✨Grace✨

Uncle Iroh comes to me

speaking words of wisdom:

A young adult novel written by a disabled author.

Where the main character gets into an accident and must use a wheelchair.

(And is written fairly accurately as the author is also in a wheelchair.)

There are more disabled characters than you can count.

The ones who aren’t disabled are the enemies.

It takes place in an alternate version of the 1950s, at an institution for people with disabilities and superabilities.

You see how the disabilities relate to the superabilities (superpowers). 

The main character goes through the stages of grief after she realizes that she won’t be able to walk again but she is able to come out of it, not because of a love interest, but because she’s able to find her own strength. (And hit her mentor in the face with a weight.)

In fact, the main character doesn’t have any love interest at all.

None.

You could make the argument that she’s aromantic/asexual.

And the author would totally support that argument.

But despite not having a love interest, the main character is truly cared for, especially by her gruff mentor with a heart of gold.

Did somebody say found families and father-figure-daughter-figure relationships?

Also there’s an interracial couple thirty years in the making. 

And an underground resistance of students with disabilities trying to prove that they’re stronger than people think.

And in the end, they’re able to save the day.

And there are a lot of hugs.

And a lot of chocolate milk.

And the main character comes to terms with the fact that her biological family is horrible but she’s fine with that because she’s got the gruff mentor with a heart of gold who may or may not be in the CIA and also knew Al Capone.

And nobody dies.

And nobody dies.

And nobody kills themselves because they think that their lives are over now that they are in fact disabled.

Unlike some other books!

Oh and there’s a pig in a wheelchair.

And it’s all written by a disabled college student who really really needs the money for college and her apartment because apparently life is expensive (who knew?)

And it’s not the best written and it’s not error free but it was written with a lot of heart and a lot of passion in the early hours of the morning because that’s when the author had free time. But if nothing else, it has amazing disability representation. And a pig in a wheelchair.

Interested?

Well, guess what?

That author is me, that book is mine, that book is published, that book is available for you to buy, that book even comes in a paperback version so that you can hold in your hands a story with disability representation in which none of the characters die or talk about how they’re a burden and how their lives are over (well, Juniper does once but Ryder knocks some sense into her.)

It’s called The Defectives and you can buy it here:

https://www.amazon.com/Defectives-Burgandi-Rakoska-ebook/dp/B01G7TTLXE?ie=UTF8&qid=1464304077&ref_=sr_1_1&s=digital-text&sr=1-1

So if you’re looking for disability representation that doesn’t end with death and you want to help out a novice disabled author who really needs the money, please consider buying this book.

If all goes well, The Defectives 2 is going to be released this evening! 

Now that you no longer have to go outside to view any cosmic phenomenons, you can head on over to Amazon and pick up the first book to read before the sequel!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0752B3BFH/ref=mp_s_a_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1503495964&sr=8-9&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=burgandi+rakoska

Featuring:

- The main cinnamon roll character going through one chapter of emotional damage after the other but doing so in a way that doesn’t make her the hardened toughened damaged girl (*here’s looking at you, Whedon*) but instead makes her even more determined to be compassionate towards those who needs her help.

- The main character sticking up for supervillains because nobody else cares about them and somebody has to.

- The main character questioning her disability and even resenting it, multiple times, because you know what? That’s 100% normal. Healing isn’t a linear process and some days are harder than others.

- The main character confronting her abusive family while realizing just how much she cares about her new family.

- A stereotypical beatnik because who doesn’t love those?

- Typos!

- The main character realizing that there are people she can’t save and that she has to accept that and move on.

- The main character actually having a scene where she admits that she doesn’t want to date anyone and doesn’t ‘get’ the concept of romantic love, because I…sort of…kind of…left that out of the original. Whoops.

- Adorable moments

- Heartbreaking moments

- Action moments where you see a character in a wheelchair, and other disabled characters, fighting people, all throughout the story. It’s awesome.

- A moment wherein a girl in a wheelchair realizes that she’s a superhero, a scene that was written for me personally and made me cry.

- And a pig in a wheelchair!

If this sounds like the thing you need in your life right now then click on the link to buy the ebook (the paperback will be published soon). If nothing else, at lease signal boost to let other people know that there’s a superhero like them.