Author name: Skiffy Fanty

My Superpower is a regular guest column on the Skiffy and Fanty blog where authors and creators tell us about one weird skill, neat trick, highly specialized cybernetic upgrade, or other superpower they have, and how it helped (or hindered!) their creative process as they built their project. Today we welcome Tsana Dolichva to talk about how the power of dislocating her joints relates to Defying Doomsday. My superpower is being able to mildly dislocate my joints in my sleep. My genetic medical condition makes me double jointed — not enough to ever become a contortionist, alas — and some of my joints are a bit unstable. Let me tell you a funny story. A couple of months ago, when I was feeling tense for work-related reasons, I went to bed and woke up with a sore shoulder. Waking up in pain is pretty normal for me, and it usually fades (eventually) as I move around a bit. This time it didn’t, and, furthermore, I couldn’t actually lift my arm forwards and upwards (this doesn’t usually happen). When it didn’t go away by itself in a couple of days (or with me trying to push it back into place against the wall), I made a physio appointment. Unfortunately, I had to wait a week and a half to get a time. In the meantime, I just had to put up with using my other arm to reach high shelves and holding the hair-dryer at a very awkward angle … it was fine.