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kleonard's review against another edition
4.0
This is a terrific collection of Anders's stories. Some readers may be a bit lost in the pieces that follow up on the author's novels, but the standalone stories are entertaining and thought-provoking. Readers get a board range of genres and approaches; there's something for just about everyone.
valjeanval's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I've been 50/50 on CJA's novels, but I really think she excels at the short story. The range demonstrated in this one collection stretches from whimsically cheerful to violent absurdist to scathing speculation and dark realities. "Captain Roger in Heaven" and "Power Couple" are probably the standouts that were new to me in this collection. I think the only one I really didn't care for was "Fairy Werewolf vs. Zombie Vampire" which just tipped my whimsy scale over the edge. The only other slightly disappointing factor was that I already owned other collections featuring these stories, but it was still a nice excuse to reread them. I think I could read "As Good as New" any number of times and still appreciate it.
The book jacket to this edition calls her "This generation's LeGuin," but I think that's not entirely fair. Yes there's a heavy dose of social commentary and speculation, but CJA's style is distinctively her own and is deeply rooted in this generation here and now
The book jacket to this edition calls her "This generation's LeGuin," but I think that's not entirely fair. Yes there's a heavy dose of social commentary and speculation, but CJA's style is distinctively her own and is deeply rooted in this generation here and now
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Confinement, Murder, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Transphobia, Violence, and Mental illness
rmperezpadilla's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
jusuwa's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 - for the inventiveness and sheer fun of reading it.
masha123's review against another edition
4.0
So far:
As Good as New: 2/5
Rat-Catcher’s Yellows: 5/5
If You Take My Meaning: 4/5
The Time Travel Club: 5/5
Six Months, Three Days: 4/5
Love Might Be Too Strong a Word: 4.5/5
Fairy Werewolf Vs. Vampire Zombie: 1.5/5
Dnf
As Good as New: 2/5
Rat-Catcher’s Yellows: 5/5
If You Take My Meaning: 4/5
The Time Travel Club: 5/5
Six Months, Three Days: 4/5
Love Might Be Too Strong a Word: 4.5/5
Fairy Werewolf Vs. Vampire Zombie: 1.5/5
Dnf
bethtabler's review against another edition
5.0
Charlie Jane Anders's short stories always span the spectrum of emotion and world-building. Some of her stories leave you gut-punched; others are uplifting. At the same time, others are deep science fiction. It is a nod to her as an author that she can evoke so many emotions from her readers in such a small word count.
"Short stories are dangerous: tiny sparks of pure narrative fire that burn hotter because they snuff out sooner. Small, self-contained adventures gave me the freedom to fail — to push my limits, to experiment with styles and ideas that I wasn't sure I could pull off. And fail I did, over and over. I wrote scores of short pieces before I managed to turn out one that fired on all cylinders. The wonderful thing is, if you blow it with something short, you've only wasted a week or three of writing time. And if someone reads your story in a magazine and hates it, there'll be another story, by another author, on the next page."
Short stories need to be concise to the point of being brutal. A short story is no time to go mucking around with your reader's attention. There aren't enough words. By the time a writer gets done fancifully describing a door know, the story needs to be done. This is why Anders does brilliantly as a short story writer and long-form if you have read her long-form novels. She gets to the point. I appreciate that as a short fiction reader.
Even Greater Mistakes, her newest anthology of work, is a beautiful collection of stories that run the gamut. And while I won't go into each one, I can call out some that are excellent:
As Good As New is one of the first short stories I read. It is such a unique story to me as a reader because apocalypses, while awful essentially, take the individual and their lives after the fact out of the equation. Yes, life is terrible, but people need to move on. There has to be some joy, or life isn't worth struggling for.
"It is astounding to me that Anders wrote so much about human emotions in only 28 pages. I have IKEA instructions longer than 28 pages. But it works, and it is damn good."
In this case, it is Marisol and her ability to find hope and joy, even amongst the muck and mire. It is uplifting and joyous.
"The first thing I thought of when I finished "Rat Catcher's Yellow" was the Hamlet quote, "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." This seems like an odd quote for this story, but it is a vast world that is constantly changing. Even after a significant disease destroys people's minds, they interact and build kingdoms online with cats. It seems absurd, but it is steeped in the truth. There is more to this world than we know, and depending on the angle in which you approach a problem, anything is possible.
If you Take My Meaning was one of the more complex stories to read and understand. But through the context of Ander's story The City in the Middle of the Night, it makes a lot of sense. It is a continuation after the end of the novel. It gives us a hint as to the future of the characters.
Six Months, Three Days is when an unmovable object meets an unstoppable force: two characters, one who can see all possible futures and another who can see only their lot. Nothing deviates; nothing changes. What if they have a relationship? What would it look like? Yes, we know there will be lots of pain in this relationship. Yes, we know exactly how it is going to end. However, there are many beautiful moments, moments of love, and life that are worth celebrating even if you have already seen them in your mind's eye; you haven't experienced them. The juice is worth the squeeze!
There is a brilliant variety in this collection told by a master short story author. It is vibrant and queer and wonderful but holds to concise storytelling. These stories might not hit for everyone, but they hit pretty hard for me as a reader and reminded me why she is one of my favorite storytellers.
"Short stories are dangerous: tiny sparks of pure narrative fire that burn hotter because they snuff out sooner. Small, self-contained adventures gave me the freedom to fail — to push my limits, to experiment with styles and ideas that I wasn't sure I could pull off. And fail I did, over and over. I wrote scores of short pieces before I managed to turn out one that fired on all cylinders. The wonderful thing is, if you blow it with something short, you've only wasted a week or three of writing time. And if someone reads your story in a magazine and hates it, there'll be another story, by another author, on the next page."
Short stories need to be concise to the point of being brutal. A short story is no time to go mucking around with your reader's attention. There aren't enough words. By the time a writer gets done fancifully describing a door know, the story needs to be done. This is why Anders does brilliantly as a short story writer and long-form if you have read her long-form novels. She gets to the point. I appreciate that as a short fiction reader.
Even Greater Mistakes, her newest anthology of work, is a beautiful collection of stories that run the gamut. And while I won't go into each one, I can call out some that are excellent:
As Good As New is one of the first short stories I read. It is such a unique story to me as a reader because apocalypses, while awful essentially, take the individual and their lives after the fact out of the equation. Yes, life is terrible, but people need to move on. There has to be some joy, or life isn't worth struggling for.
"It is astounding to me that Anders wrote so much about human emotions in only 28 pages. I have IKEA instructions longer than 28 pages. But it works, and it is damn good."
In this case, it is Marisol and her ability to find hope and joy, even amongst the muck and mire. It is uplifting and joyous.
"The first thing I thought of when I finished "Rat Catcher's Yellow" was the Hamlet quote, "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." This seems like an odd quote for this story, but it is a vast world that is constantly changing. Even after a significant disease destroys people's minds, they interact and build kingdoms online with cats. It seems absurd, but it is steeped in the truth. There is more to this world than we know, and depending on the angle in which you approach a problem, anything is possible.
If you Take My Meaning was one of the more complex stories to read and understand. But through the context of Ander's story The City in the Middle of the Night, it makes a lot of sense. It is a continuation after the end of the novel. It gives us a hint as to the future of the characters.
Six Months, Three Days is when an unmovable object meets an unstoppable force: two characters, one who can see all possible futures and another who can see only their lot. Nothing deviates; nothing changes. What if they have a relationship? What would it look like? Yes, we know there will be lots of pain in this relationship. Yes, we know exactly how it is going to end. However, there are many beautiful moments, moments of love, and life that are worth celebrating even if you have already seen them in your mind's eye; you haven't experienced them. The juice is worth the squeeze!
There is a brilliant variety in this collection told by a master short story author. It is vibrant and queer and wonderful but holds to concise storytelling. These stories might not hit for everyone, but they hit pretty hard for me as a reader and reminded me why she is one of my favorite storytellers.
shellbellbell's review against another edition
4.0
One risk present in reading a short story collection from a single author is that all the stories will be too similar. Not so in this collection. The stories range from a silly space caper to queer melancholy to post apocalyptic hopefulness. There's slices of life, and stuff that's more action-y. What unites it all is a deep understanding of character and relationships, which is why I love all of Anders' work. Also helpful in this collection are the notes before each story describing a little bit about how the story was created, and also content warnings.
On the balance of it though, many of these stories feature broken romantic relationships or dark, post-apocalyptic futures. There's usually a grim sense of hope at the end, but it was a little bit too much of a downer for where I'm at right now. Not to say these stories weren't well written, because they were! Maybe too well written, because I got sucked into the story and wanted to know the end, even though I knew it would be a bummer. Oh well. I still enjoyed this collection overall.
On the balance of it though, many of these stories feature broken romantic relationships or dark, post-apocalyptic futures. There's usually a grim sense of hope at the end, but it was a little bit too much of a downer for where I'm at right now. Not to say these stories weren't well written, because they were! Maybe too well written, because I got sucked into the story and wanted to know the end, even though I knew it would be a bummer. Oh well. I still enjoyed this collection overall.