Diabetes in Fiction

Insanity was rampant…Rape and murder was as common as suicide. Medical help was allowed only for certain diseases, and disobedience incurred the worst of punishments. Ever since the sudden appearance of the white hole over Earth in the year 2000, society had decayed—and now only the corrupt survived. Dr. Simon Negron knew the odds were against him, but he dared to defy the medical code. His ‘crime’: giving insulin to a diabetic. And because of it he became a fugitive…a hunted outlaw with only a teenaged prostitute and a gang youth for allies…a haunted man running for his life in a nightmare world of increasing madness…a desperate human being who would dare to take a stand against the evil domination of THE SUDDEN STAR.

Two swimmers under pressure. One trying not to get close to anyone, the other trying to save their beloved camp. And a growing connection between them that makes everything messier. Ruby Hopkins has had the worst year of her life. Dropped from her high school’s swim team, nearly kicked out of school, and now newly diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, she is waiting for an opportunity to show the world that she can still have a future in the water. When a comeback comes in the form of an intensive summer training camp, she takes it with no hesitation. She just has one rule: no friends, no attachments, no chances to get hurt again. Eliana Marsh, team captain and rising social media star, is used to the pressure to perform. But behind their bubbly personality, Eliana is wrestling with their gender identity and what it could mean for their career in swimming. When Eliana learns the camp could close if the team does not place at the upcoming championship, they know it’s now or never to help coach the team to a win. For Eliana’s plan to succeed, they know training one-on-one with Ruby will help both of their times improve. And despite Ruby’s irritability, she agrees, slowly opening herself up to vulnerability that she never expected. With the championship fast approaching and recruitment season starting, Ruby and Eliana must decide what they are willing to risk, both in and out of the pool.

Charlie Green is the most popular fashion influencer in Nautville until her followers find out she gained her following through mind control. When her himbo boyfriend breaks up with her publicly, he reveals her ‘Glitch.’ The companies drop their contracts with her quicker than she can say ‘viral,’ and her following count dwindles way too close to double digits. Fallen from fame, she joins a reality dating show for Glitches in a desperate attempt to gain back her fame. She becomes quick friends with a tech heiress with invisibility and a villain with poisonous plant powers; and she becomes quick enemies with ‘The Pretty Power Posse,’ a girl with pink laser vision, a girl with irridescent hair, a girl who creates violet light beams, and another who manipulates scents. She’ll rebrand herself, gain back fame, and embrace her Glitch, all while attending cyber punk fashion shoots and extravegant dates in the clouds. And that’s the only reason she joins, she’s certainly not going to fall in love on a silly reality dating show.

Joe is an imaginative eleven-year-old boy. He can’t fit in at school. He’s the victim of bullies. His dad died overseas in the Iraq war. He also suffers from Type 1 diabetes. One fateful day, his condition causes him to believe he has entered a vivid fantasy world in which he is the lost savior—a fantastic land based on the layout and contents of his home. His desperate attempts to make it out of his bedroom transform into an incredible, epic adventure through a bizarre landscape of submarine pirate dwarves, evil Hell Hounds, Lightning Lords and besieged castles. But is his quest really just an insulin deprived delirium—from which he can die if he doesn’t take his meds—or something much bigger?

How did a raw chicken get inside Yasmany’s locker? When Sal Vidon meets Gabi Real for the first time, it isn’t under the best of circumstances. Sal is in the principal’s office for the third time in three days, and it’s still the first week of school. Gabi, student council president and editor of the school paper, is there to support her friend Yasmany, who just picked a fight with Sal. She is determined to prove that somehow, Sal planted a raw chicken in Yasmany’s locker, even though nobody saw him do it and the bloody poultry has since mysteriously disappeared. Sal prides himself on being an excellent magician, but for this sleight of hand, he relied on a talent no one would guess . . . except maybe Gabi, whose sharp eyes never miss a trick. When Gabi learns that he’s capable of conjuring things much bigger than a chicken–including his dead mother–and she takes it all in stride, Sal knows that she is someone he can work with. There’s only one slight problem: their manipulation of time and space could put the entire universe at risk. A sassy entropy sweeper, a documentary about wedgies, a principal who wears a Venetian bauta mask, and heaping platefuls of Cuban food are just some of the delights that await in this mind-blowing novel gift-wrapped in love and laughter.

Where does insulin go? In the butter compartment of the fridge, of course. Mommy Beeps is a story for children who have a parent, sibling, teacher, or other loved one who has diabetes. Explore the day in the life of a type 1 diabetic and her child as they go on adventures - dealing with high and low sugars, waiting on hold for lab results, and visiting the endocrinologist. Check out the book "highly recommended" by DiabetesDaily.com - with detailed illustrations of diabetic supplies & machines that beep (whether a meter or pump), Mommy Beeps provides opportunities to discuss the varying ways diabetes can be managed and how it impacts those around them. This book is sure to be an essential for any child who is close with anyone who has type 1 diabetes (or type 2!) - but is not diabetic themselves.

This color illustrated book for elementary age children contains an instructive story of a grade-schooler with diabetes who tells his classmates about the disease and how he manages it. The story offers sensitive insight into the day-to-day "school life" of a child with a chronic illness. Includes "Ten Tips for Teachers" and "Kids Quiz".

After being sent to the hospital, Brian finds out has diabetes. Brian's mother decides to get a stuffed bear for Brian. She sews special patches on the same areas where Brian gets his insulin shots and puts hearts on the paws where Brian gets his fingers pricked for glucose testing. Brian now has his own "diabetic" bear with which to share his fears and experiences.

Too often, science fiction and fantasy stories erase—or cure—characters with disabilities. Soul Jar , edited by author and bookstore owner Annie Carl, features thirty-one stories by disabled authors, imagining such wonders as a shapeshifter on a first date, skin that sprouts orchid buds, and a cereal-box demon. An insulin pump diverts an undead mob. An autistic teen sets out to discover the local cranberry bog’s sinister secret. A pizza delivery on Mars goes wrong. This thrillingly peculiar collection sparkles with humor, heart, and insight, all within the context of disability representation. Stories with diabetic representation: “Ziabetes” by Lily Jurich and “A Balanced Breakfast” by Eirik Gumeny

A sweeping novel about a single house in the woods of New England, told through the lives of those who inhabit it across the centuries—a daring, moving tale of memory and fate from the Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Piano Tuner and The Winter Soldier. When a pair of young lovers abscond from a Puritan colony, little do they know that their humble cabin in the woods will become home to an extraordinary succession of inhabitants . An English soldier, destined for glory, abandons the battlefields of the New World to devote himself to apples. A pair of spinster twins survive war and famine, only to succumb to envy and desire. A crime reporter unearths a mass grave, but finds the ancient trees refuse to give up their secrets. A lovelorn painter, a conman, a stalking panther, a lusty beetle; as each one confronts the mysteries of the north woods, they come to realize that the dark, raucous, beautiful past is very much alive. Traversing cycles of history, nature, and even literature, North Woods shows the myriad, magical ways in which we’re connected to our environment and to one another, across time, language and space. Written along with the seasons and divided into the twelve months of the year, it is an unforgettable novel about secrets and fates that asks the timeless how do we live on, even after we’re gone?

At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves. The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. It is this unshakeable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures. Set over the course of five decades, The Dutch House is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they’re together. Throughout their lives they return to the well-worn story of what they’ve lost with humor and rage. But when at last they’re forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested.

There’s only been one time that Rose couldn’t stop me from doing the wrong thing and that was a mistake that will haunt me for the rest of my life. Fern Castle works in her local library. She has dinner with her twin sister Rose three nights a week. And she avoids crowds, bright lights and loud noises as much as possible. Fern has a carefully structured life and disrupting her routine can be…dangerous. When Rose discovers that she cannot get pregnant, Fern sees her chance to pay her sister back for everything Rose has done for her. Fern can have a baby for Rose. She just needs to find a father. Simple. Fern’s mission will shake the foundations of the life she has carefully built for herself and stir up dark secrets from the past, in this quirky, rich and shocking story of what families keep hidden.