Djibril al-Ayad

An absolutely stellar anthology of disability-themed speculative fiction. Seriously, I cried during so many of these stories just to see people like me represented. The illustrations are also amazing.

Speaking of crying, Samantha Rich's "Screens" gutted me. In this future, all people wear screens that display their moods and feelings. Everyone knows what everyone else feels, there's no hiding anything. It's an incredibly thoughtful story that had me thinking about disclosure.

"Pirate Songs" by Nicolette Barischoff was a fantastic story about a badass girl who gets kidnapped by space pirates, and the pirates don't take her wheelchair. It's less inspiration-porn and more a celebration of the innnate baddassitude of this girl who just happens to be disabled.

"A Sense All Its Own" by Sara Patterson is about fulfilling your dreams, no matter who says you can't, and doing it in your own way. And fighting animal robots.

"into the waters i rode down" by Jack Hollis Marr is about not wanting a cure forced on you, and about personal definitions of disability. Also about space otters and motherly bonding.

If I didn't specifically mention a story here, that doesn't mean it wasn't great. I'd rate each of these stories 4 stars on their own; these mentioned here are the five star stories.… (mais)