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"Space to Dream": Queer Speculative Disability Narratives & Their Liberatory Value

Chameleon Moon Cover

A brown woman with pink hair wearing a pink dress holds a microphone. Next to her is a green humanoid lizard person with numerous silver facial piercings wearing a black hooded vest. Behind them are a red haired white woman, a fat Black woman, a red haired white man, and a tall figure with a shaved head. The buildings of a city surround them, and above them is a huge sphere of flames, with several helicopters flying through it.

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Chameleon Moon by RoAnna Sylver
IDs: Transgender, Polyamorous, Fat, Sapphic, Physically Disabled, Amputee, Neurodivergent, Asexual, POC, Mentally Ill

Author IDs: Transgender, Nonbinary, Neurodivergent

CWs: Addiction, transphobia, police violence, panic attacks, death, mind control, quarantine

Sylver’s novel takes place in Parole, a city that has been on fire for nearly a decade. The city is under a strict quarantine, as well as heavy surveillance from “Eye in the Sky,” a police force that ensures that no one breaks quarantine. Chameleon Moon follows a group of newfound friends as they attempt to escape Eye in the Sky and discover what is causing the fires under Parole. Nearly all of the characters have superabilities as a result of an experimental cure-all drug that was used prior to Parole’s never-ending fire. The ensemble of Chameleon Moon keep themselves safe through collective care. They use the library as a point of safety. They don’t leave each other behind, and they share their resources. Their plans are built around one another's strengths and capacities.

Every character in this ensemble is queer and disabled. Regan, a polyamorous queer asexual man with lizard scales and a panic disorder, can withstand high heat and become invisible. Evelyn, a transgender queer polyamorous woman with PTSD, can sing at levels that will shatter windows. Rose, a polyamorous queer Black fat double-amputee, can grow plants anywhere she goes. She also has two metal prosthetic legs. Then there’s Finn, a polyamorous transgender queer boy who causes explosions anytime he feels emotions other than happiness. Zilch, a polyamorous queer nonbinary person made of dead people’s body parts who also likely has PTSD, cannot die. Sylver not only crips the apocalypse, but she shows how queer crips can and will survive such an apocalypse, and how queer, crip community care can change everything—maybe even save a city.

Discussion Questions
1. How does Sylver’s novel demonstrate community-based aid? What is the significance of this in an apocalyptic setting?
2. What does it mean that the “cure-all” drug caused drug addiction & super-abilities? What do you think Sylver is saying about cure-all drugs? About the desire for such a drug?
3. How did the relationship dynamics in this novel make you feel? How did this characters treat each other? Why is that treatment significant?
4. Who is the villain in this story? The hero? Why?