Alice Barker

Alice Barker writes bold, heartfelt stories featuring disabled protagonists at the centre of the adventure, from middle-grade mermaid tales to romantic comedies and gripping speculative fiction.

Alice’s Books

The Mermazing Adventures of Penelope Pond

Cockleshell Cove is a place so boring that the mapmakers didn’t even bother to put it on the map. But big adventures can begin in the most unexpected of places…

Penelope Pond loves nothing more than zooming down to the beach in her wheelchair and spending time in her special cave, but everything changes the day she sees someone strange swimming in the sea – a girl, with dreadlocks in her hair and a shimmering tail!

Soon, Penelope is swept into a secret world beneath the waves, but mermaids live by ancient laws where landwalkers are not welcomed. When the rules of both Land and Ocean threaten their friendship, Penelope and Marlie must find the courage to stand up for what’s right.

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Sketching Scarlett

“She’s Super Scarlett, I’m Caleb Comics, and together we’re unstoppable. Or something like that anyway…”

Shy and quiet Caleb is, without a doubt, the nerdiest boy in town. Working at a local Comic Book shop, Caleb prides himself on being a geek, drawing creatures and caricatures between his customers.

Then one day, he meets Scarlett, who is nothing at all like Caleb; she’s loud, brash, and totally badass, and it isn’t long before Caleb finds himself falling for her.

The fact that Scarlett uses a wheelchair should make no difference at all… right?

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Paraplegion

Release date: 1 April, 2026

There is one rule: that everything must be the same. So how do you survive if you’re different?

Twenty-one-year-old Mallory was born with a life sentence. She is the carrier of a mysterious plague; one that, if she was to take off the super-suit keeping her alive, would kill her instantly. As such, she is not welcome in the blissful city of Utopia, instead condemned to become a soldier of the Paraplegion, living inside a secretive fortress.

However, when one of her squadron members suffers a tragic accident, Mallory is forced to turn detective… and what she discovers could unravel everything she’s ever known.

Author Bio

When Alice Barker was 12 months old, she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, a condition that meant she would never walk and would have to use a wheelchair for the rest of her life. She spent most of her younger years unsure of her place in the world, until she was fourteen and saw James Cameron’s Avatar for the first time. In it, a disabled man, Jake Sully, goes from being a nobody to a legendary warrior named toruk makto, uniting people and keeping hope alive. From that moment on, Alice knew that it was her destiny to become toruk makto in real life.

Alice went to Huddersfield New College to do Film Studies, Medieval History and English Language, then to Sheffield Hallam University to study Film and Screenwriting. She graduated with First Class Honours, as well as receiving the Dean’s Prize for ‘rising to challenges and demonstrating outstanding personal achievement’. After she graduated, Alice did some online volunteering for The Polynesian Voyaging Society in Hawaii, and for The N/a’an ku sê Foundation in Namibia, Africa. Here, she was a brand ambassador for four years, giving talks to English schoolchildren about life in Namibia and supporting a young native San woman called Anaki, who also had cerebral palsy. Her efforts have seen her receive messages of support from Oscar-winning director James Cameron, Star Wars actor Mark Hamill, children’s author Jacqueline Wilson and naturalist and national treasure Sir David Attenborough, as well as the late Elizabeth II. She has also been featured in local, national and international news, as well as winning several filmmaking and writing competitions.