The Sword and Laser discussion

I'm a huge fan of the main character clearly having Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. This is a thing I have, and in my 20's (before I knew I had it), I was definitely trying to be a badass, doing martial arts and playing soccer and training for marathons and what not.

In my 40's I'm paying for that but this book makes me want to try at least martial arts again... (sorry for any of my docs reading this).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehlers%...

Apparently Rebecca Yarros also has it, which was an inspiration. This is one of the first books that I've read with S&L that I can think of where I've seen a main character have such an obvious "disability." Were there any other books that I'm either forgetting or otherwise may have skipped that have similar representation (not necessarily just physical issues).

"The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" would be one of the earliest that comes to mind where the main character suffers from leprosy.

Kaz Brekker in the "Shadow and Bone" series is a more recent one.

Oaken wrote: ""The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" would be one of the earliest that comes to mind where the main character suffers from leprosy.

"Shadow and Bone" is a more recent one."

In Shadow & Bone, is it also leprosy?

No, I don't recall the name, I believe it is also something the author has that affects the strength of their bones.

Edit: the internet is helpful. I'm not sure he has the same underlying condition as the author, only that she reflected in interviews his actual disability - the limp and reliance on a cane - mirrors the outward effect of hers.

Also from the show and book he is suffering from PTSD in a significant way. I think that is not an uncommon condition to reflect in writing.

The final architecture series ( first book Shards of Earth ) by Adrian Tchaikovsky has a main character with something like Phocomelia ( born with severely truncated limbs ). She is the drone specialist and engineer on the Vulture God, a deep space salvage ship.

terpkristin wrote: "I'm a huge fan of the main character clearly having Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. This is a thing I have, and in my 20's (before I knew I had it), I was definitely trying to be a badass, doing martial ar..."

We read An Unkindness of Ghosts a while back and I thought Aster was very obviously autistic. I love it for that and the queering of gender we see throughout the book. However, it's not an easy book to recommend since it's very clearly discussing American slavery in a sci-fi and it ends pretty open-endedly.

I didn’t love it for other reasons (nothing awful - the story just didn’t quite work for me), but Godkiller by Hannah Kaner has a protagonist who lost her arm as a child and I enjoyed that element of the story.

The WWW series, starting with WWW: Wake, by Robert J. Sawyer has a blind girl as the main character and that is central to the plot. I really enjoyed the series as I do all his books.
Another of his, Frameshift, features a main character who may have Huntington's.

The Outside by Ada Hoffmann has "sapphic autistic characters". ShadesOfOrange approved.

On reflection, Elric of Melnibone had albinism but its not a good representation because, other than impacting his appearance, it isn't an accurate portrayal. The physical weakness he has is not typically associated with the condition, he does not take the steps you would expect to manage it (avoidance of getting sunburnt, etc.), and the social impacts are more based on his reputation than his appearance ("I recognize you as Elric, a very dangerous man, because you are an albino carrying a fricking scary sword.") He's really more of a metaphor for drug addiction than an accurate portrayal of his condition.

Don’t forget in the Song of Ice and Fire series we have Tyrion who has dwarfism, and (view spoiler)[ Bran who loses the use of his legs, and Jaime who loses a hand. (hide spoiler)]

Tamahome wrote: "The Outside by Ada Hoffmann has "sapphic autistic characters". ShadesOfOrange approved."

That's a really outstanding book. There series is good but book 1 is especially great.

I've heard it's "Lovecraftian" too.

Tamahome wrote: "I've heard it's "Lovecraftian" too."

It is but there's not hordes of tentacled monsters, no mention of shoggoths etc. It's mostly that the Outside is another place/dimension and non-rational. Its flavor is definitely Lovecraftian though.

What makes it outstanding for me is that the MC feels like such an accurate portrayal of someone who's autistic. Hoffman does an excellent job of making the reader feel the world from her point of view.

Miles Vorkosigan in the books of the Vorkosigan series suffers from all kinds of physical disabilities that play an integral part of how others perceive and interact with him.

Oaken wrote: "On reflection, Elric of Melnibone had albinism but its not a good representation because, other than impacting his appearance, it isn't an accurate portrayal. The physical weakness he has is not ty..."

I better portrayal is done by Rivers Solomon in their book Sorrowland. It's horror and deals with a cult and child endangerment. But it also lets a disabled albino queer woman be a superhero.

Just started in on the July pick, Planetfall, and the point-of-view character certainly seems to have some sort of anxiety disorder (something the author also seems to suffer from in some part). Here's an interview about it: https://fantasy-hive.co.uk/2018/04/in...

Seems to me that it's pretty well-executed so far.

Here is a horribly tragic cautionary tale: a 33-year-old New Zealand woman with EDS died earlier this week because her doctor thought she was faking. Instead of treating her, he accused her of having Munchausen’s, claiming that she was bleeding herself intentionally for attention. She was forcibly committed against her will to a psychiatric hospital.

She’s not the only one. A younger woman was accused by 3 doctors of likewise faking her symptoms and only the intervention of a surgeon who believed her saved her life. Apparently New Zealand still practices medicine the 1930s way.

Christ. I hope those assholes get their licenses revoked and spend the rest of their lives in prison.

https://people.com/ehlers-danlos-new-...

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/stephan...