for a while, so I can't run a 2-month campaign for that. When I do get it, though, I'll probably use some of it for charitable purposes, too. I'm just that kind of person.