“The Fog Within” is told from a severely autistic girl’s point-of-view. She is completely nonverbal and depends on body language and simple gestures to communicate with the world around her.

Megan Cooper lives in a fog, drifting in and out of the world around her. She refers to her condition as “the Fog” because that is the only word she feels can properly describe her malady. Generic labels from doctors and therapists do not allow for the uncontrollable shifts in mood and cognitive focus issues that are a part of her daily life. The story is her life, the major milestones every person must face: childhood and its inherent questions of identity, adolescence with its search for our place in society, and adulthood with its struggles against our ultimate challenger – mortality. Those are pivotal and arduous moments for a typically functioning mind. Megan deals with them with the added hurdle of her handicap. She has to see who she is, where she fits in the world, and look at life’s end through a fog; a fog that only she feels, a fog that is within her.

Such a serious subject.  What genre is it?

Young adult drama.

What kind of readers will it appeal to?

All, but especially those with ties to mental illness or disabilities like: autism, CP, MS, MR, or any malady that affects the central nervous system and cognitive function.

Complete this sentence for us: if you like _________________, you’ll love The Fog Within.
Bill Bryson and Ken Kesey.

Tell us a little more about Megan. Where did the idea for her come from?

Megan Cooper is an amalgam of my oldest daughter who is severely autistic and all the stories I have been told by other parents with special needs children over the years. Her story is as much reality as it is fiction. It is her “voice” that separates her from the crowd. The entire narrative is told in her thoughts – fragmented, run-on, and incomplete as they may be.

Have you written any other books that we should read next?
The Knight’s Wife is a romantic comedy and The Balance Books which are a currently running paranormal thriller series that take place in the afterlife. The first three books are available: “Grey“, “Raven“, and “Zeus“.

Tell us a little about yourself.

I write, have written, and will continue to write because I cannot not write. I believe in art over entertainment. If an aspiring author wants to write, if they want to craft a story that speaks from their soul, then they need to ask themselves, “Am I in this for the money, or am I in this because I have to be?” Translation, am I a businessman or am I an artist? There is no wrong answer. The stories speak for themselves.

Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work?
http://nickshamhart.com/

What about social media?

Twitter: @NickShamhart
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nick-Shamhart/279415898737660.

What’s next?
The fourth book in the Balance series is due out in early October ’13.