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(Brought to you by kat impatientreader.com) Lou is an unusual guy: he's a high-functioning autistic born just early enough in this near-future United States that he missed the opportunity to have his condition genetically corrected in the womb. Instead, with great determination and strength of character, he has painstakingly learned how to fake all the tiny little details of "being normal." He knows which pleasantries to say and when to say them. He forces himself to maintain eye contact and even to shake hands. He tries to inject warmth into his emotionless tone. The complications of his autism are obvious and legion. The good part is the unique way that he sees the world. He loves classical music and is attuned to its intricacies and vibrations in a way that normal-functioning people are not. He discerns highly subtle nuances in patterns and hues that most people miss. And he has a piercingly intelligent and objective view on the world and its baffling human interactions that opens a fascinating window to us readers through his unique first-person narrative. When the novel opens, Lou has carved himself out a stable, good life. He works with other autistics in a special pattern-recognition division in a pharmaceutical company. He earns a good paycheck, which enables him to have his own apartment, his own car, and an independent life aside from a counselor who visits him on a yearly basis. He belongs to a fencing club and, through long and obsessive practice, has become very good at this sport of balance and flexibility which does not come naturally to him. Through the club, he has even made friends who are not autistic, and he can hold his own in their mutual interactions. Finally, he has fallen in love with someone at his fencing club: a non-autistic woman named Marjory. She barely knows him, and he realizes that his feelings for her will probably never be reciprocated. So he must adore her from afar. Aside from a relationship with Marjory, the thing that Lou would most love would be an opportunity to go into the space exploration program. But as an autistic, he would never be considered for training. But then an event occurs with the power to change Lou's life forever: an experimental treatment becomes available that could cure autism. No one knows the side-effects or if the treatment will work. But the potential results hold amazing promise. Unfortunately, a new supervisor at the pharmaceutical company starts pressuring Lou and his autistic coworkers to sign up for the experimental treatment. The hostile supervisor claims that they will save money removing the extra-supportive environment that the autistics need in order to function on the job. Much pressure builds up on Lou and his apprehensive coworkers to turn themselves into research subjects. Aside from expecting them to risk unknown side effects, the higher-ups are asking the autistics to give up the good side of autism: the keenly observant viewpoints and amazing sensory perceptiveness that make Lou and his coworkers the unique people that they are. They face losing their personalities and being remade from the ground up. But the promise of space exploration …. Lou must decide what to do as office politics grow lethal and his own heart leans in contradictory directions. The Speed of Dark is a fascinating and deeply empathic novel from a seasoned science-fiction writer who is also the mother of an autistic son. The Speed of Dark is available on Amazon through this link:
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Noteworthy Links: Wonderquest - Science Q/A! The Connection - Tech blog! Author site - John the Eunuch Historical Mystery series, Cozy Mystery List for all your cozy mystery needs, Obsidian Bookshelf - reviews of gay-themed fiction. |
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