In the first Spoon Knife Anthology, Autonomous Press editors asked writers to think about compliance, resistance, and consent, writing stories about the complex ways that the demand for obedience and resistance to that imperative play out in various communities. It brought together a diverse array of disabled, Mad, and Queer voices, making it the biggest Autonomous Press anthology at the time, and the first from the NeuroQueer Books division. In Spoon Knife 2: Test Chamber, that call was extended.

This time, we asked writers what it felt like to live in a life where every move, every choice, and every outcome is scrutinized. That is the test chamber, and these 36 meditations on the ways power is felt and the choices individuals made in light of their confrontations with power are cement the conviction of fans of the first volume that this series is one to watch out for.

We also selected work that reflects our partnership. That means heavy representation from transgender authors, who have written the majority of the pieces in the book, if not the majority of the words. It also means rich autistic representation. It means embracing a big-tent approach to both neurodiversity and sexual and gender diversity in a way unique to NeuroQueer Books.

The Spoon Knife Anthology is NeuroQueer Books' annual open-call collection to find new talent and to bring together our favorite regular contributors in a celebration of literature that pushes boundaries and defines the interiors of neurodivergent, Queer, and Mad experiences. Editors Dani Alexis Ryskamp and Sam Harvey give you a series of examinations of what it means to live in an environment where one feels that existence itself is a series of tests that must be successfully navigated. From the back cover:

"The writers (and editors and publishers) of the book you now hold in your hands have this in common: we all diverge in some way(s) from the normative, the expected, the acceptable. We've all been pathologized, scrutinized, corrected--often, in horrible ways. As [we] write this, the United States finds itself in a new test chamber, one whose outputs will inevitably affect the rest of the world. Those of us throughout the world who find ourselves already marginalized, like the authors represented here, will suffer first, but we will not suffer alone. We all need the tools of defiance and resistance. In Spoon Knife 2: Test Chamber, we explore what happens when the tools of defiance and resistance are applied to a particular purpose or demand. We test the test chamber in which we find ourselves, and in so doing, we find the power to subvert it."

Please join us for our second year celebrating the diversity and craft that goes into neurodivergent, Queer, and Mad literature, and enjoy the second round of Spoon Knife. You will find a number of familiar AutPress authors in its pages, as well as a few names of people who will be delivering books through the press later this year and more than a couple of authors we hope to publish again. And don't forget to be on the lookout for new Spoon Knife Anthology guidelines every spring from Autonomous Press and NeuroQueer Books.

Authors include: N.I. Nicholson, Amy Sequenzia, Alyssa Hillary, Nick Walker, Alison Black, Arden Green, Andrea Abi-Karam, Clay Dillon, Alyssa Gonzalez, Monika Dryburgh, EL Lewy, Nicole Eugene, Eleven Groothius, Phil Smith, Jacqueline Pruder St. Antoine, Monday Dillon, Verity Reynolds, Barbara Ruth, Michael Scott Monje Jr., Marrok Zenon Sedgwick, Steven J. Singer, Meghan O'Hern, Emma Whetsell, Athena the Architect, Lynn Vargas, Alex Connall, Michael T. Chin, Sparrow Rose Jones, and Andrew Reichart.