Soul Jar
Thirty-One Fantastical Tales by Disabled Authors
Too often, science fiction and fantasy stories erase — or cure — characters with disabilities. Soul Jar, edited by author and bookstore owner Annie Carl, features thirty-one stories by disabled authors, imagining such wonders as a shapeshifter on a first date, skin that sprouts orchid buds, and a cereal-box demon. An insulin pump diverts an undead mob. An autistic teen sets out to discover the local cranberry bog’s sinister secret. A pizza delivery on Mars goes wrong. This thrillingly peculiar collection sparkles with humour, heart, and insight, all within the context of disability representation.
Editor Annie Carl was born with a rare spinal birth-defect (lipomeningomyelocele) and is a Stage IV Non-Hodgkins survivor. She owns and runs The Neverending Bookshop in Edmonds, Wash. She is the author of My Tropey Life: How Pop Culture Stereotypes Make Disabled Lives Harder and the novella Nebula Vibrations. When not running an award-winning bookstore, Annie reads massive quantities of science fiction, fantasy, and romance; pole dances; knits; and hangs out with her goofy family and friends.
Nicola Griffith is the author of the award-winning books Hild, Spear, and So Lucky, among others. Her essays, opinion pieces, reviews, and short fiction have appeared in an assortment of academic texts and a variety of journals and media outlets, including the New York Times, Nature, New Scientist, Los Angeles Review of Books, NPR, Electric Lit, Literary Hub, and Out.
