Divergent Realms
Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories About Neurodivergence
- 2024 INDIES Finalist
- Finalist, Science Fiction (Adult Fiction)
- 2024 INDIES Finalist
- Finalist, Anthologies (General)
Neurodivergence helps when it comes to exploring liminal places in the diverse, wondrous short story anthology Divergent Realms.
The innovative works in the dazzling short story anthology Divergent Realms, edited by Riley Odell, embellish science fiction and fantasy tales with the sensibilities of neurodivergent authors.
These fourteen short stories are distinctive. In one, a woman with OCD is pitted against devilish fairies in the green beauty of Ireland. Elsewhere, tiny worlds called “annulets” orbit Earth, kept intact by the weaving and unweaving of curtains. In another tale, a colony starship hosts holograms of people’s future selves. The question of how human relationships are impacted by neurodivergence ties these pieces together.
In some stories, a supportive relationship provides needed stability and encouragement. In “Alice Sunrise,” the time, space, and support a mother gives her android daughter becomes a launchpad to succeed in a coding crisis. The loyalty between lovers Cash and Patrick in “Slipstream Serenade” inspires Cash, who navigates a system that responds to his nonlinear consciousness, to disregard others’ judgments of him as too scattered. In “Escape Choice,” Max holds the line on his choice to remain in “the deep quiet,” communicating with his loved ones in his preferred, text-based way. And in “Nelly’s World,” a father struggles to understand his young daughter’s devotion to a video game after her mother dies.
Neurodivergence is positioned throughout as a superpower that helps when it comes to exploring liminal places, whether that means being able to hear music between worlds, to see the invisible, or to understand phenomena existing outside of traditional boundaries like death or on the periphery of known dimensions. The logic of such proposals is made clear, and the collection is nuanced. It reflects how neurodivergent individuals and their ways of understanding their worlds are often marginalized; they are rendered outsiders, so they are familiar with social fringes.
Riveting sensory descriptions arise throughout, too. Rainbow cocktails ignite the taste buds with the flavor of tiny mushrooms and dazzle the sights with the colors of miniature blossoms. A single red petunia appears to be wilting away to nothing; later, it is replicated in a carpet of perfect red flowers, becoming an image of understanding between people first kept separate by their different ways of thinking. Further, the stories’ arrangement sets an inviting pace, alternating between longer works and shorter ones, though all are propulsive, nurturing broader understandings of a range of human experiences.
Divergent Realms is an extraordinary speculative fiction anthology that is enhanced by neurodivergent approaches to storytelling.
Reviewed by
Michele Sharpe
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
