Looking for recommendations of neurodiverse characters, characters with different variations of mental health, and unique voices in sci-fi and fantasy

[Melissa]

Last year, I was listening to Clarkesworld, a podcast of sci-fi short stories, and I heard this excellent story written by an Argentinian (? I'm not 100% on that) writer. The main character was neurodiverse, and the conflict was having faith in artificial intelligence who was very well adapted and also manipulative, or a person, who was neither. It was very interesting. I really like reading stories with people who think differently from the average protagonist, and I'm wondering if anyone has recommendations? I like lots of different sci-fi and fantasy.

[Anna]

Without checking my shelves:


The Outside
On the Edge of Gone
An Unkindness of Ghosts
The Speed of Dark

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Also This Alien Shore (highly recommended!)
Into the Drowning Deep

[Kaa]

Failure to Communicate

The author of The Outside, Ada Hoffman, frequently reviews books with autistic characters/authors on her blog. Many but not all are sff: http://www.ada-hoffmann.com/reviews-i...

(Also, do you remember the name of the story? That description sounds super familiar but I can't figure out what it is!)

[Eva]

- In The Warrior's Apprentice (technically book 3 in a saga, but you can easily start with it without being confused), the protagonist struggles with manic depression, and many other instances of trauma or mental health issues are touched during the series. My parents were psychologists and both agreed that the series has great mental health representation in a "this is workable and you are still lovable" kind of way.

- I second the recommendation of An Unkindness of Ghosts - although it's certainly darker and people do not get help for their mental illnesses nor do they get better, and they experience quite a lot of discrimination due to their neurodiversity (it's a dark story focusing on slavery in a spaceship, very well-written, but not exactly empowering or uplifting).

- Ninefox Gambit features a kind of neurodiversity not existant on earth: the protagonist lives with someone else's mental voice and abilities implanted in her and influencing her, possibly slowly overtaking her personality - I thought it was brilliant.

- Ender's Shadow is about a very small boy who's the result of illegal genetic experiments that gave him beyond genius level intelligence. Now he's got to figure out how to survive alone in the slums of Rotterdam. It turns into a space opera later on - very, very good.
(The author is 70 years old now and unfortunately a homophobe in real life, but I never found that in his books, just letting you know in case you're a very political reader.)

- Ancillary Justice: the main character is a space ship who is also installed in various human bodies ("ancillaries") and thus looks out of many eyes at once. Her society also knows no male pronouns so she refers to everyone as "she", which sounds annoying at first, but is actually very interesting. It taught me a lot about how I make immediate assumptions based on gender, what I associate, how I judge characters based on that, etc. The book made me think "what does it matter if this is a man or woman? and start judging solely based on words and actions" - very different way of thinking, and very interesting.

Hope this helps!

[Pixiegirl105]

This has many diverse characters with moral dilemmas in space. I can't say much about it without giving a key plot away. Fool's War

[Rebecca]

Kaa wrote: "Failure to Communicate

The author of The Outside, Ada Hoffman, frequently reviews books with autistic characters/authors on her blog. Many but not all are sff: http://www.ada-hoffm..."

All three books in Kaia Sønderby's series are worth checking out! Failure to Communicate was one of my favorite books from last year. It features an autistic protagonist that I found extremely refreshing/relatable in her complexity. I think Sønderby deserves more mainstream attention - her writing is superb!

Lots of good recommendations in this thread! Ada Hoffman is great (The Outside, Monsters in My Mind), and IMO Rivers Solomon is a must-read (The Unkindness of Ghosts, The Deep, short fiction).

I'd be interested in knowing the title of the short story in Clarkesworld you mentioned, if you happen to remember it later! :)

[Beige]

Borderline - MC has borderline personality disorder

A Calculated Life - I just finished reading this one. The MC is a bioengineered human where her brain has been designed for her job.

[Anna]

Clarification: Are we looking for neurodiverse only, or is mental health also included? Or any stories about people with unusual thinking, however each of us interprets that?

[Atlanta]

Holly in the outsider is autistic and it’s genre bending science fiction

[Melissa]

I think any stories about people with neurodiversity, mental health differences, and unusual thinking is really helpful. (I just edited the question). I just finished reading Pet. It was so refreshing to read through the eyes of a character that normalizes dissociation, being highly sensitive, and being non-verbal, and she is trans. It's just a part of her character, it's not the story problem, and it was a gift to read a story through her point of view. That's what I liked so much about that story on Clarkesworld.

I also loved the characters in Ninefox Gambit although I didn't struggle enough to understand the mathematical aspect of the book :)

I found the Clarkesworld episode! Here it is: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/pueyo...

I have added all of these to my TBR! Thanks for all the recommendations. I will keep following this thread for any more that come to mind.

[Melissa]

Atl wrote: "Holly in the outsider is autistic and it’s genre bending science fiction" Who wrote The Outsider? Is it the Stephen King one?

[Anna]

Pet is on my soon-TBR, great to hear good things!

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

Melissa wrote: "I think any stories about people with neurodiversity, mental health differences, and unusual thinking is really helpful. (I just edited the question). I just finished reading Pet. I..."

Emma Newman's Planetfall series handles mental health better than anything else I've ever read.

The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley is on the groups bookshelf and deals well with PTSD.

[Becky]

Melissa wrote: "Atl wrote: "Holly in the outsider is autistic and it’s genre bending science fiction" Who wrote The Outsider? Is it the Stephen King one?"

Yep. I personally wouldn't call it "sci-fi" though. It's more fantasy/horror.

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

Scratch The Mere Wife as it's Fantasy.

[Melissa]

Ryan wrote: "Scratch The Mere Wife as it's Fantasy." I just changed the prompt (last time, I promise!) to include fantasy. I'm remembering Among Others which is mostly fantasy, which would count, maybe? I liked it a lot at least.

[Jeremy]

In addition to the Orson Scott Card title mentioned above, i'd also recommend Xenocide (book 3 in the Ender Saga). There's an interesting sub-plot about a colony of earth where they somehow tinkered with the genome linked to OCD so that it manifests as precognition or prophecy.

[Eva]

Yes, I loved that novel, as well - really made me think and moved me.

If fantasy is allowed, then definitely read The Stormlight Archive starting with The Way of Kings - the glowing reviews for this series are well-deserved. Incidentally, the main characters in it also struggle with various (interesting) mental health issues (explaining which would be a spoiler) and their sprite-like companions each have very unusual ways of thinking and you can even watch them develop sapience and it's all very fascinating. The non-human beings on the other side of the war also have very unique ways of thinking, but finding all of that out is part of the fun, so I won't spoil it for you. I love this series.

[Ryan, Your favourite moderators favourite moderator]

It's no doubt offensive to lump neuro atypical individuals in with AIs, robots, and other inorganic/non-human beings but it seems to me that SFF stories involving sentient machines that in some way strive to be more human might be well received.

I was thinking of recommending Children of Time, The Quantum Magician, The Murderbot series by Martha Wells starting with All Systems Red,
The Gap series by Stephen R Donaldson (which is good but also horrific in ways that many can't/won't stomach), and A Closed and Common Orbit.

[Stella]

Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller Blackfish City

And while not science fiction or fantasy, consider taking a look at Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead. It's by a Nobel prize winning author and is an excellent depiction of the inside of an eccentric mind. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

[Cheryl]

Ryan wrote: "It's no doubt offensive to lump neuro atypical individuals in with AIs, robots, and other inorganic/non-human beings but it seems to me that SFF stories involving sentient machines that in some way strive to be more human might be well received...."

Like.

[Chris]

For the October theme, we had Mental Health in Fantasy. After the nominations were set, there was a recommendations thread for more books on the theme:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Kateb]

Cassandra by Joel Shepherd : a android designed to be a top soldier, goes to the other side to be a "civilian" , lots of angst about why

[Cheryl]

Chris wrote: "For the October theme, we had Mental Health in Fantasy. After the nominations were set, there was a recommendations thread for more books on the theme:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/......"

That's fair.
But it's tricky, because 'neuro-diverse' doesn't equal 'unhealthy.'
Just saying.

[Chris]

Cheryl wrote: "But it's tricky, because 'neuro-diverse' doesn't equal 'unhealthy.'"

The same underlying phenomenon can be labeled neurodiverse or a mental disorder. Readers bring their own frame to a book.

[Cheryl]

Well, I'm referencing what many people who are neuro-diverse have said about themselves.

We need to remember that being Queer used to be considered a mental illness, and Deaf Culture is such a thing that lots of ppl reject the idea of being 'fixed.' A Difference, or even a Challenge, is not necessarily a Disorder. That's an objective statement, not this reader's opinion.

[Anna]

Let's bring this thread back on the topic of recommending books to Melissa! :)

[Cheryl]

I didn't realize that the subject line got expanded to be so inclusive, sorry!

[Anna]

All good, as long as Melissa is getting the recs she's looking for! :)

[Melissa]

I have many to choose from! Thanks for all the recommendations!

[Cheryl]

I added a few to my to-read lists, too. :)