As soon as I heard that there was going to be a Disabled People Destroy anthology series last summer, I started plotting.

If you’re not familiar with the Destroy project, it’s a series that started with Women Destroy Science Fiction when critics said that woman writers were ruining the genre. Since then, there’s been Queers Destroy Science Fiction and People of Color Destroy Science Fiction (As well as Destroy Fantasy and Destroy Horror editions). Everyone working on these anthologies, from the writers to the interviewers to the editors, are part of the marginalized group of that particular anthology. Most of the characters in Destroy stories are too, because the idea behind this series is not so much to destroy, but to normalize narratives that have often been left out (or worse, badly handled) in the genre.

Disabled People Destroy was a project I’d hoped to be part of for a very long time.

So, I’m pleased to announce my story “Heavy Lifting” is now free to read online. It took me many drafts and much pacing and wringing of hands to get this story right. But it’s important to me to create disabled characters who are well balanced, otherwise healthy, and are perfectly willing to go on an adventure.

Sort of like me.

I always write to music. Strangely enough, I never found the perfect song to be the soundtrack of the story while I was writing it, but settled on “Shadow Preachers” by Zella Day because of deadlines. Also, I liked the song.

Hope you enjoy!

P.S. My personal essay for the Disabled Destroy series is also free to read here.