Fave Five: Queer Autistic Main Characters

August 9, 2018 Dahlia Adler 3 Comments

Failure to Communicate by Kaia Sonderby

Whip Stir and Serve by Caitlyn Frost and Henry Drake

The Remaking of Corbin Wale by Roan Parrish

Bonus: For great books with major queer characters that also have autistic main characters (but not queer, autistic MCs), check out On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis and Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde. For a short stories, try “Four-Point Affective Calibration” by Bogi Takács and “Tenderness” by Xan West in Queerly Loving 2.

3 thoughts on “Fave Five: Queer Autistic Main Characters”

Asp in the Garden – Pittsburgh – A very bad aspie.

Asp in the Garden says:

August 9, 2018 at 10:53 am

I’d like to put in a word for my ‘Glitch in the System’ series, if I may. As an autistic writer, it’s deeply important to me to see neurodivergent characters written from a genuinely neurodivergent understanding. There are far too many misconceptions perpetuated by literature written from second-hand accounts. Please support neurodivergent authors. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/selene-depackh/troubleshooting/

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andywinder – Hello! My name’s Andy Winder and I live in Northern Utah, which in my opinion is equally a wonderful and strange place to be. All of the best places are. I recently graduated with a B.A. in English from Brigham Young University and work as a technical writer by day while writing queer YA through all the moments in-between. In addition to writing, I enjoy spending time with my four sisters, visiting art museums, and having conversations with people about things that matter. I love life, I love the people who are a part of it, and I love looking up at the stars and feeling like I’m a part of something so much greater than myself. And I love writing. Which, of course, is why I’m a writer. You can view more of my work at andywinder.com or @andyjwinder on Twitter or Instagram.

andywinder says:

August 10, 2018 at 12:33 pm

Oh man, I’ll have to check out all of these (including the non-queer ones)! A few of my friends are on the neurodivergent spectrum and it’s something I want to understand more about. Which book would you recommend starting with?

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1. Dahlia Adler
  
  Dahlia Adler says:
  
  August 10, 2018 at 12:36 pm
  
  Good question! I haven’t read all of them yet – I just know they come highly recommended – but I personally loved ON THE EDGE OF GONE, and I’ve probably heard the most positive raving about FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE. I should also add that I didn’t know it when I wrote this list, but AN UNKINDNESS OF GHOSTS by Rivers Solomon apparently also has fantastic autistic rep, so there’s another one to check out, especially if you like sci-fi!
  
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