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booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Soul Jar is a wide-ranging collection of sci-fi and fantasy stories by disabled authors. Most of the stories feature openly disabled and/or neurodivergent characters and some deal with ableism, but mainly they feature many kinds of people in the kind of SFF stories I love to read. They vary widely in tone and topic, meaning that there's something for everyone, probably several stories to catch your fancy.
I love stories which completely immerse the reader and leave me to figure out the setting with either little or very sly guidance, something that "Which Doctor" by Lane Chasek does materfully, flipping the assumptions of "traditional" and "alternative" therapies in a way which highlights the absurdities of real-world ableism and institutional issues. "Spore, Bud, Bloody Orchid" by Jaye Viner is an excellent tale which wouldn't be out of place in a horror anthology but which fits perfectly here. "Song of Bullfrogs, Cry of Geese" by Nicola Griffith is about stubbornness, grief, and what it takes to come to terms with a new reality. I'm a singlet, but I like the way "The Things I Miss the Most" by Nisi Shawl engages with a kind of plurality and the aftermath of loss. "A Broke Young Martian Atop His Busted Scooter" by K.G. Delmare is a Mars-based story of classism with a very cool setting and immersive worldbuiding. I also like two completely different stories thinking about clothing, presentation, and rules with "The Definition of Professional Attire" by Evergreen Lee and "Wardrobe of the Worlds" by Jennifer Lee Rossman. "Cranberry Nightmare" by Kit Harding uses a maze of unspoken social rules in a great way with an ending that made me wish it was the start of a book rather than just a short story.
If you like sci-fi and fantasy, don't miss this excellent collection!
I love stories which completely immerse the reader and leave me to figure out the setting with either little or very sly guidance, something that "Which Doctor" by Lane Chasek does materfully, flipping the assumptions of "traditional" and "alternative" therapies in a way which highlights the absurdities of real-world ableism and institutional issues. "Spore, Bud, Bloody Orchid" by Jaye Viner is an excellent tale which wouldn't be out of place in a horror anthology but which fits perfectly here. "Song of Bullfrogs, Cry of Geese" by Nicola Griffith is about stubbornness, grief, and what it takes to come to terms with a new reality. I'm a singlet, but I like the way "The Things I Miss the Most" by Nisi Shawl engages with a kind of plurality and the aftermath of loss. "A Broke Young Martian Atop His Busted Scooter" by K.G. Delmare is a Mars-based story of classism with a very cool setting and immersive worldbuiding. I also like two completely different stories thinking about clothing, presentation, and rules with "The Definition of Professional Attire" by Evergreen Lee and "Wardrobe of the Worlds" by Jennifer Lee Rossman. "Cranberry Nightmare" by Kit Harding uses a maze of unspoken social rules in a great way with an ending that made me wish it was the start of a book rather than just a short story.
If you like sci-fi and fantasy, don't miss this excellent collection!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Alcohol, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Animal death, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Violence, Blood, Body shaming, Child death, Classism, Emotional abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical content, Suicide, Terminal illness, War, Cancer, Chronic illness, Kidnapping, Vomit, Xenophobia, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, and Self harm
Minor: Sexual content, Sexism, Abortion, Excrement, Death of parent, and Abandonment
seawarrior's review
4.0
Soul Jar is a wildly creative science fiction and fantasy anthology penned by disabled authors. Each of these stories presented unique explorations of the aforementioned genres that reflected the grace and perseverance necessary of disabled people in hostile or neglectful societies. However, I did not understand how some of these stories related to the disabled experience, which was somewhat jarring. If the anthology had been edited tighter to only include stories with explicitly disabled characters I would have given it a full star rating. Focusing on the strengths of the book, my favorite stories are summarized below.
Survivor's Blub by Meghan Beaudry: A person with lung transplants living through a pandemic explains how their elderly neighbor left them with the immunosuppressant medication they need to survive after the martial law government declared that providing it was a waste of resources.
Spore, Bud, Bloody Orchid by Jay Viner: A cancer survivor with an insensitive and egotistical doctor knows her body is different after her operation to remove tumors, and finds her body growing new, inhuman life afterward.
Song of Bullfrogs, Cry of Geese by Nicola Griffith: A widow whose wife died from a worldwide pandemic of severe chronic fatigue makes peace with her grief and ends her isolation from others after spending a night in the woods fighting to survive her fatigue and leg injury.
Weightless by Raven Oak: A fat woman with a knee replacement whose necessary practice of putting on her modified space suit saves the lives of other travelers and sparks accessibility reform for the spaceport afterward.
The Definition of Professional Attire by Evergreen Lee: A group of aliens are met with "complaints" over their physical appearance and forced to alter themselves in limiting and destructive ways even in an office that claims to want diversity.
The Arroyo Fiasco by Dawn Vogel: A pterosaur whose attempts to be helpful always end in disaster finally finds people "willing to work with me and my unique talents" after learning to ask and listen before providing help.
Cranberry Nightmare by Kit Harding: An autistic young woman refuses to mindlessly accept her small town's archaic rituals and puts up a necessary fight against them.
The Rising Currents of Ocean Fire in My Blood by Bethy Wernert: A autistic mermaid girl who was stolen from the sea by her restrictive and punitive mother finds the strength to escape back into the waves in order to save the life of her newly born child.
These stories were deeply meaningful for me to read, and I have no doubt that other disabled people will have similar experiences. It is both rewarding and painful to discover the rare occurrence of literature that uplifts and honors the voices of disabled authors because it reminds me of the wounding we endure from our ostracization and offers healing, all at once. I highly recommend this book for readers and selectors of library materials and hope that additional volumes may be on the horizon.
Survivor's Blub by Meghan Beaudry: A person with lung transplants living through a pandemic explains how their elderly neighbor left them with the immunosuppressant medication they need to survive after the martial law government declared that providing it was a waste of resources.
Spore, Bud, Bloody Orchid by Jay Viner: A cancer survivor with an insensitive and egotistical doctor knows her body is different after her operation to remove tumors, and finds her body growing new, inhuman life afterward.
Song of Bullfrogs, Cry of Geese by Nicola Griffith: A widow whose wife died from a worldwide pandemic of severe chronic fatigue makes peace with her grief and ends her isolation from others after spending a night in the woods fighting to survive her fatigue and leg injury.
Weightless by Raven Oak: A fat woman with a knee replacement whose necessary practice of putting on her modified space suit saves the lives of other travelers and sparks accessibility reform for the spaceport afterward.
The Definition of Professional Attire by Evergreen Lee: A group of aliens are met with "complaints" over their physical appearance and forced to alter themselves in limiting and destructive ways even in an office that claims to want diversity.
The Arroyo Fiasco by Dawn Vogel: A pterosaur whose attempts to be helpful always end in disaster finally finds people "willing to work with me and my unique talents" after learning to ask and listen before providing help.
Cranberry Nightmare by Kit Harding: An autistic young woman refuses to mindlessly accept her small town's archaic rituals and puts up a necessary fight against them.
The Rising Currents of Ocean Fire in My Blood by Bethy Wernert: A autistic mermaid girl who was stolen from the sea by her restrictive and punitive mother finds the strength to escape back into the waves in order to save the life of her newly born child.
These stories were deeply meaningful for me to read, and I have no doubt that other disabled people will have similar experiences. It is both rewarding and painful to discover the rare occurrence of literature that uplifts and honors the voices of disabled authors because it reminds me of the wounding we endure from our ostracization and offers healing, all at once. I highly recommend this book for readers and selectors of library materials and hope that additional volumes may be on the horizon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Medical trauma, Confinement, Terminal illness, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic
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