A Conversation with Autistic Author – Jonathan Mitchell

I’ve known Jonathan for over two years now after first meeting him the the Internet Writers Workshop. Along the way, I’ve learned so many things about autism and the great divide between the doctors and scientists who want to control and possibly eliminate the condition in future generations. Jonathan has written a very good novel that outshines more than a few authors without his assorted dilemmas. I encourage everyone who has an autistic friend or relative to join his blog, like him on Facebook, and buy his book – The Mu Rhythm Bluff.

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Now, on with the interview~~~~

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Hi Jonathan. Thanks for dropping by. Have a seat and get ready for my first question. You’re an autistic man who’s written a novel about a poker-playing autistic man given a new lease on life with an experimental procedure. How close does your main protagonist, Drake Dumas resemble you?

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Thanks for interviewing me, John. As far as Drake Dumas goes, he’s quite a bit like me. Except I’ve always attempted to control my gambling and I’ve never gambled money I couldn’t afford to lose. I went to one GA meeting to check it out, but not as a regular attendee.

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I know you’re a big movie fan. What’s the last three movies you’ve seen that you would recommend to a friend or acquaintance?

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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was a good one I just saw. A Clockwork Orange and The French Connection were very good, but those were from my younger days.

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You’re a huge proponent of the anti-neurodiversity opinion toward Autism. Can you tell us why you believe this way over the many physicians and psychologists who endorse it?

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I believe autism is a brain disease that is in need of a cure for people, and their parents who want it. It’s not an alternative way of brain wiring. Most members of the neurodiversity movement have autism that’s very mild and I don’t think they understand the problems that most people on the lower end of the spectrum face.

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Do you prefer gambling in a real live casino, or an online one?

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I like live action and being able to interact in person with the other players. Besides, since I wrote “The Mu Rhythm Bluff” the federal government has enacted legislation, outlawing online poker. I think there was something where the states could legalize it, like in Nevada and Delaware and maybe one other state, but it is now illegal in California and most other parts of the U.S., but the online poker sites still operate in other countries. There is a push to re-legalize it, and I suspect sometime in the next few years online poker will be legal again.

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Can you tell my audience the two biggest misconceptions when it comes to autistic people?

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That we have all these gifts and superior abilities that compensate for the handicaps. Another one is that most of us are unemotional and have no sense of humor. I pride myself on my sense of humor and I think I’ve attempted to show it in “The Mu Rhythm Bluff” or did the best I could.

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You’ve lived in California, mostly in L.A., all your life. If you could move to any location on earth, where would it be?

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Wherever there’s a 10:1 ratio of females to males who like my type of guy.

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Besides you, I’ve known several autistic people over my lifetime. Are there different groupings and what percentage could be called functioning members of society?

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Yes, many different groups and probably 40% are able to interact successfully with friends or co-workers. You might not have heard the cliché “If you’ve met one autistic you’ve met one autistic”, but it seems to ring true from my experience.

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Can you describe yourself in three separate one word answers?

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Kind, Humorous, and Creative.

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Thanks for dropping by, Jonathan. 

Now, go ahead and check out his debut novel and be sure to follow his blog. His posts are quite interesting.

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THE MU-RHYTHM BLUFF

SYNOPSIS — Some people are lucky at cards. Others are lucky at love. Drake Dumas is autistic and neither. He’s a 49-year-old virgin who loves to play poker and usually loses. He finds out about an experiment involving brain wave training and a revolutionary technique called Transcranial magnetic stimulation in order to help mitigate his autism. Though it does not seem to help his autism, right after the treatment he finds himself a genius at poker, consistently winning and able to read other players due to charged up “mirror neurons”, brain cells that intuit the actions and intentions of others, found to be deficient in autistic people. His luck also changes with women. However, whenever he seems to connect sexually with a woman, he loses his poker abilities. There does seem some truth in the old saying lucky at cards, unlucky at love for Drake. However, can having good poker skills entail danger for Drake. He encounters a beguiling journalist, interested in his talents, but can her knowledge and interest in Drake be threatening?

Drake must find a way to keep his poker abilities intact. He faces all of these challenges. In the process he will learn something about his autism, his attitudes toward it and love.

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BUY LINK —  http://www.amazon.com/Mu-Rhythm-Bluff-Jonathan-Mitchell-ebook/dp/B00BQN84GM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406323062&sr=1-1&keywords=mu-rhythm+bluff

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My Review ~~~

Texas Hold ‘Em – Autistic Style This review is from: The Mu Rhythm Bluff (Kindle Edition)

I was given an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Drake Dumas is a functioning autistic man with two dreams in his life – to have sex and to win the World Series of Poker. Like his love life, Drake failed at poker until he finds a scientist who manages to reshape his mu rhythms in a way that makes him excel at poker. The reader follows Drake through the high and lows of his life as a professional and a lover, good and bad. After his success catches the curiosity of a seedy gangster, Drake finds himself in circumstances that force him to rethink his non-violent tendencies in order to stay alive.

On a personal note, the author of the novel is similar to Drake Dumas. Mr. Mitchell is a highly functioning autistic who has shaped a novel that has its faults, but is still better than many books being self-published by mentally unchallenged individuals. Saying that, this is a novel that will hold your interest, is cohesive, and takes you into the life of an autistic man with his prose and characters. Four Stars.

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LINKS ~~~~~~

Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.mitchell.370?fref=ts

Blog — http://www.jonathans-stories.com/index.html