Allen Peppitt
To insanity and beyond...
Superaspiefuturistic - review by Morris Berg 26th August 2020
This is a darkly funny, satirical novel of a POTUS who out-eejits the most idiotic holders of the office. Various imaginary and real enemies are out to wreak havoc, including a neurodiversely supremacist collective and their rivals the Aspie Brotherhood. The sinister Psy-Corps lurks in the background. And the President wants a ride to Mars where he will wear his red shoes…
To find out the fate of the world and how Big Man’s actions and their reverberations transform everything that we thought we knew was real, read this book. It deserves to be a bigger hit than The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Fans of Terry Pratchett will adore it. And at last it gives autistic people the recognition they deserve, which won’t please everybody but will make those on the spectrum feel warm and fuzzy. Anyone who loves a humorous fantasy yarn will enjoy it too. But as
the saying goes, many a true word is spoken in jest, so how prophetic this book is won’t be known until the University of Mars (Faculty of Earth Studies, Hellas Planitia campus) places it on their 2080 English syllabus, perhaps along with Orwell.
Link to Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/SuperAspieFuturistic-Allen-Peppitt-ebook/dp/B0897NRQ9V/
A novel of around 54,000 words.
Hey wise guy, don’t act all surprised.
Of course I screwed the planet.
Not my bad you couldn’t see it coming.
President Barry Indiana Gaylord McMann IV.
Elected by malware with a sense of humour, Barry Indiana Gaylord McMann IV (Big Man) is the President of the United States of America. Margaret Nettleton (Magneto) and Simon Cohen (Cyclops) are two twenty something autistic IT professionals. They live in a warden assisted apartment house in Horsell with similar young people who also have X-Men nicknames and work in IT.
Magneto believes that autistic tribes are destined to rule the world. She announces, on social media, that she will destroy the internet. Magneto’s threat is taken seriously by authorities in Europe and America. Consequently her house is destroyed. Held responsible for this act of aggression, Big Man decides to bury the bad news by unilaterally announcing a manned mission to Mars. With his knee-jerk response, Big Man has captured the mythic imagination of the American public; all past failure is forgotten as Mars 2020 becomes his only re-election policy.
Why this book now?
I have worked in the field of Autism for a number of years. That may sound a bit pompous; in practice, it means I am always learning something new and getting many things wrong. There are no instant experts in this field – every day brings a fresh misunderstanding of what it means to have an ASC. My eldest son has a diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome; I am not that far behind (diagnosed in 2018 after writing the novel).
Here is the website for Brigand where you can see a book launch of Killer Queen.
https://www.brigand.london/
Another book I have written is JFK Endgame Dallas and this explains some of the conspiracy theories.
JFK 101
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) was the 35th President of the U.S.A.
He was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on 22nd November 1963. It was brutal and bloody. Since he died, there have been uncertainties about who killed him and why. Possibly, as a consequence of that, aspects of his life and death have taken on a quasi-mythological status and cannot easily be viewed objectively.
He was killed in an open car as he drove through downtown Dallas. It was the last time any President has driven in an open top car. Another passenger in the car, John Connolly the Governor of Texas, was shot and seriously wounded. Because areas of the investigation were compromised early on, evidence was never clear on vital aspects of the case - such as the nature of Kennedy’s head wounds or the number of shots fired at him.
A government report (The Warren Commission) decided, in 1964, that JFK was killed by a lone gunman – an unhappy former marine called Lee Harvey Oswald. He had previously been a defector to the Soviet Union. As well as the murder of the President, Oswald was charged with the killing of Dallas Police Officer, J.D. Tippett. Before he could be tried, Oswald was shot in police custody, by a nightclub owner (and former associate of Al Capone) called Jack Ruby. This was the first live televised murder, and there was some legal concern that viewers could be called as eye witnesses. In 1979, another government report concluded the assassination might have been as a result of a conspiracy.
As a consequence of this uncertainty, a lot more ink than blood has been spilt in the last fifty years. JFK was a charismatic figure who was loved and hated in equal measure, and so his killing is, for many people, still a very raw wound.
To find out more, if you wish to, I suggest you approach things this way.
Firstly, view the case from a distance, do not get emotional or take sides too early on – find a general book on the assassination, or even a book of assassinations. Initially, avoid any book that solely proclaims Oswald’s guilt, or innocence. Avoid also books that individually blame the CIA, the FBI, the Cuban exiles, or the Mafia. Opt for something like the Jim Marrs book, Crossfire (Carrol&Graf 1989). The book is well organised with useful chapter summaries that will lead you to other books. If you like pictures, Robert Groden has produced an excellent photographic record called The Killing of a President (Viking/Penguin). After that, read everything you can find! The good guys include, Walt Brown, Ian Griggs, Anthony Summers, Mark Lane, Harold Weisburg, Josiah Thompson, William Manchester (good on detail - but has Oswald as the sole assassin), David Lifton, James Fetzer, and many more – each of these experts will lead you to another level of understanding. Do watch the Oliver Stone film, JFK, and find yourself a dvd of the Zapruder film (home movie of JFK’s death).
Secondly, visit Dealey Plaza in Dallas – Texans are good people who will make you feel welcome. They did not kill the President – it just happened in their state. Even if you believe in the lone gunman hypothesis, just think of it as being a man from Boston (JFK), killed by a man from New Orleans (Lee Harvey Oswald), killed by a man from Chicago (Jack Ruby).
Thirdly, distinguish between the word conspiracy and the phrase conspiracy theory. You can believe that the JFK assassination was a conspiracy without believing it might be the work of little green men from Mars, or the Knight’s Templar.
Fourthly, understand that people, agencies and governments make mistakes which they like to cover up where they can. Lee Harvey Oswald, who was probably a low level intelligence operative, became a friendless orphan the moment he was arrested.
Fifthly, if you really get the bug, join a research group like Dealey Plaza UK. There you will find like minded people who can point you in the right direction. Finally, read this novel and accept that greater knowledge in the case might not bring greater clarity and understanding.
Other books
The other books out on kindle are also important to me. The Concept Dogs was initially written in the 1990s. I dusted it off in 2009 and realised that, as a manuscript, it needed working on. Leaving a piece of writing for nearly twenty years gives a very useful critical distance. With critical input from a variety of sources including Dave Ward (Dan Wild) and Martin Ouvry (Martin O), this version went out to kindle. At the time, publishing was quite expensive and I was able to use some of my father's inheritance money. I am sure he would have been okay with that. The story is of coming to terms with growing up and being scared about missing out. It also forms the first part of what is, currently, a trilogy of Edward McMahon stories.
Woodwork and Self-Defence is the story of my friend from school who pretty much lived this story for a couple of months in 1974. It began as a story of running and ended up as a story of fighting your way out of school. 1974 was a pivotal year - the school leaving age was raised to 16 and pupils were required to remain in education a year longer than they anticipated. Inflexibility in the application of the new laws meant that some pupils with jobs were dragged back into school to complete their time at school - no wonder there was fighting behind the bike sheds.
Killer Queen was my lucky break - sending a paper copy of the Concept Dogs to Will Self at Brunel University was me following the advice of Ed Peppitt. I am not sure Will read it, but he gave it to Phil Tew, a professor of creative writing and this led me to Brigand and Peter Holland who I knew by his reputation as a runner. Killer Queen was sourced from the wreckage of another teaching novel written in the 1990s; out of 100,000 words, I was able to use 17,000 which formed the basis of a novella and then a novel about issues current in the world of educational management.
Along the way, I have been lucky to get the advice of many good people - James Malloy is one name that springs to mind - Ed Peppitt (sadly, no direct relation) is another. Many others have commented and helped the journey to wherever it goes.
If you had read this far...well done!
