Scan barcode
caitgauthor's review against another edition
I know it might seem a little unusual that I'm writing a review, because I'm one of the co-editors of this anthology, but I just have to say I am also a major fan of these authors. I couldn't be prouder of their work. Nothing Without Us shows just what a game-changer it is when authors who identify as disabled, Deaf, neurodiverse, Spoonie, and/or mentally ill write their own fiction, with protagonists who reflect their identity. The motto of this anthology is: "We are the heroes, not the sidekicks." Talia and I felt it was time to invite disabled/Deaf authors to write main characters who would be the stars of the show, and wow, did our contributors ever come through.
These stories are written "by us and for us," but I would encourage everyone to read them.
These stories are written "by us and for us," but I would encourage everyone to read them.
justgeekingby's review against another edition
4.0
Originally posted on Just Geeking by.
I reviewed this book as part of GeekDis 2022 an event discussing disability representation in pop culture from the perspective of the disabled and neurodivergent community.
Content warnings:
I hadn’t realised just how much I needed an anthology like Nothing Without Us until I read it. As disabled author Derek Newman-Stille says in his brilliant foreword “these stories are fictional, but they tell truths that can’t be expressed in simple […] tales”. I’ve felt seen in other books by disabled authors, however, I have never felt completely at home in a book. There’s always that feeling in other books that they’re not completely for a disabled audience, that some part of the story has to be written in a way that it appeals to a non-disabled audience because otherwise the book won’t sell. I felt this especially the other day when a bookstragrammer I was following showed their annotations of one of my favourite books with a disabled character and not a single annotation included a scene about her chronic illness. I don’t think they probably even noticed that they had done it.
You can’t read Nothing Without Us and be in any doubt that these stories are about disabled and/or neurodivergent characters. The stories, the characters, the situations and the ableism is vibrantly there for all to see and there are no words to describe how liberating it was to read them. There is no holding back, no playing to a non-disabled audience and the writers’ experience bleeds through onto the pages. These fictional stories and characters give voice to experiences, and feelings that so many of the disabled and neurodivergent community will recognise.
Normally when I review an anthology I do a breakdown of each story, however, this time I feel that each of these stories should be experienced fully first hand. I am going to share some of my favourites with you briefly.
There is the wonderfully heartfelt ‘The Bellwoods Golem’ by Myriad Augustine which is the first story in the book, the clever ‘The Descent’ by Jamieson Wolf, the phenomenal science fiction story ‘Bug Hunt’ by Joanna Marsh, the poignant ghost story ‘Search and Seizure’ by Shannon Barnsley and the incredible ‘The Case of the Silenco Scientist‘ by Maverick Smith. I could keep going because to be honest, this is an anthology of the highest calibre and all the stories in Nothing Without Us are brilliant in their own right. I had to stop myself several times from adding just one more to that list because I’d add another, then another. They are all that good.
The editing is also superb, with the selection and placing of the stories being perfect. I tend to find that the story order in most anthologies falls flat but Cait Gordon and Talia C. Johnson have curated Nothing Without Us very well. Just as ‘The Bellwoods Golem’ is the perfect start to the anthology, the final story ‘Charity™’ by Derek Newman-Stille is a poignant end that leaves the reader with a lot of things to think about after they have finished the book.
In Nothing Without Us you’ll find stories of various genres, characters from multiple backgrounds, ages, and identities. This is an inclusive and intersectional anthology that celebrates, gives voice to and represents disabled and neurodivergent people, and it’s a must-read.
Here is a full list of the stories and the disability and/or neurodivergent representation in each one:
The Bellwoods Golem by Myriad Augustine – Chronic illness
Knit One, Purl Two by Carolyn Charron – Arthritis
Names by Jennifer Lee Rossman – Neurodivergent
Mafia Butterfly by Raymond Luczak – Deaf and Deaf Community
Dress Rehearsal by Nicole Zelniker – Cancer
The Descent by Jamieson Wolf – Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Bug Hunt by Joanna Marsh – ADHD, Autism, Schizophrenia, Sensory processing disorder (SPD)
Oliver Gutierrez and the Walking Stick of Destiny by Elliot Dunstan – Mobility aids, hearing aids, Deaf, Rheumatoid Arthritis
Crutch. Cage, Sword, Kerfuffle by Dorothy Ellen Palmer – Miscarriage
Iron Bone by J. Ivanel Johnson – Spondylolisthesis
Sometimes you… by Tonya Liburd – Schizophrenic
Search and Seizure by Shannon Barnsley – Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia (PoTS)
Backbone by Madona Skaff – Wheelchair user (disability not named)
The Case of the Silenco Scientist by Maverick Smith – Deaf
Flight by George Zancola – Mental Health
Panic in Paradise by Diane Koerner – Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS), migraines, PTSD
The Blessing Cookies by Laurie Stewart – Depression, Chronic Pain
Jungle Demon by Tom Johnson – Mental Health
The Living Among the Dead by Tasha Fierce – Paralysed
Alone by Nathan Fréchette – Dissociative identity disorder, Cancer
No Room at the Inn by Emily Gillespie – Mental Health
Charity™ by Derek Newman-Stille – Amputees, prosthetics, mobility aids
BLOG | REVIEWS | REVIEW SCHEDULE | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | PINTEREST |
I reviewed this book as part of GeekDis 2022 an event discussing disability representation in pop culture from the perspective of the disabled and neurodivergent community.
Content warnings:
Spoiler
This anthology contains stories that feature scenes of ableism, internal ableism, racism, and homoism. There are scenes of death on and off page with several stories containing deaths of loved ones from cancer. One story, ‘Crutch. Cage, Sword, Kerfuffle’ by Dorothy Ellen Palmer, is about a miscarriage and contains a very violent and visceral scene which may be disturbing for anyone who has been touched by the loss of a child (I know it was for me personally).I hadn’t realised just how much I needed an anthology like Nothing Without Us until I read it. As disabled author Derek Newman-Stille says in his brilliant foreword “these stories are fictional, but they tell truths that can’t be expressed in simple […] tales”. I’ve felt seen in other books by disabled authors, however, I have never felt completely at home in a book. There’s always that feeling in other books that they’re not completely for a disabled audience, that some part of the story has to be written in a way that it appeals to a non-disabled audience because otherwise the book won’t sell. I felt this especially the other day when a bookstragrammer I was following showed their annotations of one of my favourite books with a disabled character and not a single annotation included a scene about her chronic illness. I don’t think they probably even noticed that they had done it.
You can’t read Nothing Without Us and be in any doubt that these stories are about disabled and/or neurodivergent characters. The stories, the characters, the situations and the ableism is vibrantly there for all to see and there are no words to describe how liberating it was to read them. There is no holding back, no playing to a non-disabled audience and the writers’ experience bleeds through onto the pages. These fictional stories and characters give voice to experiences, and feelings that so many of the disabled and neurodivergent community will recognise.
Normally when I review an anthology I do a breakdown of each story, however, this time I feel that each of these stories should be experienced fully first hand. I am going to share some of my favourites with you briefly.
There is the wonderfully heartfelt ‘The Bellwoods Golem’ by Myriad Augustine which is the first story in the book, the clever ‘The Descent’ by Jamieson Wolf, the phenomenal science fiction story ‘Bug Hunt’ by Joanna Marsh, the poignant ghost story ‘Search and Seizure’ by Shannon Barnsley and the incredible ‘The Case of the Silenco Scientist‘ by Maverick Smith. I could keep going because to be honest, this is an anthology of the highest calibre and all the stories in Nothing Without Us are brilliant in their own right. I had to stop myself several times from adding just one more to that list because I’d add another, then another. They are all that good.
The editing is also superb, with the selection and placing of the stories being perfect. I tend to find that the story order in most anthologies falls flat but Cait Gordon and Talia C. Johnson have curated Nothing Without Us very well. Just as ‘The Bellwoods Golem’ is the perfect start to the anthology, the final story ‘Charity™’ by Derek Newman-Stille is a poignant end that leaves the reader with a lot of things to think about after they have finished the book.
In Nothing Without Us you’ll find stories of various genres, characters from multiple backgrounds, ages, and identities. This is an inclusive and intersectional anthology that celebrates, gives voice to and represents disabled and neurodivergent people, and it’s a must-read.
Here is a full list of the stories and the disability and/or neurodivergent representation in each one:
The Bellwoods Golem by Myriad Augustine – Chronic illness
Knit One, Purl Two by Carolyn Charron – Arthritis
Names by Jennifer Lee Rossman – Neurodivergent
Mafia Butterfly by Raymond Luczak – Deaf and Deaf Community
Dress Rehearsal by Nicole Zelniker – Cancer
The Descent by Jamieson Wolf – Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Bug Hunt by Joanna Marsh – ADHD, Autism, Schizophrenia, Sensory processing disorder (SPD)
Oliver Gutierrez and the Walking Stick of Destiny by Elliot Dunstan – Mobility aids, hearing aids, Deaf, Rheumatoid Arthritis
Crutch. Cage, Sword, Kerfuffle by Dorothy Ellen Palmer – Miscarriage
Iron Bone by J. Ivanel Johnson – Spondylolisthesis
Sometimes you… by Tonya Liburd – Schizophrenic
Search and Seizure by Shannon Barnsley – Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia (PoTS)
Backbone by Madona Skaff – Wheelchair user (disability not named)
The Case of the Silenco Scientist by Maverick Smith – Deaf
Flight by George Zancola – Mental Health
Panic in Paradise by Diane Koerner – Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS), migraines, PTSD
The Blessing Cookies by Laurie Stewart – Depression, Chronic Pain
Jungle Demon by Tom Johnson – Mental Health
The Living Among the Dead by Tasha Fierce – Paralysed
Alone by Nathan Fréchette – Dissociative identity disorder, Cancer
No Room at the Inn by Emily Gillespie – Mental Health
Charity™ by Derek Newman-Stille – Amputees, prosthetics, mobility aids
mostlyvoidpartiallystars's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
wrightra6's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.25
authorjendesmarais's review
5.0
There were so many stories in this that I absolutely adored that I don't think I can pick a favourite! It was amazing and powerful to read all these own-voice stories and recognize myself in some of them.
miramichireader's review
4.0
A very interesting collection of short stories written by/for/about those with physical/social/mental issues, who they feel are underrepresented in contemporary literature. Some very good stories here, some average, but all will make you think.
linday_vikki's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Nothing Without Us, is a short story anthology edited by Cait Gordon and Talia C. Johnson. The anthology is a collection of stories about and by members of the disabled community. The short stories in the collection are both realist and speculative fiction, ranging in genres. The stories in the book give agency to characters who would otherwise not be considered to be ‘traditional’ protagonists. The most enjoyable part of the anthology is that as the stories written by members of the disabled community about characters who are also in the disabled community their stories are more than the standard ‘inspiration porn’ styled content that is very prevalent in narratives surrounding disabled characters. The disability itself takes a background role to the driving narratives of the stories. This gives representation to the community that doesn’t fit into the common or ‘appropriate’ roles assigned to the disabled community within literature. Nothing Without Us was published by the group Renaissance: Diverse Canadian Voices. A publishing group that works to publish stories that do not target a particular genre, niche or demographic, particularly giving space for voices from marginalized groups. Nothing Without Us is a testament to this mission statement. The editors encouraged the writers of the short story to not target an able bodied audience and write for audiences of various positions in the intersectionality of oppression. Editor Cait Gordon has stated “ The motto of this anthology is: ‘We are the heroes, not the sidekicks’" a point that is easily backed up as seen in the large diversity of characters, and points of view. True to the value of the publishing group, Nothing Without Us is available across many different platforms and accessible forms such as eBooks (kindle), hard copy and audio book.
Search and Seizure is only one story within anthropology that addresses and challenges the hegemonic discourse surrounding narratives, and wider society through a compelling story. Nothing Without Us holds many stories that give representation to individuals who identify characters that are not usually deemed as central, important or a protagonist, while seamlessly addressing large social issues stemming from an ableist society. The collection meets its goal making room for characters and stories that would otherwise not exist within the ablist hegemonic discourse present in literature and other content. Though the book is made of various stories from various authors, two key factors remain the same across the collection. Firstly at no point is a disability solely used as a tool to progress the narrative. Each disabled character is created with full and complex emotion, background. They are not a source used for comedic relief, but of the joke and are completely capable of higher thought. Nothing Without Us I believe is successful in their mission to create stories with main characters that represent the disabled community, whose sole narrative mission has nothing to do with inspiring able bodied readers or to be cured.
More...