Hello, my name is Chris Stuart, and thanks to my wonderful partners from The Marfan Foundation, here are my memoirs about growing up-and up-on the autism spectrum with Marfan syndrome. From being born in Florida, through my childhood in New York, to growing into adulthood in Arizona, all is revealed!

A giraffe is just a giraffe. Nothing more, nothing less. He does not envy the animals around him for being "normal", nor does he see himself as above them all (even, from a certain point of view, he quite literally is) because he's a giraffe. He does not see himself as some sort of freakish mutant horse, but neither does he see himself as some sort of Super Horse.

No, a giraffe is just a giraffe. Nothing more, nothing less... but nobody else seems to agree with him, and demands that the giraffe explain himself. So with a sigh, the Giraffe tells them what's up.

Get it? What's up? Because giraffes are tall?

Hello, my name is Chris Stuart, and thanks to my wonderful partners from The Marfan Foundation, here are my memoirs about growing up-and up-on the autism spectrum with Marfan syndrome. From being born in Florida, through my childhood in New York, to growing into adulthood in Arizona, all is revealed!

My name is Christopher Reinking Stuart, though I hope my nom de plume C. R. Stuart will stick in your minds more. It's short and classy, evokes the greats like J. R. R. Tolkien and H. G. Wells and C. S. Lewis. More importantly, it's far less clunky than my full name, but far more distinct and unique than "Chris"! I'm a rookie author who was lucky enough to have his career kick started right out of college when the wonderful folks at The Marfan Foundation dropped a contract right on my lap as soon as I graduated. No need to mooch off my parents or flip burgers until I stumbled upon a hit! That led to my first book "Dude, I'm just a Giraffe", which was of all things a memoir! I know, apparently I'm a fascinating enough fellow already for people to ask for my autobiography before I had even published my first book! I must be absolutely astounding! But more seriously, the reason for this is that I had a the dubious privilege of having both Autism and Marfan Syndrome (and genetic heart condition) while I was growing up, and seeing as I was already a regular contributor to the Foundation and the leadership knew I wished to be an author, they decided to contract me to write this book for them. And while I am eternally grateful for that opprotunity, non-fiction is not where I want most of my career to be. From here on out, expect a lot of Science Fiction and Fantasy from your boy!