Recently I had a chance to talk to Vancouver, Washington author and musician, Brian Tashima. He created the ‘Joel Suziki Series’ of fiction books, when his son Torin -- who was ten at the time, asked him to write a book.
It was something that he had always wanted to do but never really had the motivation to do it. The more he thought about it, the more he realized it would be a fun project that both he and his son could do – and they went for it.
He started by designing his main character, the protagonist, Joel Suzuki; a young man who plays the guitar and is on the autism spectrum. You see, Brian’s son, Torin is on the spectrum himself, and he wanted the character to reflect the both of them.
Oh, Brian’s also a guitar player, singer, and front man in ‘Second Player Score’, a Vancouver based geek-punk band.
It was also important to Brian that his character’s autism be his source of power, rather than an obstacle he had to overcome, which is common in other books about those on the spectrum.
To get his character development right, he also approached his longtime friend, Karen Krejcha the Executive Director for Autism Empowerment in Vancouver, Washington.
He wanted to make sure that he portrayed his characters properly and respectfully. She also helped him edit each volume.
The book series is planned to have a total of 7 volumes – one for each color of the spectrum…
Clever, huh?
So far, three of the books have been published, with the fourth due out very soon.
The books are available on Amazon, so be sure to get one yourself at the links below:
Volume 1: Secret of the Songshell
Volume 2: Mystery of the Moonfire
Volume 3: Legend of the Loudstone
For more information about the book, go to www.joelsuzuki.com.
To hear some of Brian’s music, go to www.secondplayerscore.com or see their newest single ‘Liberty’s End’ on YouTube.
Full disclosure, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases that may be found on this site.