I didn’t set out to create the “first autistic spy” in literature. And if you count the main character of that so-so Ben Affleck film “The Accountant” as a spy, then I definitely didn’t.

But then Thomas Vale isn’t exactly a spy either. He’s more complicated than that. It’ll take a few novels before that becomes apparent. But I digress…

I had a notion of Thomas Vale, the main (but never the only) protagonist of my stories, that goes back almost thirty years. You could almost say he grew up with me. We’re old pals. And when I began to realize I was autistic, about three or four years ago, he became autistic too. Or maybe, like me, he always was, only now we have a name for it.

When I was preparing to query agents, one of the things I worried most about were “comp titles.” Queries are sort of like job applications, and agents and publishers use these “comparative” titles to estimate how well and in what market(s) a book might prosper, and some financial decisions are affected by them. When you include a comp title, the idea is to make your book sound like other books, preferably successful and recent ones.

So I went to several libraries and bookstores, and I told the counter people I was looking for a book I’d heard about, and if they could direct me to it. And then I told them all about my book. I was hoping they’d give me similar books I could use as comps.

Not a one of them had ever heard of anything like “Burn Card.” They couldn’t even come up an adult adventure spy or action novel with an autistic protagonist. The best they could come up with was “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time,” which was excellent and won awards, but is nothing like what I’m doing.

And I thought, “Shit! Now what do I do?” Coming up with good comps is tough when you’re the first to write something.

The interesting thing was that every one of the bookstore and library folks could recite from memory several titles of young adult novels with autistic heroes. But nothing in the adult genre.

Young adult readers grow up to be adult readers. Eventually, there will be a need for grown up heroes.

So apparently there’s a hole to be filled in literature. And just as nature abhors a vacuum, there will eventually be a tidal rush to fill that hole. I like the idea of being on the crest of that wave. That wasn’t the plan in the beginning, but it’d be pretty cool if it turned out that way.