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A review by horrorbutch
Artifice & Access: A Disability in Fantasy Anthology by Ella T. Holmes
5.0
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book by the publisher in exchange for my review.
Having only recently talked with a friend about wanting more disability representation in SFF stories I knew I had to pick this anthology up when I saw it. I feel incredibly lucky that I got an ARC and if you enjoy fantasy short stories with diverse characters this is a really great anthology to check out.
One thing I adored was that each story was followed by a short author bio as well as an explanation of either which disability was presented or what inspired them to tell the story, which I found fascinating and which I felt added to my enjoyment. Another thing I loved was the wide range of disabilities represented here, including physical and sensory disabilities, chronic illness, neurodivergence and food intolerances. Here I also found it very important that sometimes the thing that was negatively impacting the disabled protagonist was their environment or people not accommodating their needs, not their disabilities. In general, these stories take a stand against fantasy’s attempts to portray disabled people as villains or as people in search for a magical cure. Instead disability is something that is worked with and managed and sometimes even something that benefits you in other areas, but it doesn’t portray disability as something to be “overcome” or “gotten over” and I absolutely loved that. I already recommended it to my disabled friends, knowing that stories like these are what many of us are looking for.
I also liked that a wide range of fantasy was shown here from retellings of well known fairytales such as Rapunzel, Cinderella and Robin Hood, to lesser known local-to-the-author folktalkes (such as in The Changeling of Brushby and Angharad ferch Truniaw), to stories of dragons, fairies, witches and other, urban and dystopian fantasy, and even one tale that is very close to our current modern world, but with some fantastical elements to show the existence of magic. It certainly never gets boring.
My favorite short stories where “A Witch’s Tale”, “To Make her Eat”, “A Night For Mischief”, “Lessons in Botany”, “In Another World, I Twist The Knife” and “City of the Sun”, but I enjoyed all the stories collected here. I definitely found some authors I want to keep an eye on and see what else they have written or are planning to write.
Below you can find my thoughts on each short story as well as trigger warnings (which are also provided in the beginning of the book, but summed up for the whole anthology):
One Cream, Five Sugars by Harper Kinsley: A mercenary forced to take jobs that cause further damage to her already weak joints in order to pay for her brother’s medical treatments finds refuge in a magic coffeeshop. A very sweet, but also heartbreaking short story. I liked it a lot, especially the way it combined magic + healing magic + disability + class.
TW: injury, physical pain, horrible healthcare system
*FAV* A Witch’s Tale by Rascal Hartley: In this story a knight learns to accept a new disability caused by injury with the help of a witch, who was injured the same way. This is a very, very sweet story, that I enjoyed a lot and I adored the way it showed disabled found family.
TW: internalized ableism, injury
Use Your Words by Zira MacFarlane: A mute thief finds a way to use a magic system based on sounds through technological invention. This is a very intriguing story of sweet connection and disabled ingenuity.
The Changeling of Brushby by Natalie Kelda: An autistic take on the changeling myth, interesting, but with no particularly new or suprising views on the autistic-person-is-not-a-fae-but-finds-acceptance-with-them-unlike-with-humans genre of autistic fantasy lit (this might be just a me-thing though, because it is something I have seen done a few times). It was intriguing and I liked the worldbuilding of this Danish town, but the use of “speaking in tongues” to show that the autistic MC is not /that/ different to everybody else, felt a bit off to me in an anthology focused on disability in fantasy and I wish that had been examined a bit in the story. It makes sense that that would be something that a world like that would judge as worse than the character’s autistic traits (which aren’t acceptable either), but I wish it had been criticized in the rest of the text a bit more.
TW: threats of forced marriage, loss of autonomy, forced feeding, attempts to “cure” autism
*FAV* To Make Her Eat by M. Stevenson: A really intriguing take on visiting the Faerie-Land as a person with celiac disease. I also really loved the sweet romance between the MC and her best friend and I adored the “Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti vibes.
TW: forced feeding, vomiting
Hope, Be It Never So Faint by Ashley N. Y. Sheesley: A wheelchair-using archer Marian (with POTS, ME/CFS and chronic migraine (which I recognized) and orthostatic intolerance (which was new to me)) and a female Robin Hood is a very, very sweet idea and I enjoyed this short story a lot.
TW: arranged marriage, eugenics
*FAV* A Night For Mischief by Elior Hayley: A Hard-of-Hearing Artificer sent by a Dragon to cause chaos during a King’s ball, meets the Knight’s Head Artificer, a woman who has lost an eye. I loved the really cool magically-enhanced hearing aids and the battle scenes where really well written. A fun short story!
*FAV* Lessons in Botany by Casper E. Falls: A retelling of Rapunzel featuring a trans man with ME/CFS and the former princess turned thief that rescues him from the tower he’s been locked into. This is such an incredibly sweet story highlighting the importance of solidarity and community for disabled people and I loved it! Plus, the not disabled friends are masking! Chef’s Kiss! I also liked that this changed a lot about the original story, while keeping parts of it legible, which could make this story interesting as a full novel as well!
TW: misgendering, confinement, forced isolation, medical abuse
Stroke of Midnight, Shoe of Glass by Adie Hart: A Cinderella retelling with featuring a Cinderella with chronic fatigue is a really great idea and wonderfully implemented here. It is very close to the original story, but it is also very sweet and I enjoyed that.
TW: ableism, domestic abuse (psychologically)
*FAV* In Another World, I Twist The Knife by Rory G.: A world where a certain form of OCD enables people to twist alternate realities into their own, changing things that have happened, but requires them to feed the compulsion. Really well written and deeply unsettling.
TW: intrusive thoughts, death, self-harm, eye trauma, medical setting
The Knife That Makes The Cut by Lynne Sargent: A magical place that only injured people can find promises a cure for their ailments, but a cursed woman knows that it only hides danger. A quite tense story, but with an uplifting end and a really great take on fairytale logic as it applies to Disability.
TW: domestic abuse (physical), alcoholism, injury, death by drowning
Angharad ferch Truniaw by Tam Ayers: A daughter sets out to find the missing men of her village, including her father. An interesting take on fairytales, this is a touching story about the connection between father and daughter.
TW: death, ableism
The Girl & The Gum-Riddle by Ella T Holmes: A young girl is afflicted with pain and exhaustion after an infection. Her parents desperate search for a cure for her, finally seeking out the help of a witch. This is a lovely story about care.
*FAV* City of the Sun by Kara Siert: In a world where rot caused mass disability, but also left people with new gifts and talents, we follow a young woman with the power to influence people as she attempts to gain citizenship to a safe town. A heartbreaking story of the demeaning nature of a world, where only a special few are granted help, as decided by those in power, but also of change and taking a stand against such exclusionary practices.
TW: illness, death
Having only recently talked with a friend about wanting more disability representation in SFF stories I knew I had to pick this anthology up when I saw it. I feel incredibly lucky that I got an ARC and if you enjoy fantasy short stories with diverse characters this is a really great anthology to check out.
One thing I adored was that each story was followed by a short author bio as well as an explanation of either which disability was presented or what inspired them to tell the story, which I found fascinating and which I felt added to my enjoyment. Another thing I loved was the wide range of disabilities represented here, including physical and sensory disabilities, chronic illness, neurodivergence and food intolerances. Here I also found it very important that sometimes the thing that was negatively impacting the disabled protagonist was their environment or people not accommodating their needs, not their disabilities. In general, these stories take a stand against fantasy’s attempts to portray disabled people as villains or as people in search for a magical cure. Instead disability is something that is worked with and managed and sometimes even something that benefits you in other areas, but it doesn’t portray disability as something to be “overcome” or “gotten over” and I absolutely loved that. I already recommended it to my disabled friends, knowing that stories like these are what many of us are looking for.
I also liked that a wide range of fantasy was shown here from retellings of well known fairytales such as Rapunzel, Cinderella and Robin Hood, to lesser known local-to-the-author folktalkes (such as in The Changeling of Brushby and Angharad ferch Truniaw), to stories of dragons, fairies, witches and other, urban and dystopian fantasy, and even one tale that is very close to our current modern world, but with some fantastical elements to show the existence of magic. It certainly never gets boring.
My favorite short stories where “A Witch’s Tale”, “To Make her Eat”, “A Night For Mischief”, “Lessons in Botany”, “In Another World, I Twist The Knife” and “City of the Sun”, but I enjoyed all the stories collected here. I definitely found some authors I want to keep an eye on and see what else they have written or are planning to write.
Below you can find my thoughts on each short story as well as trigger warnings (which are also provided in the beginning of the book, but summed up for the whole anthology):
One Cream, Five Sugars by Harper Kinsley: A mercenary forced to take jobs that cause further damage to her already weak joints in order to pay for her brother’s medical treatments finds refuge in a magic coffeeshop. A very sweet, but also heartbreaking short story. I liked it a lot, especially the way it combined magic + healing magic + disability + class.
TW: injury, physical pain, horrible healthcare system
*FAV* A Witch’s Tale by Rascal Hartley: In this story a knight learns to accept a new disability caused by injury with the help of a witch, who was injured the same way. This is a very, very sweet story, that I enjoyed a lot and I adored the way it showed disabled found family.
TW: internalized ableism, injury
Use Your Words by Zira MacFarlane: A mute thief finds a way to use a magic system based on sounds through technological invention. This is a very intriguing story of sweet connection and disabled ingenuity.
The Changeling of Brushby by Natalie Kelda: An autistic take on the changeling myth, interesting, but with no particularly new or suprising views on the autistic-person-is-not-a-fae-but-finds-acceptance-with-them-unlike-with-humans genre of autistic fantasy lit (this might be just a me-thing though, because it is something I have seen done a few times). It was intriguing and I liked the worldbuilding of this Danish town, but the use of “speaking in tongues” to show that the autistic MC is not /that/ different to everybody else, felt a bit off to me in an anthology focused on disability in fantasy and I wish that had been examined a bit in the story. It makes sense that that would be something that a world like that would judge as worse than the character’s autistic traits (which aren’t acceptable either), but I wish it had been criticized in the rest of the text a bit more.
TW: threats of forced marriage, loss of autonomy, forced feeding, attempts to “cure” autism
*FAV* To Make Her Eat by M. Stevenson: A really intriguing take on visiting the Faerie-Land as a person with celiac disease. I also really loved the sweet romance between the MC and her best friend and I adored the “Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti vibes.
TW: forced feeding, vomiting
Hope, Be It Never So Faint by Ashley N. Y. Sheesley: A wheelchair-using archer Marian (with POTS, ME/CFS and chronic migraine (which I recognized) and orthostatic intolerance (which was new to me)) and a female Robin Hood is a very, very sweet idea and I enjoyed this short story a lot.
TW: arranged marriage, eugenics
*FAV* A Night For Mischief by Elior Hayley: A Hard-of-Hearing Artificer sent by a Dragon to cause chaos during a King’s ball, meets the Knight’s Head Artificer, a woman who has lost an eye. I loved the really cool magically-enhanced hearing aids and the battle scenes where really well written. A fun short story!
*FAV* Lessons in Botany by Casper E. Falls: A retelling of Rapunzel featuring a trans man with ME/CFS and the former princess turned thief that rescues him from the tower he’s been locked into. This is such an incredibly sweet story highlighting the importance of solidarity and community for disabled people and I loved it! Plus, the not disabled friends are masking! Chef’s Kiss! I also liked that this changed a lot about the original story, while keeping parts of it legible, which could make this story interesting as a full novel as well!
TW: misgendering, confinement, forced isolation, medical abuse
Stroke of Midnight, Shoe of Glass by Adie Hart: A Cinderella retelling with featuring a Cinderella with chronic fatigue is a really great idea and wonderfully implemented here. It is very close to the original story, but it is also very sweet and I enjoyed that.
TW: ableism, domestic abuse (psychologically)
*FAV* In Another World, I Twist The Knife by Rory G.: A world where a certain form of OCD enables people to twist alternate realities into their own, changing things that have happened, but requires them to feed the compulsion. Really well written and deeply unsettling.
TW: intrusive thoughts, death, self-harm, eye trauma, medical setting
The Knife That Makes The Cut by Lynne Sargent: A magical place that only injured people can find promises a cure for their ailments, but a cursed woman knows that it only hides danger. A quite tense story, but with an uplifting end and a really great take on fairytale logic as it applies to Disability.
TW: domestic abuse (physical), alcoholism, injury, death by drowning
Angharad ferch Truniaw by Tam Ayers: A daughter sets out to find the missing men of her village, including her father. An interesting take on fairytales, this is a touching story about the connection between father and daughter.
TW: death, ableism
The Girl & The Gum-Riddle by Ella T Holmes: A young girl is afflicted with pain and exhaustion after an infection. Her parents desperate search for a cure for her, finally seeking out the help of a witch. This is a lovely story about care.
*FAV* City of the Sun by Kara Siert: In a world where rot caused mass disability, but also left people with new gifts and talents, we follow a young woman with the power to influence people as she attempts to gain citizenship to a safe town. A heartbreaking story of the demeaning nature of a world, where only a special few are granted help, as decided by those in power, but also of change and taking a stand against such exclusionary practices.
TW: illness, death