My debut book is a work of literary nonfiction investigating our status quo mental health care system, its past and present. A lot of my work — in AKOMP, in its forthcoming sequel, and much else — centers on: How could we create a mh system that's more effective and more humane?
www.akomp.info
www.akomp.info
A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise
Official site for author Sandy Allen's nonfiction book, "A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise: A True Story about Schizophrenia" (Scribner)
www.akomp.info
May 1, 2026 at 2:14 PM
My debut book is a work of literary nonfiction investigating our status quo mental health care system, its past and present. A lot of my work — in AKOMP, in its forthcoming sequel, and much else — centers on: How could we create a mh system that's more effective and more humane?
www.akomp.info
www.akomp.info
As an aside: My favorite scene in all of AKOMP involves "The Gambler." Don Schlitz who wrote it passed away and for this reason, it's very on my mind.
April 22, 2026 at 1:45 PM
As an aside: My favorite scene in all of AKOMP involves "The Gambler." Don Schlitz who wrote it passed away and for this reason, it's very on my mind.
And I respect ultimately everybody's gotta decide what's for them and what's not. (That, as AKOMP readers will know, is so much my own point.)
I did create a book that could be engaged with and hopefully appreciated by many people, including those who'd identify greatly with Bob's story perhaps.
I did create a book that could be engaged with and hopefully appreciated by many people, including those who'd identify greatly with Bob's story perhaps.
April 22, 2026 at 1:19 PM
And I respect ultimately everybody's gotta decide what's for them and what's not. (That, as AKOMP readers will know, is so much my own point.)
I did create a book that could be engaged with and hopefully appreciated by many people, including those who'd identify greatly with Bob's story perhaps.
I did create a book that could be engaged with and hopefully appreciated by many people, including those who'd identify greatly with Bob's story perhaps.
I dunno, look up "refrigerator mothers" if you want a 20th century analogue ... I wrote about this in AKOMP some ... bookshop.org/p/books/a-ki...
A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise: A True Story about Schizophrenia
A True Story about Schizophrenia
bookshop.org
October 28, 2025 at 10:12 AM
I dunno, look up "refrigerator mothers" if you want a 20th century analogue ... I wrote about this in AKOMP some ... bookshop.org/p/books/a-ki...
Sounds dope, hope to someday read 'em both ...
AKOMP tells the story of its own creation some (it's written in two fonts) but I eventually reported out Bob's life after he had passed away ... spoke with everybody who knew him who would talk to me, etc.
AKOMP tells the story of its own creation some (it's written in two fonts) but I eventually reported out Bob's life after he had passed away ... spoke with everybody who knew him who would talk to me, etc.
October 25, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Sounds dope, hope to someday read 'em both ...
AKOMP tells the story of its own creation some (it's written in two fonts) but I eventually reported out Bob's life after he had passed away ... spoke with everybody who knew him who would talk to me, etc.
AKOMP tells the story of its own creation some (it's written in two fonts) but I eventually reported out Bob's life after he had passed away ... spoke with everybody who knew him who would talk to me, etc.
One thing I'm reckoning with in AKOMP in large part was Uncle Bob's tremendous racism, amongst other ... huge hesitations I had with writing a book about him. Which I wound up doing anyway, for reasons ...
October 25, 2025 at 10:29 AM
One thing I'm reckoning with in AKOMP in large part was Uncle Bob's tremendous racism, amongst other ... huge hesitations I had with writing a book about him. Which I wound up doing anyway, for reasons ...
Uncle Bob seemed fairly uninteresting to me, more or less, until (as AKOMP describes) in 2009 he mailed me the typewritten (like on a typewriter) original 60-ish page story of his life ... and then the book picks up the overall story from there.
October 25, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Uncle Bob seemed fairly uninteresting to me, more or less, until (as AKOMP describes) in 2009 he mailed me the typewritten (like on a typewriter) original 60-ish page story of his life ... and then the book picks up the overall story from there.
apropos of nothing but for any AKOMP fans ... I just found this *amazing* Uncle Bob shot ... #AKOMP #ishmallhadwon
October 20, 2025 at 10:58 AM
apropos of nothing but for any AKOMP fans ... I just found this *amazing* Uncle Bob shot ... #AKOMP #ishmallhadwon
You know, depending on vibes. I tend to keep most things I *think-think* pretty strategically close to my vest ... Unless you've clearly read AKOMP for example and are on the level ...
October 19, 2025 at 11:58 AM
You know, depending on vibes. I tend to keep most things I *think-think* pretty strategically close to my vest ... Unless you've clearly read AKOMP for example and are on the level ...
I have said this publicly before but I remember I learned so so late that my boss was like, not into my adding a correction ... that's how late the editor was to write me about this error so. I dunno. It's one of two errors I've made (that I'm aware of) in my career. The other re: Elvis and AKOMP.
October 4, 2025 at 1:29 PM
I have said this publicly before but I remember I learned so so late that my boss was like, not into my adding a correction ... that's how late the editor was to write me about this error so. I dunno. It's one of two errors I've made (that I'm aware of) in my career. The other re: Elvis and AKOMP.
The book Caste here is like, one I truly hope others will check out ... And her first book which is also one that inspired me *a ton* as I was writing AKOMP years ago ...
www.nationalbook.org/books/caste-...
www.nationalbook.org/books/caste-...
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents - National Book Foundation
In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real peop...
www.nationalbook.org
September 25, 2025 at 12:04 PM
The book Caste here is like, one I truly hope others will check out ... And her first book which is also one that inspired me *a ton* as I was writing AKOMP years ago ...
www.nationalbook.org/books/caste-...
www.nationalbook.org/books/caste-...
I listened to *FUCKLOADS* of Hendrix especially the 8 years I wrote AKOMP ... and everyone else there, who as anyone familiar with the book will know, are either mentioned by name therein or like otherwise fit ...
September 19, 2025 at 11:48 AM
I listened to *FUCKLOADS* of Hendrix especially the 8 years I wrote AKOMP ... and everyone else there, who as anyone familiar with the book will know, are either mentioned by name therein or like otherwise fit ...
Here was a playlist I made years ago to pair w AKOMP ... for anyone who's read the book in particular, you may enjoy ...
open.spotify.com/playlist/1Fk...
open.spotify.com/playlist/1Fk...
an A Kind of Mirraculas playlist
open.spotify.com
September 19, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Here was a playlist I made years ago to pair w AKOMP ... for anyone who's read the book in particular, you may enjoy ...
open.spotify.com/playlist/1Fk...
open.spotify.com/playlist/1Fk...
It wasn't *this* weird but I did write ~two weird pages of footnotes for AKOMP that my editors did cut.
Amongst many ways they spent two years making me and Uncle Bob more ... acceptable for regulars bookshop.org/p/books/a-ki...
Amongst many ways they spent two years making me and Uncle Bob more ... acceptable for regulars bookshop.org/p/books/a-ki...
September 19, 2025 at 11:40 AM
It wasn't *this* weird but I did write ~two weird pages of footnotes for AKOMP that my editors did cut.
Amongst many ways they spent two years making me and Uncle Bob more ... acceptable for regulars bookshop.org/p/books/a-ki...
Amongst many ways they spent two years making me and Uncle Bob more ... acceptable for regulars bookshop.org/p/books/a-ki...
the essay i still think of as 'my first real essay' because it got me into Iowa (along with one other) was about my return to america after my 7 months in new zealand in 2007 ... and like, driving across the country, from nor cal via Uncle Bob (as is described in AKOMP) to the midwest ...
September 17, 2025 at 11:07 AM
the essay i still think of as 'my first real essay' because it got me into Iowa (along with one other) was about my return to america after my 7 months in new zealand in 2007 ... and like, driving across the country, from nor cal via Uncle Bob (as is described in AKOMP) to the midwest ...
no matter what else anyone else FTR l got the first AKOMP fan tattoo, a few months before it published. i'm still arguably the book's biggest fan.
August 19, 2025 at 8:01 PM
no matter what else anyone else FTR l got the first AKOMP fan tattoo, a few months before it published. i'm still arguably the book's biggest fan.
the book, forget about it. had a new friend finally finish it last week and flip out and yeah, what a feeling, the first AKOMP ride. when it hits, it really hits.
August 19, 2025 at 7:55 PM
the book, forget about it. had a new friend finally finish it last week and flip out and yeah, what a feeling, the first AKOMP ride. when it hits, it really hits.
at least AKOMP kicks ass and is out there just, changing lives all the time, i sense it. i hear from some people and figure i don't hear from the bulk of them who feel the same.
August 12, 2025 at 1:14 PM
at least AKOMP kicks ass and is out there just, changing lives all the time, i sense it. i hear from some people and figure i don't hear from the bulk of them who feel the same.
Uncle Bob was first hospitalized and diagnosed as a kid, as my book discusses. like a lot of adults who had his sort of history, he wound up on disability and like, resentful of what had happened to him in a big way, and also compliant. for many reasons. as AKOMP unpacks ...
August 12, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Uncle Bob was first hospitalized and diagnosed as a kid, as my book discusses. like a lot of adults who had his sort of history, he wound up on disability and like, resentful of what had happened to him in a big way, and also compliant. for many reasons. as AKOMP unpacks ...
I was hesitant to "get involved" with Uncle Bob for years, as AKOMP discusses. I eventually did, once I realized we're just talking about human rights here and a fucked up system. We're just talking about the oppression of the voiceless and such.
August 12, 2025 at 12:16 PM
I was hesitant to "get involved" with Uncle Bob for years, as AKOMP discusses. I eventually did, once I realized we're just talking about human rights here and a fucked up system. We're just talking about the oppression of the voiceless and such.
Will shrinks and therapists say this on record? Not necessarily. But they write me and they'll talk to me, whether at a party OTR or like, across the street from an APA protesting and wanting me to not use their names. Believe me, I'm a magnet for everybody's *real* thoughts, post AKOMP ...
August 12, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Will shrinks and therapists say this on record? Not necessarily. But they write me and they'll talk to me, whether at a party OTR or like, across the street from an APA protesting and wanting me to not use their names. Believe me, I'm a magnet for everybody's *real* thoughts, post AKOMP ...
So if you want to read a book that will honor however you feel about these topics, if you've been touched by 'insanity' personally or professionally, however you feel about it all, I truly tried to write AKOMP in a way that might honor you. And for 8 years now I've heard from countless professionals
August 12, 2025 at 12:06 PM
So if you want to read a book that will honor however you feel about these topics, if you've been touched by 'insanity' personally or professionally, however you feel about it all, I truly tried to write AKOMP in a way that might honor you. And for 8 years now I've heard from countless professionals