My review is only gonna be about the stories. I didn't read the poems bc I don't like poems (except in case of classics). I'm also not gonna mention illustrations bc tbh I didn't get them. They were just pictures so I don't have any opinions on them.

Overall, I really enjoyed this collection. As a neurodivergent person, it felt like a breath of fresh air seeing characters I could relate to and stories where our differences can actually be useful. All the stories here offer positivity and encourage compassion. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone in general who is interested in alien sci-fi stories, but especially the neurodivergent readers who are looking for stories that are not judgmental but instead offer comfort and inspire to be confident in who we are despite how the neurotypical society makes us feel.

I also loved the queer representation in many of the stories. Most of the characters mention the pronouns when they introduce themselves, which I hope will become a common practice in real world. So the stories aren't just from white autistic men's perspectives lol.

I also liked how there were different types of aliens depicted in this collection. Some were generic yeah and felt too similar to humans but most of them truly felt alien which is what I personally prefer. For example, I found the aliens in Meeting of the Branes by Kiya Nicoll fascinating since they apparently can bend the space and can access higher dimensions (if I understood correctly). Also Meaning Green, Unclear by Clara Ward had interesting aliens, even though I found the story too confusing.

Other than the positive points I mentioned, I do have some criticisms though. Some of the stories felt more like ranting about neurotypical society than telling a genuine story. E.g. The Interview by Brian Starr felt like a teenager complaining about small talk and neurotypical people being liars. I didn't like it. Then, some felt like a fantasy or dream of a neurodivergent person than what I personally would expect from a sci-fi story. E.g. Impact by Jasmine Starr, where the character meets an alien who basically listens to her talk about names endlessly. The alien here didn't have any agency or a function and felt more like a pet than a proper character.

All in all, my favourites in this anthology were :
- The List-Making Habits of Heartbroken Ships by Stewart C. Baker -> I think this might be my most favourite. Basically, it's a cosy story about a ship that, if I'm not mistaken, has OCD and anxiety so they constantly make lists to keep themself calm. I loved being in the ship's pov. It reminded me of The Murderbot Diaries. I also loved the ending.
- Scary Monsters, Super Creeps by Cat Rambo -> I usually don't like superheroes but this was a very interesting story and reminded me of the show "The Boys". I liked the depiction of anxiety and how it can be turned into advantage while also acknowledging its negative effects.
- The Space Between Stitches by Minerva Cerridwen -> this was so cute and cosy. I loved it.
- The Cow Test by Lauren D. Fulter -> this was funny and cute. Also loved that it was from an alien perspective rather than human.
- Gamma Zaria by Gail Brown -> I really liked this story. It's from a character's perspective who has hyperphantasia and is usually non-verbal.
- Where Monolithic Minds Can’t Travel by Akis Linardos -> this was about a person who has DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder). I've never read a story from that perspective so this was very interesting. Also the alien species mentioned here was intriguing.
- A Hint of Color by Jody Lynn Nye -> here the character has synesthesia. Again I've never read a story from this perspective so I found it fascinating to see both positive and negative sides of this condition.
- Heart-Side Sometimes-Table by Madeline Barnicle -> I really enjoyed this. Even the title is fun once you learn the meaning of it in the story. Also I love exploring languages in a sci-fi context so this was definitely for me.
- Trading Partners by Jennifer R. Povey -> loved the queer representation and the cosy vibes of the story.
- Tangible Things by Jillian Starr -> this is an alien invasion story which I don't usually like but I found it very interesting how the main character, who is autistic, reacted to aliens arriving on earth and the destruction of the city.

Btw, I found the preface useful. It goes through some of the terms regarding neurodivergence so I would recommend not skipping that part.

It’s kind of in fashion to claim neurodivergence these days, or elements of it. On the other hand, greater awareness has also meant that people without a formal diagnosis have, through popular culture and social media, identified their own neurodivergence. What hasn’t really happened to a large extent yet is literature featuring neurodiverse characters; disabled characters in general are still rare. This collection addresses that as it imagines neurodiverse characters discovering themselves, meeting aliens, and generally using their difference in positive ways. These characters are autistic, have OCD, synaesthesia, social anxiety, ADHD, and more.

It’s a hopeful and fun collection of fiction (mostly speculative), poetry and art. It’s not perfect, but I don’t think it ever set out to be, nor needs to be. I enjoyed Impact by Jasmine Starr, which features a sea urchin-like child alien; Shadows of Titanium Rain by Anthony Francis is a wonderful tale of “ghosts” on a tidally-locked moon; Cat Rambo’s Scary Monsters, Super Creeps is super satisfying; David Manfre’s First Contact is delightfully unusual—first contact from a different perspective. The Space Between Stitches by Minerva Cerridwen is my favourite because crochet wins the day! Sam Crain’s Cadre is about finding your place in the world by turning your “weaknesses” into strengths, as is Meeting of the Branes by Kiya Nicoll. The Cow Test by Lauren D. Fulter is about friends connectiong across the stars (as are a few other stories in the collection). Gamma Zaria by Gail Brown is on a beautiful planet, and competes with M. D. Cooper’s The Zeta Remnant and Jody Lynn Nye’s A Hint of Colour for my favourite setting. Tangible Things by Jilian Starr is heartbreaking, with a solid ending. The List-Making Habits of Heartbroken Ships by Stewart C. Baker features my favourite trope in all of SF: a sentient ship!

There are so many well-imagined worlds and situations represented in this collection, and it speaks strongly for neurodiversity, including advocating for its recognition as part of the spectrum of human experience— which, of course it is; but the fact that a book like this needs to make the point is the reason for the book’s existence. Readers of SF will enjoy it, as well as anyone who wants to understand a little more about neurodiversity, or about people finding their way.

Many thanks to Thinking Ink Press and NetGalley for access to the DRC.

I picked up this anthology for three reasons: a) I always want to read more stories written by and for neurodivergent people, b) sci-fi is one of my favorite genres and c) Ada Hoffman, author of the The Outside series is in here and I love what I've read of their work so far. And if you too enjoy these three things (or just the first two) I can already tell you to please read this anthology once it comes out! It's fun, there's quite a few gems in here that are really, really good, it features a not just neurodivergent, but generally diverse cast of characters and did I mention it's fun?
Now as you can see since I only gave this book four stars it is not perfect. One issue I have that I hope might still be fixed is that one of the short stories "The Grad New York Welcome Tour" by Kay Hanifen features a line that unfortunately reproduces cissexism: "Because the status of their genitals was considered a private affair, we relied on neopronouns when we didn't know their names and preferences." While this line tries to justify the use of neopronouns, I think the way it is currently phrased reproduces the idea that gender & pronouns can be tied to the status of somebody's genitals and that is obviously not okay. I do not believe that reading to be the intent of the author or the publishers, especially with other stories in this anthology, which feature quite a few transgender characters, but it is something I noticed while reading and while I am just one nonbinary reader I do believe that it might be good to think about if this should be kept in the finished piece. Another thing that bothered me is that another short story in this anthology "Scary Monsters, Super Creeps" by Cat Rambo mentions that the violent, abusive, can't-take-no-for-an-answer-ubervillains are "narcissists", which just felt extra bad in this case as people develop superpowers due to traumatic events in their childhood and adolescence. NPD is also born out of extreme childhood trauma. Claiming that it is something that universally turns somebody into an abusive partner and a violent monster without the capability for empathy... does really not sit well for an anthology that is by and for neurodivergent people, as it exclused those of us who have NPD, or who don't have any or only have low empathy and don't deserve to be labeled as "Scary Monsters, Super Creeps". The final reason I'm only giving this anthology 4 stars is that unfortunately a few of the pieces in here left me feeling a bit bored, like I couldn't fully connect to the characters or as if something was missing from the story. This is however only a minor problem as the incredible breadth of works presented here does definitely make up for the fact that I did not enjoy every single piece presented here.
So let's move on the things I really, really adored about this anthology: the amount of sci-fi that it explores. There's space exploration and alien first encounters, both peaceful and violent, scientific and cultural exchanges, AI and superheroes. If you like sci-fi, regardless of which type of sci-fi, there will be something here that works for you!
I enjoyed the Illustrations that are features here by barbara Candiotti, Vincenzo Cohen and Natasha Von. They always added to the story and it was always a lovely suprise to flip a page and see that the story I had just finished had received an illustration that added to my imagination.
As mentioned above there is also a great diversity of characters: a wide variety of neurodiversities, characters from across a variety of genders, aliens with incredibly bodily differences (not just the stereotypical green dudes from Mars) and a great variety of hobbies and interests.
I also like that the anthology includes trigger warnings in front of each piece.
My favorite short stories in here were "The Pipefitter" by Tobias S. Buckell, "Shadows of Titanium Rain" by Anthony Francis, "The Space Between Stitches" by Minerva Cerridwen, "The Zeta Remnant" by M. D. Cooper, "Navigational Aid" by Holly Schofield, "Heart-Side Sometimes-Table" by Madeline Barnicle, "Stopping for Fuel on a Starry Evening" by Crystal Sidell, "Meeting of the Branes" by Kiya Nicoll and "The List-Making Habits of Heartbroken Ships" by Stewart C. Baker.

I also wrote a short list of thoughts and opinions on most pieces (except the art and I've also left out the very short poems as I often found I didn't have anything interesting to say about them.) If you want to read that as well here you go (I also extended some of the trigger warnings, but seldomly). My favorite pieces (as mentioned above) are marked by an asterix:

When the Aliens Came by Avra Margariti: a short poem exploring the demands humans could place on aliens since they also place them on autistic people, interesting and heartbreaking
Tw mention of physical child abuse

Music, Not Words by Ada Hoffmann: A mostly nonverbal autistic girl finds happiness in music, when the Aliens arrive she hears the music they make first, heartbreaking but with an interesting end
Tw emotional abuse

The Grand New York Welcome Tour by Kay Hanifen: A person with ocd and undiagnosed but peer-reviewed autism is tasked with guiding a group of alien students through their first earth trip. Unfortunately not my style, despite the intended sweet moment of self recognition in the alien. It does feel incredibly American to invite Aliens to New York and immediately show the Hamilton though.
Tw for racism, anti-alien violence, slight cissexism as the story once implies that pronouns are determined by 'the status of their [the aliens'] genitals' (which we don't know as its considered private, so neopronouns are used).

A Conversation with a Xotiran by M. A. Dubbs: A poem about talking with an alien whose brain works the same way as the neurodivergent MC. Interesting!

* The Pipefitter by Tobias S. Buckell: A lower ranks worker in a space ship finds herself as the highest ranking person around during a ship wide emergency, can her adhd maybe help her in this chaotic situation? Very interesting and very fun, I really enjoyed the writing style! Did make me cry for the main character!
Tw death, injury, internalized ableism

Impact by Jasmine Starr: An autistic girl meets an alien thats also autistic for its species, interesting and sweet, even if the feel good ending was a bit unexpected

Where is Everybody by Anya Leigh Josephs: Love at first Alien Sighting. Autistic girl meets autistic alien. Very short but sweet.

McCarthy Knew by A. J. Dalton: A poem about paranoia, very short

* Shadows of Titanium Rain by Anthony Francis: a really sweet story about an autistic artist achieving first contact to warn an alien race of danger, very star trek-esque, very sweet
Tw injury

The Interview by Brian Starr: An alien is interviewing a very anxious man for an ambassador position, investigates the (weird and convoluted) nuances of conversation, I felt very seen

Someone Different Like Me by Daane Dunnewold: A university student meets an alien and they are different together, very short

Scary Monsters, Super Creeps by Cat Rambo: A person with anxiety in a world with evil superheros finds out she's been dating a superhero all along, interesting and I enjoy the dark worldbuilding but i could have done without the ableism against people with NPD and low empathy and would have enjoyed it more if the villain of the story had been explored in more depth instead of "with great power comes low empathy and also abusing people."
tw ableism (narcissism used to describe a person who doesn't care about others and constant mentions of "empathy" as the thing that makes someone act in ways that don't harm others), domestic abuse, violence

These Things Never End Well by Maub Nesor: An autistic programmer encounters an Alien species, the aliens have rules that are very autistic as well and the autistic person might be humanities only salvation from war, short but interesting, I especially liked the first half

First Contact by David Manfree: An autistic man encounters an alien and helps him rebuild his ship, sweet
tw: harassment, mentions of ableism

* The Space Between Stitches by Minerva Cerridwen: A gas like alien arrives on earth and encounters an autistic person who uses neopronouns and they talk about favorite hobbies, very sweet

Cadre by Sam Crain: two autistic scientists meet alien children, who are also kind off autistic and they get to share their research with them, adorable

The Cow Test by Lauren D. Fulter: an alien girl with adhd needs to abduct a cow to pass her class but accidentally abducts a human girl with adhd as well, they bond over it, very sweet

Our Connected Space by Swarit Gopalan: A short poem about how certain autistic traits (hypersensitivity to sound, attention to detail, lack of societal judgement) could be helpful when meeting an alien

Gamma Zaria by Gail Brown: an autistic person who thinks in pictures and struggles with communication finds an alien planet where she might find a home

Poetry by Chief Red Chef: a very short poem, but stylistically quite interesting

Where Monolithic Minds Can't Travel by Akis Linardos: A person with DID encounters aliens that also house multiple consciousnesses in one body, really interesting!
Tw past attempts to cure, forced medical intervention

* The Zeta Remnant by M. D. Cooper: A space explorer explores a new planet with an AI when they encounter something dangerous, The space explorer and the AI were really adorable together and I enjoyed the way the story managed to hint at the history of characters and the world while still working really well as a short story!

Are We Human? by Brianna Elise: A short and rather academic piece about an alien encountering humans, interesting, but a bit too disjointed for me to fully grasp

A Hint of Color by Jody Lynn Nye: A person with Synesthesia is sent out to explore a new planet, she's the only person that can communicate with the local species there, interesting

Be Your Own Universe by Kay Alexander: A worker on a space ship gets possessed by an alien entity and finds their purposes, interesting, very Star Trek, I enjoyed it, tw: death

* Navigational Aid by Holly Schofield: A lone survivor of a spaceship accident encounters an alien being, heavy focus on communication between different languages, very good

* Heart-Side Sometimes-Table by Madeline Barnicle: A really interesting short story about linguistics and conlangs and an autistic understanding of the world! I loved it!!!!

Trading Partners by Jennifer R. Povey: An autistic woman meets a trading convoy of aliens and joins them, short but sweet.
Tw: mentions of suicide

Greetings from Earth by R. S. Mot: An autistic young adult summon Aliens to her world and shares their existence on TikTok. Interesting and again a lot about communication, which I enjoy.

Close Encounter in the Public Bathroom by Keiko O'Leary: A short poem about a person with OCD encountering an alien in the public bathroom, short and sweet

Primordial Voices by J. L. Lark: an autistic opera singer meets an actress and feels a strange sense of calm when with her, loved the girlies, hated the boyfriend
Tw biphobia, bimisogynistic abuse, emotional abuse & domestic violence

Tangible Things by Jillian Starr: An autistic person faces a violent alien invasion on Earth. They might be the only one able to stop it though. Interesting and fun to read, but the end was very abrupt.

* Stopping for Fuel on a Starry Evening by Crystal Sidell: A short and sweet poem about encountering aliens that communicate in mental pictures while drinking tea in the garden, very sweet

* Meeting of the Branes by Kiya Nicoll: An autistic spaceship pilot with a stutter encounters one alien being known and worshipped by others as Angels, very interesting and fun to read
Tw ableism, bullying

Meaning Green, Unclear by Clara Ward: Two neurodivergent explorers manage to communicate with a newly discovered alien being, interesting set up but a bit short

* The List-Making Habits of Heartbroken Ships by Stewart C. Baker: A sentient ship grieving for their lost crew, heartbreaking but also lovely
Tw grief

I was really looking forward to this and I really wanted to love it but I just didn't. It just didn't work for me at all

I found this strong multi-author anthology very rewarding. As the title suggests, it focuses on stories either by or about neurodiverse individuals. Essays by the editors frame the anthology nicely. Quality is slightly uneven, and for me the poetry wasn’t compelling, but there are some very nice stories. Favorites included stories by Tobias Buckell, J.L. Lark, Cat Rambo, and editor Anthony Francis but many have real merit. Recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for a fair review.