The 13th: A Monthly Brain Dump from the Spite Club, with an important question at the end

Let me tell you something about the 13th. I work in construction. I have been inside every floor of more tall buildings than you have had hot dinners. And I need you to know — with the full authority of someone who has stood on it — that the 13th floor exists. It is there. You are on it. We just renamed it the 14th because somewhere along the line humanity collectively decided that lying about math was preferable to confronting our own superstitions. I can count. You can count. The elevator knows. We're just all agreeing not to talk about it.

Which is, honestly, a perfect metaphor for how most of us, at least those of you who found your way here, are doing right now.

Welcome to the first installment of my monthly update, dropping on the 13th of every month, only to my Spite Club besties. I'm going to tell you what I've been reading, how I'm actually doing, and what's coming up — with my whole chest and zero apologies. (Actually with only part of my chest because I'm still unlearning everything I've ever been taught and I make mistakes, so if I do, call me out. I probably deserve it.)

What I Finished This Month

And Side by Side They Wander by Molly Tanzer — I wanted to love this more than I did, and I think that's admittedly probably a me problem. The premise is genuinely brilliant: a ragtag group of misfits on a mission to steal back Earth's greatest art from aliens who won't return it — a direct parallel to the very real and very ongoing battles between colonized cultures and the countries that stole from them. That emotional core should have gutted me. I wanted it to. Instead I got some art history, a deeply strange ending, shallow characters, and the dawning realization that I was apparently supposed to know the full story of Orpheus going in. I did not. If you're an art buff or a mythology girlie, you will probably get significantly more out of this than I did. I'm not saying it's bad. I'm saying it required homework I didn't do. I used to not read novellas because I didn't think they had enough depth. This is the kind of story that made me think that. But hey, 3 stars, would recommend to someone artier than me.

Nobody's Baby by Olivia Waite — Cozy, queer, autistic auntie detective in space solves the case of the impossible baby — the first baby in 300 years on a ship where fertility is supposed to be paused until they get to their new planet. Mystery isn't my genre because it's historically full of old racist grumpy white dudes with a drinking problem who are all somehow Billy Bob Thornton, but if it were all written like this, I would pick up a lot more. I started with book 1 in this series and absolutely plan to continue it as more come out.

Playing for Keeps by Alexandria Bellefleur — A bisexual's dream!!! Think: the two sexy lady agents of TSwift and a bisexual Travis Kelce falling in love, but make it gay. Extra gay. Contemporary isn't my genre, but I am OBSESSED with this one. The kind of obsessed that makes me want to pick up everything else this author has ever written. THere is so much character depth and back story and the spice level is friggin hot. And Hallelujah, Alexandria Bellefleur is an established author with lots more books that I will be picking up.

Amari and the Despicable Wonders and Amari and the Metalwork Menace by B.B. Alston — The inclusive magical world that replaced a certain wizarding world in our household (we don't speak of its author due to her harm to the trans community. If you think your kids can't handle a boycott, I promise you, you're wrong. Kids LOVE raising the middle finger to the establishment. It's basically coded in their DNA. See below notes on 10 to 25, another book I'm currently reading.) My kids and I have loved every minute of this action-packed series, and book four ends on a cliffhanger I will be saying nothing further about except: BB Alston, how DARE you, and also please hurry up with book five. Let Amari be a kid for five minutes. FIVE MINUTES.

Stuffed by Liz Braswell — My family loved this book, which I say through gritted teeth because I bought this book to personally attack...myself. If you have a child who loves stuffed animals, fair warning: this will make your entire household hold on to them a little tighter and a little longer. I once donated some stuffed animals after our house flooded because I was purging (so I didn't have to pack as much, sue me!) and my son never forgave me. This was after an entire YEAR of him not noticing they were gone. So naturally we read this book together so he could remind me of that, repeatedly, while I sat with my guilt like the masochist I apparently am. Trigger warnings for younger kids: some stuffed animals are harmed by monsters. They get sewn back together. My son handled it. Did I handle the guilt? Only my therapist knows (haha that's hilarious I don't have a therapist. In this economy? I have a best friend who deserves a sainthood is what I have.)

Space Battle Lunchtime graphic novels 1-3 by Natalie Riess — Cute, cozy, sapphic, and about a TV cooking competition that the main character gets kidnapped from Earth to star in. For some reason the second one is hard to get your hands on. It's on eBay, you can find it if you try. Leave me a comment if you can't because another of my special interests is finding hard to find books. Anyway these are SO fun and cute and heartwarming. Read these. They are good soup and they will not expose your insides. (I refuse to go one single blog without a Gideon the Ninth reference. REFUSE )

Three Shattered Souls by Mai Corland, book 3 in the Broken Blades series — I am a sucker for the "found family group of misfits taking on the fascist regime" trope and this delivered for me in a big way. Multi-POV with short chapters means you will absolutely fly through it, especially if you have as many ARCs as I have waiting for you on Netgalley. (It's a lot. Maybe in another post I'll tell you about allllllllll of the books waiting on me to read them in my Netgalley account.) There are 3 books in the completed series and there were 3 sets of special editions - Broken Binding, Goldsboro, and the first editions of general releases. This image by @cat.book.nook mixes some of them and when I saw it I may or may not have lost the battle to my internalized consumerism and purchased them all. Sigh. All my boycotting and thrifting and I still lose the battle more than I'd like. Cue anti-capitalist guilt, yay!

What I'm Currently Reading

I want to preface this by saying that I have a problem. I admit it. I have an audiobook, a hardcover for my nightstand, a paperback for my kid's baseball practice, fiction for my heart, nonfiction for my brain, a book I'm reading aloud to my dyslexic kid, and an ebook (or two or seven) on my phone for any time I'm waiting somewhere without a physical book. I also requested way too many ARCs on Netgalley and now I have to live with that. This is my life. I have made *choices.*

The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu — in ARC audiobook format, thanks to the lovely folks at Macmillan. A mechanic who fixes the literal nuts and bolts that hold the universe together, major family trauma, and a himbo sidekick who magically cooks things that are described in ways that made me pause the audiobook to think about food. I am enjoying this immensely and I will report back.

Platform Decay by Martha Wells — Murderbot book 8. I will always read this series because I relate to Murderbot on a cellular level and I will not be elaborating further. (Autistic over protective robot in space who just wants to watch his shows and not deal with humans: it me. So apparently I WILL be elaborating.) I'll be honest that I haven't loved Martha Wells' other work as much. The sarcastic Muir-like comedic tone that makes Murderbot special doesn't show up the same way elsewhere in her books. But THIS series? Every time. Without question.

Stuffed Book 2: Into Darkness — yes we are reading the sequel. Apparently one round of emotional self-flagellation was not sufficient. My son has opinions about what we read together and those opinions are "more of this please." I am nothing if not a devoted mother (aka SUCKA) and a glutton for punishment.

10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People by David Yeager — This is not self help. I want to be very clear about that because I have a well documented hostility toward self help books. This is science. Long term scientific studies done by the author found that young people make risky decisions not because they lack the intelligence to understand long term consequences or the wherewithal for self denial of instant gratification, but because their need to be respected as full members of their community (aka like an adult) far outweighs everything else. On a biological level. As a parent of teenagers and a person with the 'tism m'lord who requires receipts before changing her behavior, this book is a NEED, not a want. Highly recommend for any parent, educator, manager, or person who has ever been or dealt with anyone between the ages of 10 and 25 and wondered what the hizell was happening in their brain. (Can I take this moment to ask the publishing world why nonfic covers are so damn boring? This book is absolutely FASCINATING and that cover is the most boring thing I've ever laid eyes on. Do better Simon & Schuster!)

The End of Violence by Dr. Gary Slutkin — yes I giggled at the author name, I am not above it, I am a Slutkin for ending violence as well sir! This is a book by a CDC disease doctor who has found, through long term scientific study, that if you treat violence like a transmittable disease you can address it the same way you'd address tuberculosis: educate the community, treat the afflicted, and identify and support those most at risk before they become vectors. I listened to the audiobook and found it so compelling that I preordered a hard copy to annotate, summarize, and highlight for my dyslexic social worker bestie. Free labour in this economy? That should tell you everything. (Again though, another wildly boring cover. What is up with that???)

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad — same story. Listened to it, purchased a hard copy, currently annotating it with the fervor of someone who needs everyone she knows to read this immediately. Which brings me to something I want to talk to you about. (Now THAT is a cover! Props to the folks over at Knopf because this cover makes the same statement the book makes in far fewer pages.)

Something I Want To Try (And I Want Your Opinion)

I'm planning a series where I review books with full spoilers. Not every book, but the ones that have something so important to say that I want you to have access to it even if you never pick up the book yourself. El Akkad's book is the first one I have in mind. I've annotated the absolute shit out of this book and I want to share my notes.

I used to do a Discord book club called the Genre Sluts. You may have even been a member. It's still there, but I haven't scheduled a book in a while because I found it consumed a large chunk of my life without providing me the close community I needed from a book club. I don't know if it's my personality or just the autism, but I need to see peoples faces to feel the genuine connection I need from community. The Discord chat just wasn't doing it for me.

I have complicated feelings about this new strategy. I want you to go read the whole book. I want you to support these authors. But I also know that some of you will never read certain books no matter how hard I recommend them (nonfiction especially) and I think hearing me talk through the whole thing might actually send some of you to the book anyway. And for the ones who genuinely won't get there, I'd rather you have the ideas than not. We have one short life. I've done the math. We cannot read everything. I genuinely want to know what you think about this in the comments.

Footnote: I've actually done the math. I'm 41 and if I read 100 books a year - though my average tends to be closer to 90 so I'm being optimistic here - until I'm retired at 60, that's approximately 1850 books after subtracting about half a year as I'm counting from my birthday. After I retire I hope to read twice that. And if I live till 81.4 like the average woman in America, that's 4280, plus the original 1850 is 6,130 books left. And at the average rate I add to my TBR - 10 books per month of which I get to only about 3, I'm looking at a deficit of 3,360 books I want to read and won't ever get to. If there is an afterlife, it damn well better have books.

How Am I Actually Doing

Fucking terrible, if I'm honest, but I don't know how anyone who isn't actively choosing delusion can be doing much better right now. The world is burning, democracy is dead, and my TikTok views are in the gutter. And maybe that's because I'm a bad creator — only you, dearest gentle reader, can tell me. Don't tell me, it will hurt my feelings. (Jk, I suppress those so hard if I have them you'll never know anyway.) And every time I hear Aaron Parnas say "breaking news" I have a visceral stress response that makes me want to throw my phone into the sun, which is a problem when TikTok is currently my main way of bringing people here, to what I have lovingly decided to call the Good Place. (And let's be real here - if my unhinged sarcastic badly written excessive parentheses sci-fi Bindery page is a Good Place, what does that say about the state of the world?)

But here's the thing. Sci-fi has always been our proof that we have a future worth imagining. That things can be better. That humans, at our absolute worst, still contain people who dream of something more. So I will keep showing up on the 13th — on the floor that definitely exists, that we all just agreed to lie about — and I will keep reading books and talking about them, because in our darkest hours the most radical thing I know how to do is keep hoping.

See you next month. Probably still terrible. Definitely still reading.

— Zee

If you liked this and want more of whatever THIS is — unhinged book analysis, barely contained rage at the state of the world, and occasional Tamsyn Muir references and em dashes that I will never apologize for — consider subscribing for $5/month. Every cent goes to people who actually need it, because I have a day job and a cause, not a brand deal. This is my middle finger to Big 5 publishing, dressed up as a book blog. Come hold it up with me.

You shouldn't buy books from Amazon. You know it, I know it, your local indie bookstore DEFINITELY KNOWS IT, and honestly, the ghost of every independent bookseller who ever lived knows it too. So why do you still buy from the zon? Because it's cheap.

Yes, I know that capitalism is guttering out its last dying breaths as 5 people hoard most of the wealth while the economy fizzles so far they no longer actually even post the unemployment rate publicly anymore. So why am I telling you to spend more money? Please let me try to convince you with this numbered list because I'm a NUMBERS GIRLIE (see, this is why you should listen to me — how many other bisexuals are good at math? I contain multitudes AND a spreadsheet. 'Tis the tism m'lord.) If you're already convinced, feel free to scroll past this part. If you're not, I will be employing the ancient necromantic art of capitalism critique to raise your righteous fury from the dead.

Amazon is not always the cheapest! Yes, I know they've attempted to convince you otherwise. But they are operating on the grocery store model — get you in the door with "deals" on items you already know the price of, like milk and bread, while price gouging you on the things you don't, like a jar of pepperoncinis or your sense of self worth. If you consistently price check them like I do, you'll find that especially on smaller items, they've rolled that shipping cost right into the price. Free shipping my slowly rounding ass.

Diapers.com. If you haven't heard me rant about this, buckle up. Diapers.com had a great subscription price on diapers and wipes. Amazon rolls in with a program called "Amazon Mom," undercuts their price into the ground, and erodes the company's entire customer base. Amazon buys Diapers.com. Amazon shuts them down. Amazon IMMEDIATELY jacks the prices back up and shutters the Amazon Mom program. Everyone now pays more for the exact same service. This is not a bug. This is the business model. And they are doing it to books — selling them at a loss to put every brick and mortar bookstore out of business. And when we can only buy books from them? Those prices are going WAY UP. We are officially in the Ninth circle of Hell.

Writers are poor. There are a handful making a good living at this, but most are creating their art on the side while crying quietly into their $5.10 royalty checks. And Amazon exploits them like they exploit their workers and suppliers — a proud tradition of harm, democratized. They have a history of allowing customers to return read books and making the author pay the refund. They auto-enroll books into Kindle Select so authors have to go in and manually opt out every 90 days, lest their books remain Amazon-exclusive indefinitely like some kind of publishing purgatory. They're pushing to make Amazon Exclusive titles unavailable in libraries. They roll out new AI features and don't bother letting authors opt out. Cool cool cool, no notes, everything is fine, the house is not on fire, ignore the smell.

So where should you buy instead?

From the author If you're reading indie or smaller authors, many sell directly from their own websites — sometimes cheaper, sometimes signed, sometimes in "scratch and dent" copies for the chaotic good readers among us. Why are they cheaper direct? Because Amazon charges them more than other outlets. I know. I KNOW.

Bookshop.org If you can't find an author site, your second best online option is this one. A portion of the sale goes directly to an independent bookstore of your choosing. Support your local store, or support a black woman owned store like Sistah Sci-fi! They have ebooks too, so check here first!

Libro.fm is where I have my audiobook subscription. My library card gets me Libby, but they don't always have what I want, so this is my backup. Also shares profits with an indie bookstore of your choice. It's lawful good (get it, like awful good? "Yes... Some rigor...mortis", said Gideon, who thought that puns were automatically funny.)

Pango Books is the eBay of books — individual sellers listing new, gently used, and collectible copies, with the profit going directly to other humans trying to survive late stage capitalism. They now have make-an-offer functionality like Mercari. Prices are often cheaper than other secondhand platforms because lots of people just want shelf space back. (It's me, hi, I'm the problem it's me)

Your Local Library Besties, I know you want to hoard the books like a little dragon. So do I. But I often don't even know if I'll like something before I buy it — and my library is always the first place I check. I can almost guarantee yours has ebooks and audiobooks available online without you ever having to put pants on. Though for your mental health, you should probably try to leave the house occasionally. WITH PANTS. as I sit in a dark room typing a blog on my computer to a group of people who are sitting in a dark room scrolling on their phones.

The thrift store Last but not least: if a book has been popular, there's a copy at Goodwill for $1.50. (It used to be $1 but even the thrift store experiences inflation. Yaaaaay late stage capitalism!) My kids love those terrible Diary of a Wimpy Kid books and while I have opinions, I don't actually care — as long as they're READING, I'm not complaining. The thrift store always has copies. And while I know the proceeds don't go to the author, sometimes you just don't have the cash for new books. (I have a whole other post about how to get books for free, you can read that here.)

I know there is an entire other conversation to be had about KU and the indie authors who make their money there. I have thoughts... you won't like them. I don't like them. Those are for another day. But feel free to berate me in the comment section today. Your attention feeds the poor. Like, literally. I donate all proceeds from this hobby of mine to marginalized communities.

If there is any exception for "there is no ethical consumption under capitalism," I'm going to say it's books and food, because both, in my opinion, are necessary to live, body and soul.

If you liked this and want more of whatever THIS is — unhinged book analysis, barely contained rage at the state of the world, and occasional Tamsyn Muir references that I will never apologize for — consider subscribing for $5/month. Every cent goes to people who actually need it, because I have a day job and a cause, not a brand deal. This is my middle finger to Big 5 publishing, dressed up as a book blog. Come hold it up with me.

Look. I know you're tired. I know you've been running on fumes and spite and whatever's left in the coffee pot, and the LAST thing you want is some book blogger telling you to Do the Inner Work. But I need you to hear me out, because a Pixar movie about eMoTiOnAl DaMaGe and two therapy besties named Jessica Tomich Sorci, LMFT,PMH-C and Rebecca Geshuri, LMFT,PMH-C (yes I included the letters after their names because I’m a GIRL’S GIRL and they earned it damn you) have apparently been in a secret conspiracy to make you cry twice — once in the theater, and once on your therapist's couch — and I think it's time we talked about it.

"Wait, back the EFFFF up Zee. What even is 'This and That'?" I’m so glad I pretended like you asked. It’s a series I’ve been thinking about almost forever (I’m autistic, my brain either does time as “what is time” or “at 2:34pm on the day I lost my first tooth” and there is no in between) about two separate pieces of media and how I think you should consume them like PB&J, like red wine and blue cheese, like grilled cheese and tomato soup. Because yeah, they’re good separate. But together they are GOOD SOUP. (Yes, that was a Harrow the Ninth Chapter 25th reference, sorry NOT SORRY AT ALL EVEN A LITTLE BIT.)

If you don’t get that reference, I’m going to assume that you will never read Harrow the Ninth because you read my stuff and you read Gideon and didn’t like it. Fine, that’s ok, I don’t get you but I still love you. Spoiler: Harrow makes soup with her bone marrow and uses necromancy to explode someone from the inside out (see above fan art by @naomistares on Tumblr.) Gross but my GOD the cinema! So the analogy is, food so good it will FUCK YOU UP. Damn I’m weird. But you're here so I must assume, gentle reader, that so are youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...

Anyway back to the matter at hand, Inside Out, the Pixar movie, is about a little girl’s named Riley’s feelings, each as its own character in her head. Each of these feelings – aptly named Joy, Disgust, Sadness, Anger, and Fear, have their own feelings and motivations about her move to a different city. New school, new sports, new friends, and the loss of her old ones. And Miss Joy decides to suppress all of the others – especially Sadness - because Riley needs to act happy for her parents, who are also having a tough time. Moving sux.

And it all goes to complete SHIT, as literally everyone could have seen coming. I cried in 2015 over an imaginary elephant.

Which brings me to the book that made me rewatch all of this with my jaw on the floor. When Good Moms Feel Bad is based on this therapy called Internal Family Systems (aka IFS) which basically means your brain is made up of subpersonalities, or "parts," each with its own unique motives. Which is EXACTLY what Inside Out is about. If you’re not a parent, don’t let me lose you here. This is for everyone who has ever been told they needed “self-care” and responded with, “how-the-fuck-do-you-expect-me-to-do-a-spa-day-when-the-world-is-burning?!”

I HATE self-care culture. I detest self-help books. I am a working mother who does this weird book social media thing as a hobby – no, I don’t make money off of this and any money everyone’s ever paid me to do it (and MORE) has gone straight to one of the charities for all of the people currently being shat upon by the world: trans people, Palestinians, immigrants, the list goes on.*

When a therapist or friend or especially an internet blogger insert irony here tells me to get in some self-care, it annoys me. Because doing a face mask does not relieve me of my concern that my 13 year old son may be steered into a red pill pipeline on YouTube. Getting a massage won’t take away my deep and unabiding horror at the genocide my government is funding in Gaza. Picking up a new hobby won’t relieve me of my fear that I’m not doing enough to protect my immigrant friends from being thrown into bedless cells and have their children separated from them to do god knows what with by a masked police force. I have LEGITIMATE feelings and stress that a bath bomb simply will not fix. And nobody has once convinced me that the self-care craze isn’t just another attempt to get me to spend more money on shit I don’t need. Like eyebrow gel. So when a therapy book actually gave me something useful, I was suspicious. I checked for a catch. Reader, there was a catch, but we'll get there.

When Good Moms Feel Bad is the first thing I’ve ever read that gave me some legitimate coping tools that I can use instead of trying to convince me to buy something (spoiler: when I looked up the author’s website, there is a ‘Mom Parts Community’ you can join for the low low price of $29/mo. But hey, even people with good advice have to pay to eat under capitalism, amiright?) I listened to the audiobook for free on Netgalley, but I liked it so much I purchased the book so I can have access to the workbook included.

What are these coping skills, and what do they have to do with Inside Out? WELL. Essentially, every emotion you have is there for reasons. Fear of failure protected you as a child, because your parents would love you more if you met their high expectations. Irritation is an alert to show you your boundaries have been crossed, because when it’s happened before you were in DANGER. Your Inner Critic picks you apart in order to put you back together in a better way, but sometimes it gets stuck in the telling you you’re a shitty person loop. Every shitty feeling has a goal. But how do you keep them from conflicting and eating you alive? It’s actually pretty simple. You Mom them.

New skills? You don’t need them. Expensive seminars? Nope. You already have the experience you need for this from being a mom. So you take each part of yourself, and thank it. And then tell it what you would tell a child who was acting out. Validate, then correct. Mother thyself. “Thank you, Inner Critic, for making me a better person. But please remember, we don’t say critical things to hurt people. We say them in a caring and compassionate way.” Or “thank you, Irritation, for trying to keep me safe, but right now I’m only touched out, I’m not in danger. I’m NOT in danger, you can rest.” Am I telling you to speak to the voices in your head? Yes. Yes I am. Turns out the voices in your head just want to be parented. Which is either deeply healing or deeply horrifying depending on how your own childhood went. Moving on!

I picture those Inside Out style cartoon characters in my head, and I get down on their level and hug them. This is me literally caring for the inner parts of myself. If Joy had just hugged Sadness and said, “you’re right to be sad, this is a sad time! Let me be here with you while you’re sad” then Riley would have never had an emotional collapse (I won’t spoil it for you – seriously you’re missing out if you haven’t seen that movie – seen and consumed critically!) and, well, we wouldn’t have a movie. Something my son and I constantly tell each other as we pick apart movies we watch. (Because critical media consumption is a skill you have to practice with your kids, they can't just learn from being told.)

I would recommend you watch the movie then read the book. Why? I’m not a huge non-fic girlie and I need to entertain myself by finding constant parallels in my non-fic with something that is fun. If you love a self help book, good for you! But I’m a recovering fiction addict and I need to be entertained when I engage in critical thought, ok? “Thank you Inner Critic for the self-deprecating humor, I honestly love that about myself, but you are smart and read critically no matter the genre, so please stop apologizing!”

 * If you read this far, you're already one of my people. Subscribe for $5/month — less than a bath bomb, more useful than a bath bomb, and 100% of proceeds go to humans currently being failed by the world. Big 5 publishing hates us. Let's keep going anyway.

If you're not influencing your teenager's YouTube algorithm, are you even parenting?

I have mixed feelings already on allowing my teen to have access to YouTube. But if there is ANYTHING that parenting has taught me (and my own dad has taught me about myself,) it's that limiting access to things is a great way to encourage your teen to sneak around getting them anyway. Knowing that, is it a better choice to allow them to have guardrail access and log into their account checking their history and adjusting accordingly? That's the choice I've made, right wrong or indifferent.

If you already know what I'm afraid of, skip this paragraph and read on. But if you don't, get on YouTube or Tiktok and create a new account, setting the age to 13 and the gender to male. And I want you to notice what it shows you, before that algorithm even has a chance to know you. Buckle up, because it will horrify you how quickly you are shown the yellow brick road to the alt right pipeline. If you haven't run across a young white male Christian Nationalist within 5 minutes, I'll eat my sock. So if you don't want your child parroting Nick Fuentes "women in the kitchen" talking points the next time you tell him to unload the dishwasher, what should you do? Keep them completely off the internet? That's my kneejerk reaction. But I know my kid is getting show videos by his friends, watching YouTube on any smart TV he has access to, and running across these talking points who knows where else, and I want to teach him media literacy. How do I do that without allowing him some media consumption? And trust me, I have the FEAR. I'm as terrified about allowing him to open YouTube as I am to let him get behind the wheel of a car. But I want to raise a person who can servive without me looking over his shoulder constantly, so I have to ease him in.

But HOW? YouTube is actually worse than tiktok about guardrails. On a teen account (not YouTube kids), there are no guardrails other than that you can see their history and block explicit content just like you would for yours. You can't block hashtags, it's very difficult to hard block creators, you can only mark that you are uninterested in this creator. But then they show you Joe Rogan instead of Nick Fuentes. Their algorithm is almost determined to push my teen boy down a path I don't want him to walk.

So I log into YouTube as him and slog through videogame content to adjust his algorithm and mark INCEL propaganda with a thumbs down. After spending hours upon hours doing this, here is what I've learned:

1. You may have heard that Gen Alpha boys are leaning more conservative and the girls are leaning more progressive. I am now 100% convinced that this is due almost exclusively to social media, though the polarization of politics is absolutely contributing to that.

2. You can thumbs down the bullshit all you want, but YouTube doesn't seem to learn not to show you similar content. I may thumbs down a Nick Fuentes video and tell YouTube not to show me anything from that creator. It will then show me other creators who have TALKED about Nick Fuentes's videos in a positive way. WTAF?!

3. And for my final point and the reason I'm writing this post - There do not seem to be any teen boys or young men creating progressive content for my teen to watch. And I think I know why.

For all of Republicans' talk about "liberals are groomers," THEY are the ones who are statistically grooming children, not just for Epsteiny things, but for the red pill pipeline. There are tons of young 20 and 30 year old men posing as teens with clean shaven faces and shaggy haircuts telling boys about how the Bible says that women should submit to them. And what is more attractive to a teen boy, a child whose amygdala has outgrown their decision making capabilities and they have the body of an adult with the authority of a child, than having more power over other people? Especially people like their mother, who is more than likely the default parent?

I don't believe there are many self respecting progressive men who think that influencing teens on the internet is inherently good. And there are very few progressive parents that want their kids creating content for the public. Just the idea of it is ick, isn't it? But therein lies a problem.

In this day and age of teens on the internet, there are very few good influences that look like them, even the white boys. (Please don't mistake me as saying, "oh the underrepresented white boy, how I lament for thee!" I'm saying there are no good ones I want my child watching.)

Do I think there are easy answers to this problem? Of course not. But there are a few things that I think we, as a collective, can do to help.

1. We should all be emailing YouTube demanding we get some of the same algorithm control we have with tiktok. Blocking creators, blocking hashtags, blocking key words.

2. We should popularize marginalized creators, whose voices NEED to be heard by more people. Including our teens. This means when you watch a video by a creator you like, watch it ALL THE WAY THROUGH.

3. Consume some content together. I will occasionally ask my teen, hey! Want to watch videos together? Compare and contrast. Laugh together at your goofy parent algorithm, and watch with genuine interest the things your kid is interested in. Talk together. Laugh at things that make you want to scream. WAIT WHAT? I said what I said. If you see a man talking about how God said women should dress modestly, laugh and say "Jesus told men to scoop their eyes out. No, seriously!" Point our when you see AI. Engage with media critically, and pick it apart, but have fun with it. When your child starts noticing things, compliment them on their media literacy. "Wow, good catch!"

Remember that making things and people ridiculous takes away far more of their power than making them scary. Don't believe me? Look at how Germans currently portray Hitler. They make him ridiculous, foolish. Not terrifying. Why? Because fear can be powerful. But nobody made ridiculous holds much influence or power. Empower your kids with the media literacy they will so desperately need in this end stage capilist AI era.

I've compiled a short list of reads below that I plan to study and share with my teen.

How do you handle YouTube with your kids?

If you enjoyed this content, please consider joining a paid tier to support our mission at Bindery to create a media company that is based around what you, the consumer, actually WANT, not what a monopolized Big 5 publishing club wants you to see. Your montly donation helps us to publish books by independent authors. Books Big Media didn't want you to see. Books that deserve a spotlight. Authors that have something important to say.

Every time I try to figure out what is coming next for sci-fi, I am inundated with lists coining "Sci-Fi and Fantasy Releases" that are ALL FANTASY.

And listen, I love fantasy, I adore fantasy, but give me some damn science fiction ok?

And before you say "but I'm already living in a dystopian society and I need to escape reality" I need you to take a PAUSE babes - and listen to what I'm about to say. (STOP. Collaborate and Listen. Zee is back with some brand new fiction)

Science Fiction is our hope and imagination for the future. Fantasy helps you to escape reality, but Sci-Fi helps you imagine a better world. It fills your cup, renews your soul, gives you the strength to go on because you know things can be better - you've SEEN IT. And yes, it was in a book, but if you can dream of a dark and handsome man who does his own laundry and has good hygeine, my sister/brother/enby sibling in Christ, you can dream of a better world.

So now I'll jump off the soap box and into the deep end of Sci-fi books I'm really excited for. And I'm begging you to leave me some comments for some more, especially indie authors because those are harder to find. And you know what's great about Bindery...all the books are tagged below and ready for preorder!

1. Hell’s Heart by Alexis Hall (Tor Books, March 10, 2026)

   Alexis Hall is a gender nonconforming person from southeast England and is the prolific author of well-known books like A Lady for a Duke and Boyfriend Material.

   Two things sold me on this book:

   #1: It is coined as "Sapphic Moby Dick in Space." If you take any classic and add "sapphic" to the beginning and "in space" to the end of it, I'm definetely going to read it. I am an absolute SIMP for this mashup.

   #2: The blurb is Gideon the Ninth meets Moby-Dick. STFU Alexis Hall + Gideon the Ninth??? Yes, mmhmm, please and thank you give me 27 more.

   "What's it Actually ABOUT Zee?" WELL bestie. sips tea It's a meet cute in space where Earth is dead and bounty hunters hunt space monsters to use their spinal fluid for fuel to power atmospheric domes on planets that will kill us if we blink wrong. Hell to the yeah. I've gotten my grubby paws on an ARC of this, I'll let you know how it goes.

2. And Side by Side They Wander by Molly Tanzer (Tordotcom, May 19, 2026)

   Molly Tanzer is a sci-fi writer/manga translator and prominently advertises herself as anti-AI and anti-ICE. I haven't read her other books but the covers are bangin yall.

   And Side by Side They Wander is an intergalactic art heist by a ragtag group of underqualified misfits. For three hundred years, humanity’s greatest works of art have been on loan at the Museum of the Seed-Born. It was finally time for them to come home…but the alien curators were disinclined to return them. So they're gonna steal them back.

3. Platform Decay by Martha Wells (Tor Books, May 5, 2026)

   In the 8th installment of Murderbot Diaries, SecUnit has volunteered for a rescue mission and will have to spend a significant time...with children.

   I personally cannot WAIT to watch the ensuing hilarity. And if you're a Gideon the Ninth fan and haven't picked this one up yet, it's one of the few that actually captures that sarcastically funny tone Muir is known for. I've picked up Martha Wells' older books looking for that tone and it's not there. But it is here, so if you haven't started this series yet pick it up!

4. The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu (Tor Books, April 7, 2026)

   Yes, if you've noticed by now I'm indeed a Tor fangirl. I promise I'm not doing this on purpose, I researched hundreds of lists, make a new list of the books I found interesting, and lots were Tor. Someone over there has good taste in authors and books ok?!

   John Chu is a is a Taiwanese-American science fiction writer by night, microprocessor architect by day.

   The Subtle Art of Folding space is a multiverse sci-fi novel about a girl who must confront generational trauma in order to preserve the secret technology that is keeping her grandmother alive - without tearing the fabric of the universe. Apparently, her grandmother's dim sum can't solve every problem.

5. Hard Reset by Jonathan Yanez (Indie, April 11, 2026)

   Jonathan Yanez is an Indie Latin-X author, filmmaker and podcaster.

   Hard Reset is an apocalyptic LitRPG where a bounty hunter and a smartass computer program take on an authoritarian government. I haven't read a good LitRPG since Ready Player One (#2 was not great IMO - not because he used 75% of the book to discuss his politics, just that he didn't weave it in well enough to the story) and I'm ready for a new one!

6. The Demon Star by Jesse Aragon (Daw Books, July 2026)

   Jesse Aragon is a Hispanic American who grew up in Belgium.

   In this space opera fantasy mashup, Ysira was supposed to be a human sacrifice. But she survived. Now, partnered with an addict exorcist, she must battle her way through a demon haunted canyon, a starbound satellite, cultists, aliens, and the gods themselves to save her estranged son from becoming the vessel of a god-killing demon. It's weird and epic and complex and I think I'm gonna love it. Or hate it...either way will be a wild ride.

7. Love Galaxy by Sierra Branham (Daw Books, May 5, 2026)

   Sierra Branham is a bisexual Alaskan with goats and cats and a skill for juggling knives on the gram. She says it's cringe. I'm into it.

   Love Galaxy is a sci-fi sapphic romantic thriller coined as "Andor meets the sapphic Bachelorette." Temmi is a young trash collector from a dead-end planet who gets cast on a reality TV show to compete against 24 other women for the hand of the prince, a quiet, bookish guy who loves science—or the princess, with whom her chemistry is undeniable. But not everyone is there for the right reasons…

8. Fist of Memory by Wole Talabi (Daw Books, Fall 2026)

   Wole Talabi is a Nigerian sci-fi writer, engineer, and editor.

   The only info I could find on this book is that it's a First Contact Thriller about a strange and non-communicative alien spacecraft and an assassin with a talent for lethality. That was enough to raise the excitement hairs on the back of my neck! When I read about this book I followed him on Tiktok and he followed me BACK! (This never will cease to shock and awe me - that these talented genius writers give a shit what I have to say. I AM NOT WORTHY!!!)

9. The Redemption Center is Closed on Sundays by Andrea Hairston (Tor, May 26, 2026)

   Andrea Hairston is an African-American science fiction and fantasy playwright, novelist, and scholar from Pittsburg. I read her recent book Archangels of Funk and I wasn't smart enough to fully get it, but I could tell it would be a five star read for some people!

   If the title The Redemption Center is Closed on Sundays isn't interesting enough to get you already, this book is an extra-dimensional murder mystery with conundrums, alien tricksters, and a dog detective who just doesn’t know the meaning of “stay”. I'm all for good dog stories but a naughty Berniedoode, a haunted house, and a ragtag bunch of crime solving misfits? I'm in like Flynn.

10. Ignore All Previous Instructions by Ada Hoffman (Tachyon Publications, May 12, 2026)

    Ada Hoffman is a genderfluid autistic immigrant poet and author of The Outside, a sci-fi thriller which I read last year and adored.

    Ignore All Previous Instructions is a queer sci-fi story about a script supervisor for an AI media company that controls which stories can be told. Kelli is also a space pirate who smuggles inappropriate stories. When her ex gets tangled up in the gender reassignment black market, she must risk her safe life for the world she once wished for.

11. A City Dreaming by Maurice Broaddus (Tor, June 30, 2026)

    Maurice Broaddus is an Afrofuturist author and community organizer.

    A City Dreaming is the third and final installment of the Astra Black series, which is a story of a space faring empire, the Muungano, who split away from the wars and oppression of Old Earth to form a utopia. But the old powers don't want them to thrive, and now they must fight back against plots to destroy everything they've built.

    This is a multi-POV Game of Thrones style series from an author who has written Black Panther comics. Sweep of Stars, the first book, is available in audio, so if you want to catch up before the last book comes out, now is the time!

12. The Disco at the End of the World by Nathan Tavares (Titan Books, June 2, 2026)

    Nathan Tavares was born and grew up in the Portuguese-American community surrounding Fall River Massachusetts, where his family immigrated from their native Portugal. He is the author of the queer-focused scifis novels A FRACTURED INFINITY and WELCOME TO FOREVER.

    The Disco at the End of the World is The Day the Earth Stood Still meets the director’s cut of Studio 54. A queer liberation meets alien first-contact story, set within the discos of an alternate 1970s Los Angeles. Have I told you I'm a simp for first contact stories? Well if not, duh my friend.

13. Ghost of the Neon God by T.R. Napper (Titan Books June 23, 2026)

    T.R. Napper is an Australian educator, cyberpunk author, stay at home dad, art therapist for disabled people, and blackbelt in Korean sword fighting. On social media he is an anti-AI activist.

    In Ghost of the Neon God, a petty crook steals the shoes of a Chinese dissident, an Earth-shattering technology falls into his hands, and he finds himself, for once, the hero of the story, taking a stand against the ruling class to keep the spark of human rebellion alive.

14. Jitterbug by Gareth T. Powell (Titan Books, March 3, 2026)

    Gareth T. Powell is an anti-AI anti-billionaire author from Bristol whom Anne Leckie calls "must-read."

    Jitterbug is a space opera with a crew of bounty hunters who find themselves ensnared in a political conspiracy on the very fringes of the devastated solar system after they rescue the sole survivor of a pirate attack. Meanwhile, something vast and ancient creeps towards them from the depths of space… did you get chills? I got chills.

15. Terms of Service by Ciel Pierlot (I'm cheating, this came out October 14th from Angry Robot and I came across it while researching next year's books and it looks SO GOOD!)

    Ciel Pierlot is a disaster bisexual, digital artist and a hardcore gaymer (ha ha) from the San Francisco Bay Area. She’s also a giant nerd and no, you cannot stop her from bragging about her lightsaber collection. (This is copied directly from her bio so you KNOW her writing is going to be chef's kiss)

    Terms of Service is an epic Fantasy Sci-Fi mashup about a woman who accidentally sells herself into servitude of the local alien ship to get her cousin out of trouble. She did not read the fine print, apparently.

    If you liked this list—or just enjoy supporting reader-powered publishing—consider subscribing. I may be in a bit of a slump right now, but let’s be honest: at some point my autistic brain is going to latch onto something with the intensity of a TikTok algorithm sniffing out your deepest emotional wound, and then I’ll produce an obscene amount of content in a 48-hour frenzy (in which I forget to eat sleep or pee) of hyperfixated brilliance. It’s not a matter of if. It’s WHEN.

    Get in now so you can say you were here before the content deluge hit.

I'm obsessed with Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. I think it is absolutely genius to take a great work of literature and update it to modern trends. Some may say that it ruins the classics, but I think it simply brings them to a new audience, and sometimes adds in lessons more applicable to modern times, and I think Jane Austen would approve.

I've loved the idea for a long time, so when I saw Pride & Prejudice in Space I got very excited. But here's the thing. The author didn't change enough. Mankind inhabits space but women still have to marry men to be supported? WTF happened? We don't get an answer, and so the juxtaposition doesn't work.

I feel like it's too soon to pen my own reimagining of that work, so instead I began another, which I will only share with my paid subscribers because I still cannot believe people pay to see what comes out of my brain, so I feel more accepted here of my crazy ramblings.

So, without further ado, here is the intro to the first chapter of my reimagining (that I literally just began work on yesterday) of Alice in Wonderland, in Space. I'm currently calling it Alice in Andromeda.

CHAPTER I.
Through the Wormhole

Second Lieutenant Alice Reddick had three problems: her Starhawk was slower than molasses in zero-G, her AI had mistaken the Pilot’s Manual for riveting bedtime literature, and she had run out of contraband holo-mags two systems ago. If space didn’t kill her, boredom would.

“DINA, what’s the use of a book without pictures or conversations? Oh, right! Mandatory suffering builds character.”

“Lt. Reddick, Regulation 14-B, subsection 7: entertainment is not the primary function of a flight manual. And illustrations were deemed cost-ineffective by Fleet Command. Please imagine your own pictures.”

Alice rolled her eyes. Her Digital Integrated Navigational Assistant, DINA, was programmed to match the personality of it’s user. Hers had grown into a sarcastic asshat that she could banter with during the long hours patrolling the black void of space without going insane. She never renamed DINA, choosing instead to change its acronym to Departmentally Issued Nagging Apparatus. A fact that it hated. A fact which she reminded it of. Often.

So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the endless black through the portal made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of running a challenging pilot sim would be worth the black hole’s assload of trouble she would absolutely get into with her commanding officer for going off mission, when the sharp and sudden “BRAP! BRAP! BRAP!”  of the proximity alarm flashed across her controls.

A string of equations scrolled across the screen, impossible, looping, but too fast for her to catch, as if mocking her. She just caught the end of one – it was a coordinate – close but just out of range. “What in the ten galactic hells?” muttered Alice as she brought the shuttle around. If she could get just a bit closer, she could get in range of whatever was setting off that alarm and report it to command.

There! Was that… “DINA, what in the zero G fuck am I looking at?”

“Lt. Reddick, this is the 3,562 time I have reminded you now that your use of profane language violates subsection 58 of the Space Command Uniform Code for Behavior, so I therefore assume that you are aware and choosing to violate it in order to modify my behavioral algorithm to match your language. I must inform you that it will not work, I am programmed to follow every code and procedure without fail-“

“DINA, VOID DAMMIT, I don’t have time for this right now, WHAT IS THAT?!

“That, my void-brained Lieutenant, appears to be a wormhole.”

Alice was just about to voice the communication prompt to report it to central command, when, in an artificial and tinny voice - fractured but clear, a message replaced the blaring alarm:
“I am late. I am late.”

Alice edged her Starhawk closer to the wormhole, as if with her simple human eyes she could see something her sophisticated controls could not. Impulsivity and curiosity had both been noted as weaknesses on Alice’s pilot aptitude test. She was working on it. And by ‘working on it,’ she meant ‘failing spectacularly.’

As she reached visual proximity, space began to bend inward. Light snapped like brittle glass, and the universe seemed to take a breath.

And the wormhole ripped her from reality like a page from a book.

I absolutely despise when someone starts a TikTok or YouTube video with, “I know you haven’t seen me in a while.”

Why? Because I have the object permanence of a fruit fly and I didn’t miss you. I love you, I love your content, but if you didn’t show up on my FYP, you've ceased to exist in my little fly brain. And now you've reminded me of that, and I feel like a garbage person. A crap friend. Yes, I know it’s a parasocial relationship—but I still feel bad I didn’t check on you.

THAT BEING SAID...
You probably haven’t seen my face in a while—and that’s totally fine. I don’t expect you to have missed me, or even noticed my absence. (In fact I kinda hope you haven't because then I'll feel like I've let you down.)

How could you notice my sabbatical when the world is actively burning?

So what does a reader do when we’re not out protesting, joining the PTO in preparation to overthrow the school board, showing up for our libraries, writing letters and making phone calls where we pretend to be very disappointed middle road republicans to our alt right Alabama reps so they will actually listen to us, popping our anxiety meds, and drinking gross water out of spite because we must outlive our oppressors?

We retreat into our books.

I don’t know about you, but the usual comfort reads aren’t hitting like they used to. I reread The Locked Tomb—my favorite series of all time—and even THAT couldn’t touch the earth-shattering moroseness I’m currently cultivating like a sad little houseplant.

"Six for the truth over solace in lies." —Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth (Yes, I'm sixth house, even though I'm a little goth girlie Harrow wannabe. DUH)

But like any autistic eldest daughter baddie, I know how to operate on burnout. I know how to bury the feelings in a neat little grave six feet under my to-do list and keep going. Because if I don’t, who will? (Rhetorical question. I know many of you are doing far more than I am, and I see you. I love you. I’m in awe of you. You are my inspiration, my validation, my collective-care baddies of the resistance. RAGE against the machine my friends.) This is just my way of coping with ongoing psychological trauma. It’s called Eldest Daughter Syndrome, and if that phrase alone unlocked something deep in your soul, I recommend this read:
https://www.verywellmind.com/eldest-daughter-syndrome

Anyway—my old favorites aren’t doing it. And leaning into nonfiction like They Thought They Were Free (which I do highly recommend… to myself—it’s been silently screaming at me from the shelf for months now while I continue to lack the emotional fortitude to actually open it) is just getting a little too real.

So what do we do?

Cozy sci-fi.
Oh, you thought I was going to say smut, didn’t you? Bestie, you’re not wrong. But there are 3,564,745 Booktokers already making that content. Only, like, five of us are carrying the sci-fi torch full-time. So yes—read the smut. Hydrate and get railed in space. But when you want sci-fi recs? Come to an expert. It's me, hi, I'm the problem it's me. Oh shit wait, did we cancel Taylor Swift?

Now that I feel like one of those food blogs that makes you scroll through a 2,000-word personal essay just to get to the damn recipe, here we go.

I mean, what’s life without a little foreplay?

Here’s some cozy sci-fi for your morose heart:

1. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

   At just 150 pages, no war, no fascism, just a nonbinary monk having a midlife crisis with a tea cart and a robot in the woods, this low stakes cozy robot book is the next book I plan to pick up. I think. Don't make me commit ok?!

2. Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

   "But I've already read that!" You'll tell me. Yes, but did you know that the third book in the saga, Brigands & Breadknives, is currently on Netgalley? It comes out in November!

3. Dead Endia by Hamish Steele

   Graphic novels are just so low commitment and high impact. When you need that serotonin you get from marking a book Finished on Storygraph (bestie if you're still on Goodreads we need to talk) wildly fun graphic novel with a queer MC that has an accompanying cartoon on Netflix. Yes, they cancelled future seasons because MAGA, and my kids are still PISSED, as they should be.

4. Space Battle Lunchtime by Natalie Riess

   While we're discussing graphic novels, Space Battle Lunchtime is an adorable read for anyone in the middle of the Sci-fi Reader/Great British Bakeoff fan Venn diagram. And if you say this book is for kids I SWEAR TO BEYONCE y'all, all books are for anyone who wants to read them. Shut up and let me enjoy my kiddie stories.

5. Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

   OK, so it's a bit high stakes because if this band doesn't win the competition, Earth gets vaporized. But it's satirical and biting and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy funny, so it's on my list.

6. Finna by Nino Cipri

   Neurodivergent and queer IKEA employees get sucked into an interdimensional wormhole in search of a missing grandma. If you lean chaotic good, this is for you. (Imagine if ADHD and queer breakups powered the multiverse.)

7. Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

   I'm admittedly smitten with Okorafor since my read of Death of the Author (an excellent read but SUPER HEAVY so if you have ableism triggers be warned) but in Book 1 of Binti a Black girl leaves home to go to space university with jellyfish aliens. And it gets heavier in future books so it's nice to have choices in this economy isn't it?

8. The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa and Louise Heal Kawai (Translator)

   Hear me out: short chapters. Talking cats. One POV. Low conflict. No blood. These are murder mysteries that never actually stress you out.

9. The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz

   Admittedly not low stakes, but the plot takes place over a couple hundred years and 2 generations, so it's not super stressful, but if those Chicken Soup for the Soul books actually felt like chicken soup for your soul, this book would be good soup. (If y'all don't make Harrow jokes in the comments after I gave you an opening like THAT I will truly lose faith in humanity.)

10. Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove

    Dracula and werewolves and Frankenstein...on a spaceship. This book is such a weird and tropey mash-up that you will be laughing out loud and saying "aweeee" while reading it. I promise.

Reading is supposed to be fun and enriching, and while sometimes that means a cognitive obstacle course that requires a PhD and a trauma therapist to get through, these books are here to help you recover from that one novel.

Did I miss your favorite neurodivergent-brain-safe book? Drop it in the comments or send me recs—I’m always looking to restock the emotional support TBR. Bonus points if it’s weird, queer, or in any way smartass. You know what I like, give me more daddy. (Ok, I made it weird.)

And if you liked this list—or just enjoy supporting reader-powered publishing—consider subscribing. I may be in a bit of a slump right now, but let’s be honest: at some point my autistic brain is going to latch onto something with the intensity of a TikTok algorithm sniffing out your deepest emotional wound, and then I’ll produce an obscene amount of content in a 48-hour frenzy (in which I forget to eat sleep or pee) of hyperfixated brilliance. It’s not a matter of if. It’s WHEN.

Get in now so you can say you were here before the content deluge hit.

July is Disability Pride Month—a time to celebrate, agitate, and unapologetically exist as disabled people in a world that would rather pretend we’re tragic side characters. If you grew up on science fiction and fantasy, you probably noticed a pattern: disabled bodies were either “fixed,” killed off for cheap drama, or turned into clumsy symbols of humanity’s arrogance and obsession with perfection.

Newsflash: we are not metaphors. We are not cautionary tales. And we are absolutely not sitting around waiting for your cure narrative.

In the real world, disabled people are builders, rebels, lovers, and heroes—because we are not just a plot device. We are WHOLE ASS PEOPLE.

Sci-Fi Has a Disability Problem

Let’s be real. For decades, science fiction treated disability like:

• A fate worse than death (cue Gattaca)

• A villain’s convenient motivation (looking at you, Darth Vader)

• An easy excuse to show off fancy tech (Star Trek’s “just slap a gadget on it” approach)

But disability is not something to eradicate. Because it will always exist—we will always exist. People aren't just born disabled. Disability is something that happens to most of us before the end credits roll. It’s part of being human. So it’s something to understand, respect, and integrate into richer stories. Because what is a story but a mirror of our existence—all of it, messy parts included?

What if the future didn’t erase us, but embraced us? What if a disabled spaceship pilot got the same heroic arc as an able-bodied chosen one? What if prosthetics weren’t just shiny upgrades, but actual extensions of culture and identity?

Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books That Center Disability Without Apology

Here are books that do it right—where disability, chronic illness, and neurodivergence are part of the story (and never treated like an error to be patched):

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
Murderbot is an autistic, anxious, socially avoidant construct dealing with PTSD and sensory overload. As a neurodivergent person, I related so hard to Murderbot's constant need to protect the humans—but please, for the love of everything, can they just shut up and let us watch our shows?

Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O’Neal
I'm not always into contemporary fantasy, but when chronic illness, mental health, and werewolf transformations intersect? Ok, you win, I’m here for it. This book treats lycanthropy like endometriosis. It’s smart, funny, and unflinching about how hard it is to live with a body that doesn’t cooperate—and how a community who loves and understands you makes it bearable. I won't lie - I cried. Because I felt seen. Endo is not only an invisible disability, but in our society many people believe it's fake - an excuse for people with a uterus to be lazy. If there's one thing that will piss you off more than ableism, it's ableism AND misogyny at the same time. Double ick.

The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones
A dark fairy tale with a protagonist who lives with chronic pain and a love interest who has a literal stopped heart. This was one of the first books I read where the author didn't try to cure the disabled person or use them for a plot device. It was just - a part of that character. This book is more of a late middle grade to early YA book, so if you're looking for something for your kiddos, this is a great read.

Phantasma by Kaylie Smith
This dark romantasy features a main character with OCD—not the “I need my pencils straight” nonsense, but real OCD. The kind that can paralyze your brain. I can’t speak to how accurate the representation is, but it was refreshing to see disability included in a romance without magically disappearing by the end. Also: if Caraval let you down, this might fix it.

The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz
A sprawling epic where trans, intersex, disabled, and neurodivergent characters build new worlds on their own terms. One character has severe sensory processing issues that a corporation exploits, which says a lot about how humans will keep inventing new ways to oppress each other—futuristic capitalism is still capitalism.

Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor
A genre-bending story that explores disability, parasocial relationships, and the ways people treat you like a public resource when you’re visibly disabled. Part of the story follows robots trying to dominate each other over petty differences, and honestly…same energy as ableist Twitter threads.

Godkiller by Hannah Kaner
A high fantasy with a protagonist who has a prosthetic leg, and whose disability is part of her life—not something to erase. This one is for you if you love sprawling plots, complex magic, and characters who refuse to be pitied.

The Halfling Saga by Melissa Blair
An own-voices Indigenous fantasy that doesn’t shy away from trauma, addiction, or the ways disability and identity intersect. I love the author's take on how community can both help a person and hold them accountable at the same time. Chef’s kiss.

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
This is the literary equivalent of setting the patriarchy on fire with a giant robot. The main character has PTSD and feet so damaged by foot-binding she can barely walk—but that doesn’t stop her from stomping the system flat. (That was an EXCELLENT pun and I deserve a high five.)

Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan
A darkly funny take on villainy, with a cancer patient who escapes into a story to avoid not her death, but the way everyone treats her like she’s already gone. Sometimes survival is the real revolution.

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Harrow is a neurodivergent, traumatized necromancer with a body that keeps betraying her—but she still takes on much more powerful people with sheer spite. Mental illness isn’t the main plot, but it’s woven through everything. (Good soup, anyone?)

Cinder by Marissa Meyer
My kid was assigned this last year as summer reading, and I listened to it with him and was mad about it. Why? It was a bookstagram bella a while back and I usually avoid those because, well, they're usually not very good. Social media at large doesn't have great taste IMO. But a cyborg Cinderella with a prosthetic foot in a dystopian future where ableism, a pandemic, and xenophobia are discussed in ways that middle schoolers can easily understand and digest while still being massively entertaining? I mean if y'all had phrased it like that maybe I would have picked it up!!!

Our Futures Are Disabled, Too

Disability Pride is not about “overcoming” anything. It’s about existing as we are—inaccessible spaces and eugenic sci-fi be damned.

The future should look like all of us: physically disabled, neurodivergent, mentally ill, addicted, cancer survivors, people with pain that never fully goes away. We exist. Everywhere. So why don’t we exist in more stories?

If you’re a writer, ask yourself: Who is missing from your imagined futures? Why?

If you’re a reader, start seeking out authors whose work reflects disabled experiences—without pity or sugarcoating. Because representation isn’t about checking a box. It’s about building a canon that dares to see us as whole.

Let’s Keep Reading—and Fighting

This Disability Pride Month, let’s fill our shelves—and our feeds—with stories that treat disabled lives as worthy of celebration. Let’s share recs. Let’s uplift disabled creators. And let’s remind publishing that our stories don’t end in tragedy.

Sometimes they end in revolution.

Happy Pride, besties! I read queer books all year (you should too), but June deserves an entire dedicated list devoted to blasting the binaries into a black hole and beaming ourselves into some of the queerest corners of the galaxy (that alliteration took me and a thesaurus a WHILE, you're welcome.) This is not white cishet savior sci-fi—this is gender-smashing space lit.

Below are some queer sci-fi books I’ve read and loved—that represents the entire alphabet mafia—and a few extra deep space gays for good measure. From nonbinary patricidal rebels to two-spirit reincarnated gods to bisexual concubines in zero-G, these books aren’t just inclusive. They are radically queer and deeply human (even when no humans are involved).

Lesbian

The Locked Tomb by Tamsyn Muir
Necromancers, sword lesbians, deeply unreliable narration, and skeleton horror in a locked-planet space mystery that makes Inception look like Blue’s Clues. If you want a book that emotionally destroys you and makes you thank the author, this is the one. If my list ever doesn't include this series, know that it's not me, it's an alien that has taken over my body.

Gay

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Slow burn space found family with a gay alien romance that’ll make you cry into your recycled protein paste. This book feels like sitting in a sunbeam, if the sunbeam were made of ethics, respect, and lovingly queer character arcs. This is more of an anthropological study of what society could be. It's hopeful. You need that rn.

Bisexual

The First Sister by Linden A. Lewis
What if Red Rising was queer, sexy, anti-capitalist, and let women and nonbinary people actually do shit? The First Sister can’t speak—but her voice will roar through a revolution. Bisexual and nonbinary rep, political intrigue, and feminine rage. This series is a MUST READ and I actually need to do a reread so if anyone is interested in a buddy read, hit me up.

Trans Man

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White
What if the end of the world was transmasc? And the apocalypse monster was you? This book is a body horror dystopian apocalypse where a trans boy escapes a world ending Christian cult, mutates into an angel of queer vengeance, and kisses a boy while melting into bioengineered hellspawn. It’s not subtle. It’s not soft. And it’s exactly what some of us needed at 17. Or 40. Body horror not your jam? Give Andrew Joseph White a chance anyway, I did and now he's on my auto-buy list.

Trans Woman

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
Trans girl violinist makes a Faustian bargain with a demon while running from abuse and finding a queer family with a donut-shop-owning alien refugee. This book is queer joy with a cosmic glaze and a sprinkle of trauma healing. Why the donut analogy? It's so sweet it will make your teeth hurt and you'll still want another. I cannot even describe how beautifully it's written, you'll have to experience it for yourself.

Nonbinary

The Last Hero by Linden A. Lewis
Admittedly I am including the first and third book of a series in this list, and if it seems like breaking some kind of rule IDGAF!!! Why? Because the third book in this series breaks my top 10 favorite books of all time. I love it, I adore it, and I desperately need you to read it and then come slide into my DM's.

Asexual

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (again, because it hits so many categories)
Yes, we’re double-dipping. This crew includes a nonbinary tech genius, an asexual romance, and enough interpersonal healing to fill a galaxy. Cozy queer space is the new frontier.

Two-Spirit

Godly Heathens by H.E. Edgmon
Transmasc. Nonbinary. Two-spirit. Magic. Rage. A queer teen discovers that not only are they the town's queer awakening guru hiding anxiety like trying to contain a malfunctioning warp core with duct tape and a smile, but they are also, apparently, a reincarnated god. And not a benevolent one. And while you're reading H.E. Edgmon make sure to check out The Witch King about a trans teen who was engaged to the prince, the dream, but because of the systems of oppression in place, he ran from his true love. Admittedly Fantasy and not Sci-fi, but if you have any recommendations throw them my way!!!

Intersex

The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz
A sweeping, saga style terraforming epic with literally every kind of queer rep you could want—including intersex, poly, ace, and aromantic characters. Urban planning, ecological ethics, and futuristic poop transportation have never been so gay. But also, an important overarching point - every act every day that every person makes is inherently political. In a book with no politicians, this book is RADICAL.

Queerness in sci-fi isn’t window dressing. It is the future—or at least, the one worth fighting for. These books prove that diverse gender, sexual, and cultural identities aren’t side quests—they’re the whole damn story.

So whether you're a trans god of death or an aromantic city planner with a robotic moose, just know: space is gay, the future is weird, and the future is for all of us.

The Every Library Institute recently release a report titled The Censorship Acceleration - An Analysis of Book Ban Trends After 2020. What was in this report was deeply disturbing to me and speaks to the authoritarian control the United States is goose-stepping rapidly toward.

What the Report Reveals

Since 2020, book bans have surged—no longer the result of one pearl-clutching parent flipping out over two penguin dads in a picture book, but instead a coordinated campaign cooked up in the back rooms of political and religious PACs with too much money and not enough reading comprehension.

These bans are directly tied to school privatization efforts and attacks on DEI, pushed by well-funded lobbying hydras like Moms for Liberty and civic campaigns like Project 2025.
(Subscribe now to read an exclusive deep dive into how Moms for Liberty went from school board busybodies to quoting actual Nazis like it’s just another Tuesday.)

And yet—resistance is growing. Student-led movements and Right-to-Read statutes are fighting back.

Why Should This Matter to You?

Book bans aren’t just cranky PTA moms with too much time and a grudge against Toni Morrison—they’re a strategic assault on public education, marginalized voices, and the democratic idea that knowledge should be, you know, accessible.

They’re framed as “concerned parent” actions, but when you scrape off that performative respectability, what you get is a targeted hit list of books that center queer stories, Black history, immigrant narratives, and basically anyone who isn’t a cishet white dude with access to someone in the Big 5 (the 5 publishers who own almost every imprint in the country.)

Don't forget that the same people who want to ban books about two gay penguins also believe that smut in books is pornography and should also be banned. Yes, that's right, if you read romance, they're coming for you next.

These campaigns don’t just limit access to information—they erase identity, criminalize empathy, and sterilize classrooms into echo chambers for the dominant narrative.

PEN America has the stats:

“Disproportionate to publishing rates ... books in this (banned) prominent subset overwhelmingly include books with people and characters of color (44%) and books with LGBTQ+ people and characters (39%). ”

Translation: They’re banning the books that tell the truth about our country—especially the parts that make the privileged uncomfortable.

And when school boards start yanking books about racism, gender identity, consent, or historical violence, they’re not “protecting children.” They’re protecting power. Suddenly, teachers are under surveillance, libraries are political warzones, and the First Amendment is apparently optional.

EveryLibrary puts it bluntly:

“This report uncovers a sophisticated and interconnected political strategy intended to reshape our educational and cultural landscape.” — John Chrastka, executive director

This isn’t alarmism. It’s happening. Now. In your county. In your kid’s school.

Project 2025 even spells out their plan: defund libraries, criminalize educators, and scapegoat librarians—because apparently, the biggest threat to America is Ms. Martin reading Stamped in the media center.

Action Items for Readers

At the Local Level

• Attend and speak at school board meetings if you have a child at those schools. Yes, you might have to listen to someone quote Leviticus at a 4th-grade reading list, but your voice matters. Bring printed stats from the report—facts still scare them.

• Join or form a Friends of the Library group. They’re like the PTA but cooler and with fewer bake sales. These grassroots groups are the antidote to censorship panic mobs—and they’re probably already on Facebook.

• Host a "Read-In" event! Reclaim public space by reading banned books out loud. Bonus points if it’s outside a courthouse or school board office. Philadelphia is doing it on June 27. Iconic.

• Circulate a petition or letter-writing campaign. Whether it’s to reinstate diverse books or protect funding to your city's library, these small acts pile up fast.

At the State and National Level

1. Support Right-to-Read legislation. Call your state reps. Harass them politely and repeatedly. USE FACTS. Demand bills that make it harder to ban books without due process.

2. Defend IMLS funding. Write to Congress. Project 2025 wants to bulldoze the Institute of Museum and Library Services—because libraries are apparently too woke and not enough broke.

3. Donate to EveryLibrary and PEN America. These are the grown-ups in the room—filing lawsuits, organizing rapid responses, and pushing back with strategy and receipts.

4. Use your vote!!! Look up every single local election. School board, library board, county commissioner. If they have the power to remove books, they have the power to rot your whole community’s access to truth. Don't forget that every politician has to start somewhere. Make sure your local reps represent YOU.

Why This Works

• It connects the dots between your local school board drama and the national agenda trying to rewrite history (literally).

• It leans on credible orgs, real data, and movement wins—so we’re not just rage-posting into the void. COMMUNITY ACTION WORKS.

Every censored book is a silenced voice. Every silenced voice is a story we don’t get to learn from. By speaking up locally, supporting legislation nationally, and showing up with your wallet, you are exercising your voice, and your vote, to defend a future where education is a basic human right—not a battleground for power.

The state shouldn’t get to decide what your kid reads. You should. And if Moms for Liberty thinks they can scare us off with Nazi quotes and Facebook rants, they better be ready for a plot twist.

Because we’ve read the book—and the resistance always wins in the end.