Disabled and Neurodivergent Book in January 2024. null

Hello everyone and welcome to the list of Disabled and Neurodivergent Books in January 2024. I had hoped to implement this last year alongside the Disabled and Neurodivergent Books and Comics Out in 2023 list, and it wasn’t to be last year, but it is for 2024!

Each month I will be taking the books from the main list of 2024 Disabled and Neurodivergent Book and Comic Releases and sharing them with more details. The main list is so long that I can’t add in covers and plot summaries without making it a loading nightmare. Now I get to show these amazing titles in full every month.

If you’re an author or publisher, and you would like a title included, please add it to the main list here first. I will then add it to both posts 🙂 If any information in this post is incorrect, please comment below or contact me.

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About purchase links

Each book is listed along with links to online stores. I would be extremely grateful if you would consider using them to purchase or pre-order any of the books on this list if you are interested in them. Every purchase helps me keep Just Geeking By running, and my disabilities mean that I am unable to work. If you’re grateful for this post in any way, click some links or buy me a coffee.

Thanks!

January 2024 Releases

Without further ado, here are January 2024’s Disability and Neurodivergent book releases!

Dear MustafaSteven Damron
January 2024's Disabled and Neurodivergent Book Releases - Dear Mustafa by Steven Damron - A red and orange ombre painted book cover. In white brush strokes, the book title, "Dear Mustafa", is printed at the top of the cover. In a small font, "A novel" is printed beneath the title on the right. At the bottom of the cover, the author's name, Steven Damron, is printed.A love that rises with the ashes of the fallen towers and stretches across time.

Peter finds his late lover’s AIDS journal on the eve of his New York City gallery debut, a journal filled with letters from Rano to a son named Mustafa. The journal’s revelation of Mustafa paralyzes Peter’s professional and private lives. What other secrets will the journal reveal? The trauma of a near-death experience on 9/11 compels Peter to scour Rano’s journal for the clues he needs to paint again … and to love.

Peter has company. His art dealer, Erica, must convince her brainy ex to salvage Rano’s brilliant Internet research. Brice must resolve his feelings for Peter and Rano, and for his own curtailed creative career. Immigrant-turned-millionaire Linh must reconcile with her family. As the first anniversary approaches, the collector Thomas waits to see how Peter will honor 9/11, and with whom.
1st JanuaryQueer fiction, adult, MC has AIDs.
Add to GoodReadsAmazon UK // Amazon US // Barnes & Noble // Blackwells // Foyles // Indie Bookstores // Waterstones
Beyond DescriptionEmily Tiffany Joy
January 2024's Disabled and Neurodivergent Book Releases - Beyond Description by Emily Tiffany Joy - A book cover featuring the colours of the transgender flag of blue, pink and white stripes vertically. The title, Beyond Description, is printed in black text in the centre of the cover, and has white light shining out from it.“What cannot be said above all must not be silenced but written.” -Jacques Derrida, the late, great writer who created deconstructionism.

No one will ever silence my creative voice again, even if there’s no end of people who would gladly celebrate my death, just because I let my purple bird fly. Without shining my reason upon this bleak wasteland, I’d have no book to share, and our hateful world would have successfully murdered me. So I’ll live Joyously even if that means my death, but I’ll never die before my soul strikes back.

This is my postmodern tribute to Proverbs and exists as an online memoir written to thousands of LGBT+ people reacting to each moment. None of their names are mentioned, and few if any of their words are quoted. This novel is the result.

This book is a postmodern art display in text form. The mood and flow change throughout to indicate some of what goes unsaid. There is a transgender symbol next to each numbered micro story as a symbol of peaceful protest against intolerance.
3rd JanuaryLGBTQIA+ memoir, adult, author has bipolar type I.
Add to GoodReadsAmazon UK // Amazon US // Barnes & Noble
Mislaid in Parts Half-Known (Wayward Children #9)Seanan McGuire
January 2024's Disabled and Neurodivergent Book Releases - Mislaid in Parts Half-Known (Wayward Children #9) by Seanan McGuire - A book cover featuring an opening surrounded by roots and branches. Through the opening, a prehistoric era can be seen, with several long-necked large dinosaurs visible on land and three pterodactyls flying in the sky. At the top of the cover in small text a quote is printed; "A fantastic and tension-filled addition to the Wayward Children series" - Booklist on Where the Drowned Girls Go. Below this in larger white text the book title, "Mislaid in Parts Half-Known", is printed. The author's name, is printed in the lower half of the book cover. Below that in small text is "Hugo and Nebula award-winning series".Dinosaurs and portals, and a girl who can find both in the latest book in the Hugo and Nebula Award-Winning series.

Antsy is the latest student to pass through the doors at Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children.

When her fellow students realize that Antsy’s talent for finding absolutely anything may extend to doors, she’s forced to flee in the company of a small group of friends, looking for a way back to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go to be sure that Vineta and Hudson are keeping their promise.

Along the way, temptations are dangled, decisions are reinforced, and a departure to a world populated by dinosaurs brings untold dangers and one or two other surprises!
9th JanuaryUrban fantasy, novella, queer, young adult, disabled author.
Add to GoodReadsAmazon UK // Amazon US // Barnes & Noble // Blackwells // Forbidden Planet // Foyles // Indie Bookstores // Waterstones
Cinders of Yesterday (Legacy of Shadows #1)Jen Karner
January 2024's Disabled and Neurodivergent Book Releases - Cinders of Yesterday (Legacy of Shadows #1) by Jen Karner - A book cover featuring two white women standing back to back. The woman in forefront has long brown wavy hair with a side parting. She is wearing heavy makeup, and has a smear on her forehead as though she has been in a fight. She is wearing a black v-neck top beneath a black leather jacket, and black pants. She is standing in a defensive stance with a dagger held out in her left hand. The blade of the dagger is lit up as if on fire. She is looking off to the left. The second woman is standing behind the first woman, her body side on. Her straight blonde hair is styled into a short bob, with a fringe/bangs parted in the middle. She is wearing heavy makeup, a sleeveless black top and black pants. Her right hand is held at her side and flames are coming from it. Flames surround the two women, who are standing in front of some trees and a building. The author's name, Jen Karner, is printed in yellow text at the top of the cover. In the lower section of the cover the book title, "Cinders of Yesterday" is printed with "Cinders" and "Yesterday" in large orange stylised font and "of" in small plain font. At the bottom of the cover, small white font reads "Legacy of Shadows, Book 1".Monster hunter Dani Black doesn’t want anything more than revenge.
A year ago, the rogue Necromancer Spectre murdered her partner during a hunt gone wrong, and she’s been looking for a way to kill him–and keep him dead–ever since. When rumors of a weapon capable of killing anything surface in Dawson Maryland, she sets out on a mission to get her hands on it. While unraveling a web of clues about her own past, Dani runs into the alluring Emilie Lockgrove, daughter of a magical family who are inexplicably tied to Spectre.

Emilie Lockgrove wants answers about the tragedy that ruined her life.

Emilie Lockgrove survived the catastrophic fire that killed her mother and hospitalized both her and her sister. Ten years later, she has returned to Dawson, expecting to confront the trauma of her past and move on. Instead, she discovers magic is real and encounters ghosts, monsters, and the necromancer who has hunted the mediums in her family for generations. Dani intends to kill Spectre or die trying. Emilie wants to reclaim the life of magic that was hidden from her.

To survive, they’ll need to work together to confront their past, break the spell holding back Emilie’s magic, and destroy Spectre once and for all.
9th JanuaryParanormal fantasy, adult, Author is neurodivergent, one of the MCs has clinical anxiety.
Add to GoodReadsAmazon UK // Amazon US // Indie Bookstores
The Dragon in the SewerCindy Baldwin and Irma Ruggiero (Illustrator)
January 2024's Disabled and Neurodivergent Book Releases - The Dragon in the Sewer by Cindy Baldwin and Irma Ruggiero - An illustrated book cover showing two young people standing in front of a blue building with four windows and large glass doors with steps in front of it. There is a leafy bush to the left of the steps and a notice board on the right. The two figures are standing on a sandy path facing each other with a small green dragon on the ground between them. The figure on the left is a white skinned young girl with wild brown hair, wearing a long-sleeved red jumped with a white border and a yellow star in the middle, a pair of blue pants, white socks and orange lace up boots. Her hands are raised up to her face and she looks excited. The boy opposite her has brown skin, short brown hair and has one hand pointing at the girl and the other pointing down at the dragon. He is wearing a yellow and orange striped high necked jumper and purple shorts with blue turn-ups. He has red spotted socks and blue trainers/sneakers.Collins Big Cat supports every primary child on their reading journey from phonics to fluency. Top authors and illustrators have created fiction and non-fiction books that children love to read. Book banded for guided and independent reading, there are reading notes in the back, comprehensive teaching and assessment support and ebooks available.
Emerald/Band 15 books provide a widening range of genres including science fiction and biography, prompting more ways to respond to texts.
On the way to the library with Mum, Ava finds a dragon in the sewer beneath the city. Can she use the breathing techniques her doctor taught her to help the young dragon control its fire-breath?
Pages 46 and 47 allow children to re-visit the content of the book, supporting comprehension skills, vocabulary development and recall.
Ideas for reading in the back of the book provide practical support and stimulating activities.
8th January UK
(26th March Worldwide)		Picture book, children’s, author has cystic fibrosis.
Add to GoodReadsAmazon UK // Amazon US // Blackwells // Foyles // Waterstones
the impossible poet: a medical autobiography (the CV of suffering)Asha Fenn
January 2024's Disabled and Neurodivergent Book Releases - the impossible poet: a medical autobiography (the CV of suffering) by Asha Fenn - A greyscale book cover featuring an illustrated portrait of a woman's face. At the top of the cover printed in white font is the book title, "the impossible poet" with the subtitle, "a medical autobiography" printed beneath in a smaller font on the right. The author's name, Asha Fenn, is printed in small text in the bottom right.A medical autobiography of a poem walking around inside this biological ecosystem. TW/CW talks about abuse, chronic illness, constant pain and there is so much cursing. Also, there will be inappropriate humor, the humbling effects of bodily illness, a celebration of solitude and lots of examples of how making survival art – poetry and painting, fiction and even philosophy, consistently saves me.
10th JanuaryNon-fiction, disabled author, book discusses chronic illness.
Add to GoodReadsAmazon UK // Amazon US 
Disabled and Neurodivergent Book in January 2024 - A list of Disabled and Neurodivergent Book in January 2024, featuring disabled and neurodivergent authors and representation. null
Soultaming the SerpentTar Atore
January 2024's Disabled and Neurodivergent Book Releases - Soultaming the Serpent by Tar Atore - A book cover of a purple coloured fantasy landscape. A silhouette of a figure stands on a hill beneath a tree overlooking gardens and looking at a mythical serpent in the distance. The figure is wearing Asian style robes, a conically shaped sun hat and at their side is a Japanese sword. Their long hair is blowing in the wind. Pale butterflies dance in the garden. At the top of the cover the author's name, Tar Atore, is printed. At the bottom of the cover the title of the book, "Soultaming the Serpent" is printed.Jun never knew adventure until she took her first step out of her village at age 60 and then found a young man, which only led her to more adventures and stories, some of which point to home.

—
The last dragon died half a century ago and Jun Weaver still dreams of the rain that hasn’t fallen since. Her mundane life takes a turn when she encounters Aurel, who she suspects may be the one that holds the key to restoring balance and is destined to find the elusive serpent from the prophecy.

Joined by Casey, Jun’s closest friend and the village brewer, the three embark on a journey to unravel the prophecy’s intricacies, figure out what the serpent’s role truly is, and why the dragon has to die, not knowing they are being watched.

Follow our trio as Jun discovers a love of adventure, Casey’s devotion takes an unexpected turn, Aurel spills his secrets like dust in the sand, and the three of them discover the true power of their bond.
16th JanuaryRomantic fantasy, adult, author is neurodivergent and male lead is an amputee.
Add to GoodReadsAmazon UK // Amazon US // Barnes & Noble
Bowie’s Looking GlassKayla Bonner and Lacie Ostrander (illustrator)
January 2024's Disabled and Neurodivergent Book Releases - Bowie’s Looking Glass by Kayla Bonner and Lacie Ostrander (illustrator) - An illustrated book cover of a young boy standing behind a brown desk with scientific equipment on it. He is visible from the shoulders up and standing in front of a pale blue background. He is white skinned, with short brown hair spiked up, dark eyes and is wearing a blue collared shirt. He is smiling as he looks at the equipment on the desk. The title of the book, "Bowie’s Looking Glass", is drawn in hand-drawn dark blue bubble letters at the top of the cover. Printed in the bottom right corner in white font is "Kayla Bonner illustrated by Lacie Ostrander".This book was written and illustrated by people who are on the spectrum and our mission is to teach people about inclusion and spread autism awareness. Bowie’s Looking Glass is an inspiring story about a boy who has found joy in his struggles and is happy despite the obstacles in his everyday life.
“Bowie is different, different indeed, he doesn’t even use a lot of words to speak.”
16th JanuaryPicture book, children’s, author and illustrator are autistic, MC is autistic with selective mutism.
Add to GoodReadsAmazon UK // Amazon US // Barnes & Noble //  Indie Bookstores // Waterstones
Women and Girls on the Autism Spectrum, Second EditionSarah Hendrickx and Jess Hendrick, et al.
January 2024's Disabled and Neurodivergent Book Releases - Women and Girls on the Autism Spectrum, Second Edition by Sarah Hendrickx and Jess Hendrick - A peach book cover featuring a blue and pink line drawing design of a woman's head side on with green leaves in her curly hair. There is a small yellow circle in the top left corner containing blue text that reads "Revised and Expanded Edition - 45,000 + copies sold". In the top right corner in red text are the authors names "Sarah Hendrickx with Jess Hendrickx". The title, " Women and Girls on the Autism Spectrum", is printed in blue text inside the woman's head. Just above her shoulders the subtitle is printed in green text "Understanding Life Experiences from Early Childhood to Old Age" followed by smaller blue font that reads "Foreword by Dr. Judith Gould".The difference that being female makes to the diagnosis, life and experiences of an autistic person is hugely significant. In this widely expanded second edition, Sarah Hendrickx combines the latest research with personal stories from girls and women on the autism spectrum to present a picture of their feelings, thoughts and experiences at each stage of their lives.
Outlining the likely impact will be for autistic women and girls throughout their lifespan, Hendrickx surveys everything from diagnosis, childhood, education, adolescence, friendships and sexuality, to employment, pregnancy, parenting, and aging.
With up-to-date content on masking, diagnosis later in life, and a new focus on trans and non-binary voices, as well as a deeper dive into specific health and wellbeing implications including menopause, PCOS, Hypermobility/Ehlers-Danlos, autistic burnout, and alexithymia, this is an invaluable companion for professionals, as well as a guiding light for women with autism to understand and interpret their own experience in context.
18th JanuaryNon-fiction, adult, contains essays of personal experiences by autistic women.
Add to GoodReadsAmazon UK // Amazon US // Barnes & Noble // Blackwells // Foyles // Waterstones
The Black Cat BookshopE.M. McConnell
January 2024's Disabled and Neurodivergent Book Releases - The Black Cat Bookshop by E.M. McConnell – A book cover featuring a transparent black cat over a greyscale image of bookshelves in a bookshop. The cat is sitting down, facing forward, and has glowing amber yellow eyes. An ornate black sign hangs above the cat's head. The book's title, "The Black Cat Bookshop", is printed on the sign in yellow letters. There is a black panel at the top and bottom of the cover. In the top panel in white capitals, a tagline is printed; "It's a bookshop that will give you whatever you need. At a price." In the bottom panel in a yellow font, the author's name, E.M. McConnell, is printed.“The bookshop offers people knowledge, and it feeds from what you learn, but everyone must make a payment for what they have taken. Even you, Brandon. Even you.”

An entity was born into smoke and rage, a destructive force that was bound into a Bookshop, sentient, feral, and hungry. It offers knowledge and power, enough to fulfil your wildest dreams, but there is always a price. Payment will always be due.

The Black Cat Bookshop is a Gothic Horror story that explores what it is to find knowledge, and if it is really worth the price, in the end.
21st JanuaryGothic horror, adult, author is neurodivergent, and one of the MCs, Brandon, is deaf.
Add to GoodReadsAmazon UK // Amazon US // Barnes & Noble // Blackwells // Foyles // Indie Bookstores // Waterstones
Imago: A Dystopian GothicMatthew Zakharuk
January 2024's Disabled and Neurodivergent Book Releases - Imago: A Dystopian Gothic by Matthew Zakharuk - A dark book cover featuring a sepia toned image of a woman's head and shoulders, her face side on, facing left. The woman's eyes painted over, covered with black marks. On the left in a large red font is the book title, "Imago". At the top in a small white script the author's name, Matthew Zakharuk, is printed. At the bottom of the cover in the same font, the subtitle of the book is printed; "A Dystopian Gothic".Tresor Institute accepts only the worthy, and Ada Călinescu is anything but. Intractable, mannish, a child of convicted terrorists, she can at best hope to be overlooked. Yet somehow the Institute accepts her application for transfer. Her ticket to the polar town of Heilung, home of the Institute, arrives free of charge.

Her only chance to forge a brighter future.

Except Heilung welcomes Ada with news of a brutal murder. Militiamen stalk the town, keen to fill their arrest quotas—and Ada knows she could make an easy scapegoat. At every turn the bloody conspiracy follows her, from the halls of Tresor to the arms of a stranger she yearns to make hers. What starts as a dalliance risks putting Ada at odds with the Bureau itself.

And then expulsion will be the least of her concerns.
30th JanuaryGothic Horror, adult, Author is AuDHD, MC is autistic and a side character uses a cane.
Add to GoodReadsAmazon UK // Amazon US
This autistic girl went to Japan: And you won’t believe what happened nextBianca Toeps, Megan Hershey (Translator)
January 2024's Disabled and Neurodivergent Book Releases - This autistic girl went to Japan: And you won’t believe what happened next by Bianca Toeps, Megan Hershey (Translator) – A two-tone pale pink book cover with an illustration of a young woman, showing her head and neck. She has pale skin, short dark hair and is wearing yellow rimmed glasses and a pair of Mickey Mouse ears. There is an illustration of a Japanese cityscape and an airplane drawn in the Mickey Mouse ears, coming out over her forehead. A branch of cherry blossom is on the left side of her head and on the right is a tall skyscraper building. Various white clouds float about her head. The book title, "This autistic girl went to Japan" is printed in a large red font in the top half of the cover. In a smaller white font, the author's name, Bianca Toeps, is printed above the title to the top left. Underneath the title, in the bottom right in the same font, is the subtitle; "And you won’t believe what happened next".When Bianca Toeps first set foot in Japan in 2008, she just “I’m going to live here someday.” Flash forward 15 years, and she’s finally traded her tiny apartment in the Netherlands for an even tinier one in Tokyo. But it wasn’t always easy. Between that first visit and now, Toeps was diagnosed with autism at age 26, suffered several burnouts, and switched careers a time or two (or three) before becoming a web developer and a best-selling author. And just when she was all set for the big move, the pandemic derailed everything.

Why Japan? What makes it so appealing to someone with autism? it’s not the anime. And isn’t Tokyo way too busy and chaotic for an autistic person? Nope. Has Toeps found her ikigai yet? “Ugh, that’s for old people!”

If you’re looking for profound life lessons based on a random Japanese word that westerners have imbued with more significance than most Japanese people do, you won’t find them in this book. No juicy descriptions of “strange” subcultures, either, because despite what you see on TV, most people in Japan are totally normal. So what is this book about? It’s the inspiring story of an autistic woman who learns to deal with her own challenges (well, most of them anyway). With warmth and humor, she describes what it’s like to move halfway around the world, to a place where certain things are actually a bit easier for autistic folks. Except for revenue stamps. And bank accounts. And faxes.
30th JanuaryMemoir, adult, author is autistic.
Add to GoodReadsAmazon UK // Amazon US
The InvocationsKrystal Sutherland
January 2024's Disabled and Neurodivergent Book Releases - The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland - A book cover dominated by the head and shoulders of a white skinned young woman with her brown hair styled into a short bob with a fringe/bangs. She has one blue eye, while her left eye is hidden behind a line of white smoke that wafts diagonally across her face. She is wearing a round necked black top. Over her shoulders, two other girls can be seen. Over her left shoulder is a white-skinned girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes looking anxiously out. On the other side, a white-skinned girl with long wavy red hair and dark eyes has a look of fear on her face. At the top of the cover in white text reads "From the New York Times Bestselling Author of House of Hollow". At the bottom of the cover in large stylistic pink font is the book title, "The Invocations", and below that in smaller white text is the author's name, Krystal Sutherland.From the author of New York Times bestseller House of Hollow comes a darkly seductive witchy thriller where, though both men and demons lurk in shadows, girls refuse to go quietly into the night.

Zara Jones believes in magic because the alternative is too painful to bear—that her sister was murdered by a serial killer and there is precisely nothing she can do to change it. If there’s anything Zara cannot stand it’s feeling powerless, so she decides she will do whatever it takes—even if that means partaking in the occult—to bring her sister back from the dead.

Jude Wolf might be the daughter of a billionaire, but she is also undeniably cursed. After a deal with a demon went horribly wrong, her soul is now slowly turning necrotic. Flowers and insects die in her wake and monstrous things come to taunt her at night. If Jude can’t find the right someone to fix her mistake, she fears she’ll die very soon.

Enter Emer Bryne: the solution to both Zara’s and Jude’s predicaments. The daughter of a witch, Emer sells spells to women in desperate situations willing to sacrifice a part of their soul in exchange for a bit of power, a bit of magic to change their lives. But Emer has a dark past all her own—and as her former clients are murdered one-by-one, she knows it’s followed her all the way to London.

As Zara and Jude enter Emer’s orbit, they’ll have to team up to stop the killer—before they each end up next on his list.
30th JanuaryParanormal, young adult, MC has chronic pain.
Add to GoodReadsAmazon UK // Amazon US // Barnes & Noble // Blackwells // Forbidden Planet // Foyles // Indie Bookstores // Waterstones

Over to You

Thank you for reading the list of Disabled and Neurodivergent Books in January 2024!

Have any of these books caught your attention? Let me know in the comments!

I’ll be posting one of these updates each month of 2024 and while January’s was a bit delayed due to me working on the full list, they will be posted towards the start of the month. Look out for February’s post during the first week of the month. You can also follow this blog on WordPress or follow me on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Twitter/X) to keep up with content.

In the meantime don’t forget you can browse the whole list of 2024 Disabled and Neurodivergent Book and Comic Releases and the 2023 version for more books by disabled and neurodivergent authors and representation!

Authors, remember that I am available to help promote books and comics and offer interviews, cover reviews, giveaways and book reviews.

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