Tag Archives: autistic

Autism characters in books

There is a growing number of autistic characters found in popular movies, television and fiction. These characters are of varying realism and accuracy in their representation of autistic children. The goal of the piece and its target audience affects the autism character in books.

Autistic Characters
Autistic Characters in Fiction

Fortune on the Spectrum is a work of fiction in which the main character lives and succeeds on the autism spectrum.  Being autistic is both a help and a hindrance to his life covering birth to young adulthood.

When it comes to characters in books and other fictional media, the experience of the writers will vary a great deal. Therefore, in my case autism is something that I am deeply familiar with and integrate into my novels.  Of course there are artistic liberties taken along with autistic liberties.

Autistic kids in books

Mark Ferdinand lives on the South Texas coast with his wife, daughter and son. Fishing the surf, hunting, gardening, carving, auto and home repair occupy his spare time. Most importantly he has written on the topic of autism spectrum disorder from a father’s perspective in parenting articles and in other non-fiction venues. Having limited typical communication skills, his son introduced Mark to new ways of interpreting his special needs and aspirations. As his son grew older Mark became fascinated by the story potential within these amazing children. This prompted the creation of a dynamic adventure story focusing on a character with autism. Corpus Christi author and Texas author Mark Ferdinand. Mark writes novels with autistic characters, and Texas fiction.

New non-fiction title “You’re Gonna’ Get Bit!  coming soon. For those like the creepy crawly reptiles and amphibians. Fun tales from amateur fun to professional pitfalls.

Books by Mark Ferdinand
Books by Mark Ferdinand

Mark’s titles are available in both paperback and Kindle on Amazon. Visit his Amazon author bio page here: Mark Ferdinand

FISHING AND AUTISM

Me and my son finally went out to the beach for the first time in the 2015 season. The water was warm enough to swim in for him and warm enough to attract a few fish to me and my 12-foot rod setup.

We did not catch anything impressive or exotic but it was great to be out on the water again. Some fishing needs to be done before the sargassum season begins when more seaweed is caught than fish at times.

The gulf whiting were biting and at one point my son pulled in a double hookup! He was not as excited about it as I was but such can be the case with fishing and autism. I was able to put together a nice video summarizing the outing.

Son with autism and I back out on the kayak

It’s spring. It’s warming up. It’s time for new adventures!

Spring has arrived and so has warmer weather. It was not warm enough to swim, but a great day for getting out on the water. We have a large kayak with an electric motor that gets us around the local waters nicely. I can be out for hours with this setup, but with my son along I play it a bit safer to not risk running out the battery.

As usual I promote my book, “Fortune on the Spectrum”. It’s an adventure novel with the main character on the autism spectrum. If you can put up with my nonsense, thank you for watching…

Novel with main character with autism

Fortune on the Spectrum is an adventure novel. It is an AUTISM adventure novel with the main character living on the autism spectrum. Denny’s challenges in relating with society stem from the same qualities that made him the youngest self-made millionaire in Texas history.

Novel who's main character has autism
Book cover for Fortune on the Spectrum

Fortune on the Spectrum is available in both paperback and Kindle format. A unique and captivating read with an unlikely hero.

 

Giving my son with autism a haircut

My son has autism and is good at getting his own hair ready before school, unless it gets too long. He is pretty cooperative with getting his hair cut if I do it. He gets a bit tired of it toward the end of the process and the trimming part can be sketchy.

I have not tried bringing him to an actual barber shop and have no need to test that so far. We are pretty self-sufficient at our house.

Here is the video of his latest haircut…

Giving my son with autism a haircut