The complexity of the concepts explored through the work of Anders makes for thought-provoking reading, to be sure—the author is unafraid to challenge the reader. She is particularly fascinated by the fluidity of gender and the interpersonal dynamics that spring from that fluidity; she also has a knack for finding the (admittedly dry and dark) humor inherent to various flavors of apocalypse. Her ability to wield genre tropes and generalizations in unconventional ways makes every story contained herein an absolute treat ... Even Greater Mistakes is an exquisite collection, an assemblage of outstanding short fiction. Anders is a gifted prose stylist, one with a vast imagination to go with her technical craft. The worlds in which these stories operate are rich and vivid, beautifully realized without tiresome minutiae. With just a few sentences, Anders can clearly and concisely convey her vision of place; it’s a rare talent indeed, but one that she with which she is generous.
With Even Greater Mistakes, she precisely unpicks what is behind the choices writers make available to their characters ... In 'The Time Travel Club,' the process by which we pick ourselves up after life has been devastated by our own choices is unspooled in a beautiful, haunting little tale ... Anders excels at revealing how various hidden mechanisms shape our lives and at showing us their artifice ... But as Anders shows us, we have choices in how to deal with these rigged systems. We can always throw the whole lot in the bin.
With boldly realized worldbuilding in a fraction of the space that many SFF novels take up, these stories feel almost too short—they often end with the reader blinking back a powerful afterimage, followed by the urge to immediately read anothern ... Anders’ brief intro to each selection is a much-appreciated bit of context, with details that sketch out her career as an artist and journalist in the SFF sphere ... It will also help readers further determine if they want to read straight through or dart around ... There is no wrong path, and a linear read has the feel of reaching into a bag of mixed candy (sweet, sour, anise-y) with every turn of the page ... Less effective are the stories that tie in to Anders’ novels or otherwise larger SFF universes ... Anders is an incredibly self-aware writer. She treats Even Greater Mistakes as the opportunity to display both her guaranteed hits as well as stories that she struggled to get right. But the very best thing about Anders’ work is how she queers even her own worlds ... there will always be...writers like Anders, chronicling ages we haven’t yet lived but that, through her thoughts and words, we feel as if we have.
Charlie Jane Anders is an inventive writer with a dazzling skill for short stories, and her new collection, Even Greater Mistakes, is a thoughtful and frequently hilarious delight, with deep goofiness running alongside potent examinations of depression, loss, and institutional bigotry. Resistance and persistence are woven through these nineteen stories, along with the power of change, the importance of community, and a rich and empowering imagination ... Two things (among many) that fascinate me about Anders’ work: firstly, more than most speculative fiction writers, her writing retains the kind of entertainer’s energy and timing that comes from live performances. And secondly, perhaps connected to that tradition of oral storytelling, her stories display a kind of purposeful, exploratory, and not-unpleasant messiness, for lack of a better word, often veering away from traditional plot structures or expectations ... a command performance, and it’s a delight to be in the audience.
... a slantwise and clever look at climate, loneliness and relationships, identity, human foibles, and the vast possibilities that stretch out before us—the terrifying and the thrilling ... These stories are frequently funny and just as often violent, thoughtful and totally weird. Sometimes Anders’ characters happen to be queer, and other times queerness is the point. Gender is delightfully (and honestly) fluid, and romance and attraction are expressed in a lovely variety of ways. Readers are plopped down in strange but relatable worlds from the looming near future to settings scattered across the galaxy. Each story comes with fresh surprises but with her signature wit intact, and always with at least a hint of provocation ... A treat for readers is Anders’ introduction, which gives us insight into her writing process and the inspiration for her ideas. Brief introductions to each story provide a bit of writerly context and a little guide to the subtext as well. As with any collection, some stories work better than others. But Anders is capable of writing different styles and in different tones from story to story, and her themes are so universal, even when rendered in highly specific detail. So there is truly something for everyone here, especially for those willing to approach the book with the wonder and care it deserves.
If settings are often a colorful backdrop for stories whose main focus is elsewhere, there are some themes that Anders repeatedly circles around, as if trying to test different angles of vision ... In 'Power Couple', the time device is a bit more contrived, since it involves an unlikely pact between a student preparing for med school and another preparing for law school ... Although I couldn’t quite get past the sheer goofiness of the idea, again Anders’s sharp delineation of her main characters makes the inevitable denouement moving. The one story in the book for which I feel almost irrationally grateful is 'The Time Travel Club', which...leads to a surprisingly warm conclusion ... 'Rat Catcher’s Yellows' uniquely seems to represent Anders’s capacity for managing apparently contradictory tonalities ... Anders’s sensitive treatment of a tragic plight is balanced by her apparent delight in the comical political intrigues of the warring cat kingdoms. Like some other of the stories here, it combines a deep love for her characters with the occasional reminder that sometimes, even in the face of bleak realities, girls just want to have fun.
... a panoply of virtuosic world-building, inventive approaches to unpacking relationship quandaries and full-on hilarious scene crafting. Also, be on the lookout for some artfully disguised (but decidedly pointed) political commentary thrown in for good measure.
This book's 19 stories travel to the edges of speculative fiction and back, demonstrating Anders's skill in introspection, humor, and immersive storytelling ... This fascinating, emotional collection is a welcome addition showcasing Anders's range and prose.
Readers will fall in love with its zany, dark weirdness ... Stories touch on found family and queerness, on the ominous horrors of being pursued or policed, and on gentrification and finding the places where you belong, however weird they may be. Anders is an author who finds an exciting, riotous joy in invention, and that passion breaks through into each and every story.
Although there are no stories original to this collection, there are plenty of delights for Anders' fans and those new to her writing ... The mood of these works runs the gamut from the outrageously silly...to exuberant...to mournful tinged with hope...to utterly wrenching ... Some stories seem to be sheer 'what-if' exercises—always a fruitful jumping-off point for SF—but the fully developed characters who carry out these thought experiments prevent these tales from becoming clinical, as they might in the hands of other writers. An essential Anders treasury.
... powerful and emotional ... Each tale immerses readers completely and effortlessly into the tense scenarios Anders imagines. The result is both rewarding and impressive.
