Kate Lashley is a Lecturer of English at UMBC and holds a Ph.D. in English from Morgan State University. She has published peer-reviewed articles on gender, disability, and autism within science fiction and creative nonfiction. Her current scholarly book project analyzes autism in literature. Her favorite genres include fantasy, science fiction, and short stories.
She has published a memoir about autism entitled My Younger Older Sister: Growing Up With An Autistic Older Sister. This memoir chronicles key themes in autism such as learning to talk, special education in grade school, sibling rivalry, and friendships. You can find her book on kindle and on Amazon. In addition to examining autism through memoir, she also explores autism through science fiction and dystopian fiction. Her short story collection entitled I Am Autism covers themes such as autism diagnosis, the causes of autism, cures, and education. Autism, written in fiction, challenges the tropes within the autism community and encourages readers to see the various parts of autism, not simply its label as a disability.
Her short story collection entitled Dissertation Daemon explores the challenges that many graduate students encounter as they prepare for and take their comprehensive exams and as they write and defend their dissertation. These stories use comedy, science fiction, and fantasy to help the characters explore the unexpected emotions involved in attaining a Ph.D. These stories capture the excitement upon beginning a graduate program and the disappointment of graduation.
A third collection of stories entitled What With the Women explores various female characters and their search for identity as many of them are monstrous in some way. In a patriarchal society that limits women in lifestyle choices, these heroines challenge the norms by embracing their monstrosity. One such story already published and available on Amazon in kindle and paperback is Lamia, which details the struggles of the protagonist as she is bitten by a lamia snake and therefore turns into a lamia herself: a woman who can also take on serpent form. Forced away from her family, she determines how to live as a monstrous snake woman while also achieving a family and promoting love.
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