Gregory Bernard Banks on Disability in Fantasy and Science Fiction
K. Tempest Bradford
Last week’s story, The Lodger at Wintertide, featured a hearing-impaired protagonist. It got me thinking about how I rarely see disabled/differently-abled characters in genre stories, much less fiction that handles disability well. I only knew of one author who often included disabled characters in his work: Gregory Bernard Banks.
Banks is a customer support person at Lulu.com, co-Webmaster for the Speculative Literature Foundation, and owns publisher WheelMan Press. He also suffers from Type III Osteeogenesis Imperfecta, or “Brittle Bone Disease.” Our short interview was conducted over email.
Fantasy: Where are the differently-abled characters in science fiction and fantasy? Obviously you don’t know about them all. But from the perspective of a casual but pretty informed reader, I hardly see any. Is it a case of me missing them, or are they as scarce as I perceive?
Gregory Bernard Banks: Although there may be some that I’m unaware of, I don’t think there are very many people writing about disabled characters. Or, if they are disabled, it’s in a way in which the disability is either fictionalized or really not a major part of the story. One thing about Science Fiction and Fantasy is that, when written in their traditional forms such as Epic Fantasy or the pulp-style adventure Science Fiction most popular 50 or 60 years ago, the protagonists are normally archetypical heroes–the athletic Indian Jones type who always runs toward or away from danger, or the clever starship captain (sort of like Hans Solo of Star Wars fame) who zips around outer space getting into fights and conning his way out of trouble. Usually the hero is a dashing man who always seems to find love no matter where he finds himself at any particular time.
In such idealized fantasy environments and circumstances, there’s little room for a disabled guy who people are more likely to pity than be attracted to or envy. That’s not to say that one couldn’t create such characters, especially in the much broader-minded world in which we live today. But someone has to be willing to write those stories, and do it very well, and someone else has to be foresighted enough to publish those stories. Getting both to happen is possible I believe, but is it likely? I don’t know. How many authors are out there who even have a mindset to conceive of writing from a disabled perspective? Very few I’d bet.
Fantasy: Considering that differently-abled characters might be seen as differing from the perceived “norm” (white, male, able-bodied), are the challenges you face when writing and selling stories featuring them the same as, say, writing minority characters?
GBB: I may be naive, but I think a great story is a great story. In this day and time people will read great stories about great characters, be they people of color, disabled, female, gay, or whatever. Yes there are those who fiercely hold on to their narrow visions of the world, but for the most part, I think the vast majority of the reading public is ready to get to know people of different backgrounds and culture and see how different (or even more importantly, how much alike) we all are. But first we need more people entering the genre who are interested in writing from these fresh perspectives and can bring the level of literary quality and understanding to the work so that they aren’t merely writing a message piece about the disabled and the related issues, but are instead writing about an interesting character who just happens to be disabled. The character needs to be a truly fleshed out person and not just a plot device created to deliver a lesson or make a specific point to those reading it.
If a writer can achieve that, I honestly believe that there are plenty of editors out there who will publish such a piece. There are some who may shy away from certain subjects, but I think there are those who are as eager for fresh voices and perspectives as I believe readers are. But again, the problem comes back to finding people willing and able to fulfill that need.
Fantasy: What kinds of things do authors do when writing differently-abled characters that make you wince or wish they just wouldn’t?
GBB: To be honest, there simply are very few examples (that I’ve had the opportunity to read, anyway) for me to draw upon. Having said that, I have found a webpage with a pretty extensive list of stories featuring characters with disabilities. So they do exist, though to what extent and in what context each of these stories represents the disabled, I don’t know.
I guess the kinds of things that would affect me that way are the things I touched upon in the last question: stereotyped characters, characters who are disabled first, human beings second, rather than human beings for which disability is just another aspect of who they are the same as size, weight, race, religious upbringing, etc. are. What must be noted here is that my personal tendency is to write fantastical tales in contemporary settings. Many of the stories in the link above deal with disability in a general sense, but very often it is a fictionalized variation on disability. As much of the great science fiction and fantasy are about ordinary people dealing with extraordinary circumstances, what I’d like to see more of is ordinary disabled people with real-world disabilities thrown into fantastical settings where they can survive and shine.
Fantasy: Which authors do you read that are writing disabled characters well?
GBB: My favorite, by far, is Lois McMaster Bujold and her series of Vorkosigan books. There is a recurring theme of disability running through those stories, and although most are done in the form of mutants and mutations, the main character running throughout these stories is Miles Vorkosigan, a man who I very much identify with because he too has brittle bones. Although Miles’ disability is caused by his in utero exposure to a poison gas during an assassination attempt on his father, the issues he faces throughout his life and the way that through his quick wit and clever mind he overcomes all his shortcomings is, to me, a classic example of how I’d like to see disability treated more often. Miles is not only a hero time and again, but he also often gets the girl, which we all know is the traditional hallmark of any great protagonist. Miles isn’t a mutant or a freak (though like most disabled people, others treat him as such). Miles is just a man with a disability overcoming both his physical limitations and far greater and more threatening forces, and he does it all oh so well.
Miles is a prime example of the kind of characters I’d like to create, and to see others create as well. Only time will tell how successful I and others will be at it, however.
You can read find Gregory’s fiction in AlienSkin Magazine, The Speculative Fiction Centre, and Amazon Shorts. He’s also published five books: Crossroads and Other Tales, Phoenix Tales: Stories of Death & Life, A Writer’s Journey in Poetry & Prose, An Interview with Santa and Other Christmas Treats, and a variety of ebooks and articles which frequently break into the top 100 rankings in Amazon.com’s Kindle Store.
1 • Randy Henderson said:
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:17 am, permalink
I think that genre fiction does have a fair dose of “disabled” persons. It is just that you often see thematic substitutes for common disabilities. For example, rather than being actually blind, perhaps a character is blind to/unable to use magic, while everyone around him/her can. You see a lot of that.
If done well, the author can convey the same feelings that come with being perceived as different, an outsider, “less” than others, of unwanted pity, of operating in a world built for the fully abled, etcetera that a person with disabilities might experience.
Also, you see a lot of disabilities that are emotional/ psychological in nature.
A couple of examples of more traditional disabilities in genre fiction:
Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson, where the anti-hero is a leper, and his disease and how it affects him is absolutely central to the entire series. Technically a disease, but a disabling disease. The series also includes a blind man who gains sight through magic.
Guardian of the Flames series by Joel Rosenberg, wherein one of the characters is a young man crippled by a degenerative muscle condition who becomes a Dwarf in a magical realm. The author touches a bit on how that shapes the character’s personality and decisions. Not very integral to the overall series though.
You could also count Forrest Gump and Charles Xavier, I suppose.
But overall, no, you don’t see a lot of blind, deaf, paraplegic, or otherwise traditionally disabled persons much in genre fiction, at least not as central characters.
2 • Alex Madlinger said:
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:51 pm, permalink
How strange.
I have always planned for my main character’s wife to be blind. His sister lost a hand in a fire. He is deftly afraid of fires, to the point of having seizures.
What I mean is that I see this problem too and in my writing I have tried to do the exact opossite. I think an author could get a lot of nice themes if he would put in “disabled” people.
I do agree with alot of what the person above me said.
This is an interesting flaw in much of speculative fiction.
3 • Clint Harris said:
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:34 pm, permalink
A few examples right off the top of my head. Brandon Stark from GRRM’s A Song of Ice and Fire series is a paraplegic. Tyrion Lannister is a dwarf (clinical, not Tolkien) living in a world where such a difference has him referred to by the nickname Imp. Not to mention the physical problems he encounters from his physiology.
Susannah in Stephen King’s Gunslinger books is also a paraplegic. A major character in his book The Stand is deaf. Other SK characters also suffer from mental disabilities as well.
The genre is rife with blind swordsmen, sages, and other characters with physical and mental limitations/differences. SF is certainly not ignoring people with disabilities, though it does often have the habit of treating them as magic people. Which isn’t very fair sometimes either.
4 • Berry said:
July 2nd, 2008 at 6:30 pm, permalink
A few more to consider:
* Sheemi Ruiz from The Dark Tower series (incidental secondary character early on in Book 4, then major secondary player by Book 6)
* Duddits from Dreamcatcher
* the extreme OCD kids in Card’s Children of the Mind
*Greek Hephaestus
* Germanic Weyland/Wayland
5 • Matt’s Bookosphere 7/02/08 « Enter the Octopus said:
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:08 pm, permalink
[...] Gregory Bernard Banks on disability in F/SF [...]
6 • Scott Marlowe said:
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:53 am, permalink
You can throw Elric of Melnibone in there as well, or even Raistlin of the Dragonlance books. Both physically degenerative, but very powerful in other regards. It’s how they wrestle with both that makes each character worth reading.
7 • Carole McDonnell said:
July 4th, 2008 at 7:15 am, permalink
I agree with pretty much everything that has been said. Will also add that there are many –but not enough– stories with disabled folks. It’s easy enough to write stories with disabled folks (stereotypes aside) But it’s somewhat difficult to write when the POV main character has extreme disabilities. Extreme disabilities sometimes lead to a different way of perceiving. A true blind POV character -would be a story with descriptions that rely on all the other senses. A tour de force if a non-blind writer can do that. But then such a story about such a character would probably end up focusing on the disability if the writer isn’t careful. And creating magical disabled characters.
It’s tough to create a story with a POV character with an extreme disability and to not have the story not be totally about the disability, I think. I try to write about disabled characters in all my stories and it is truly difficult to keep the disability upfront in the reader’s mind without at the same time getting mired in it and forgetting the plot. If it’s an extreme disability, the story will have to be about the disability itself, i think.-C
8 • Blue Tyson said:
July 5th, 2008 at 10:15 pm, permalink
Tad Williams Otherland series has many.
9 • Josh Jasper said:
July 15th, 2008 at 12:59 pm, permalink
Robert Heinlein’s classic “Waldo”, which actually ended up with Waldoes named after it.
Spider Robinson had one about a blind starship pilot conducting first contact.
10 • Melissa Mead said:
July 18th, 2008 at 9:24 pm, permalink
Clearly, I’ve been sending the wrong stories to Fantasy. My husband and I have a running joke that I can’t write a story without giving SOMEBODY a disability.
Thanks for an interesting article!
11 • Cheryl Holland said:
October 10th, 2008 at 11:16 am, permalink
Technically Darth Vader’s disabled.
If we’re counting mental as well as physical disability then I’ll add Latro in Gene Wolfe’s Soldier books, as his memory only lasts half a day.