Even Greater Mistakes by Charlie Jane Anders
I would like to thank Titan for an advance copy of this collection in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Titan
Published – Out Now
Price - £8.99 paperback £6.64 Kindle eBook
Short stories from the multiple-award winning brain of Charlie Jane Anders. Enter the wild and fantastic worlds of one of the brightest minds in science fiction today.
A short story collection packed with infinite worlds and infinite possibilities, from the electric talents of Charlie Jane Anders.
Cracking open science fiction and fantasy ideas with joyous exuberance, expect a riotous cavalcade of ideas. With Anders at the wheel, expect audactious imagination and a joyful reinvention of the fresh hit of discovery at the heart of genre fiction.
Witness vampire zombies and fairy werewolves in a barroom brawl, fully-immersive AR cat-brain MMORPGs, love in the form of tentacles, the amateur Time Travel Club's first successful experiment and transformations of all kinds. Watch as two friends embark on an Epic Quest To Capture The Weapon That Threatens The Galaxy, or else they’ll never achieve their dream of opening a restaurant.
Whatever you do, don’t stop trying new things, and don’t be afraid of Even Greater Mistakes.
We often have readers asking what is more important to you – the world, the plot, or the characters? For me the personal dimension of the characters tends to be the attraction but a writer who combines all of these is always one to watch. Charlie Jane Anders has created an excellent spell-bounding anthology of short fiction in Even Greater Mistakes and gave me a beautiful reading experience were often a brilliant world is melded in a double helix to create a wonderful plot combined with Ander’s amazing ability to tell a story.
Amongst the stories I enjoyed were
As Good As New – the opening story tells us of the last human to survive the apocalypse and them meeting a genie. It’s a tale about the importance of art to survive and give us hope. Immensely satisfying and ultimately hopeful which is a hallmark of this collection.
Rat Catcher’s Yellows – this story has a heart-breaking core of a young woman talking about her wife’s early version of a disease similar to Alzheimer’s. Anders captures the fear of losing the person you love in a slow terrifying way but importantly this story explores how a simple VR game allows a sufferer to at least enjoy life in a different way. Its not a tale of a magical cure but one filled with love and communication.
The Time Travel Club – an offbeat tale of a club where people for various reasons like to pretend they’re time travellers and then one day a new guest wants to talk about the time machine they create. What pulled me into this tale is the focus on the club members who we see need this escape and release for their own lives such as Lydia who is celebrating her first year of sobriety. Interestingly we see also some real thought into time travel and the mechanics of space but at its heart its doing something for the right reasons not just for a quick buck.
Six Months, Three Days – One of the best tales in the collection is this tale of the world’s two clairvoyants starting to date. One can see all possibilities for her action and one sees exactly the future that will come to pass. It combines that joy and fear a new relationship creates that this will be the best thing ever or is bound to pass ad no one can ever be sure which is the case. I loved the relationship’s highs and lows and we as reader try to find out if this future is fixed and is it just our charcter’s mindsets creating these worldviews? Ultimately relationships will always shape us good or bad and this is a beautiful ride of a story.
Love Might Be Too Strong A Word – This science fiction tale tells us a of a relationship ona far off future ship on its mission. Anders throws a multitude of gender concepts and sexualities into this story and the key point is we readers can still tell what the story is about and appreciate the differences because we are human and love may eb the only thing keeping us alive all alone in the endless night of space.
Fairy Werewolf Vs Vampire Zombie – I’ve read this before it’s excellent but come on tat title alone should pull you in!!!
Ghost Champagne – I love this story because while everyone will admit their past haunts them its equally possible to be haunted by our worry of who we become in the future and in this tale a woman throughout her life gets haunted by her ghost. Something that slowly hardens her and makes her prone to saying the wrong thing at the wrong moment. This tale creates a reckoning for our main character but I also love the wider world and the dabbling into horror as a wedding leads to a final conclusion to the tale.
Power Couple – This story is another favourite and it is about unrealistic expectations especially when we are young. It focuses on two young students one a would be doctor and another a would be lawyer who completely fall in love but soon become aware their career choice will likely mean they won’t have time for a relationships. Their alarming idea is lets cryofreeze each other for several years to each allow the other to reach their career high then they can become a perfect couple. Its clear this is a bad idea but Anders explores how people change as they grow up and how our own dreams of our future lives can lead to massive changes we never anticipate.
Because Change Was The Ocean and We Lived By Her Mercy - among the collection are several tales of San Francisco and this one set after the apocalypse manages to be hopeful watching a community surivive and start to thrive after the waters consume the city but also talks about how we move communities as we grow – some relationships fade and others tragically just end. Anders carefully paints the community’s way of life, factions, and feuds which all communities and friendships can pass through. Anders makes us ask will we ourselves be the same person at the end of such experiences is always uncertain but the experience itself always shapes us.
Rock Manning Goes For Broke – this novella length tale comprises three short stories and in some ways feels very different and especially violent but also carries Anders’ trademark sense of humour and social commentary. Rock loves dangerous stunts and falls into a new world of creating insane short videos with his friends such as cycling a burning exercise bike off a rook. But the story also notes an ever darker world where war and many nasty things lurk outside of school and college. Comedy and strange art has a power of release but can also inspire and provoke authority in ways you cannot expect. Brutal, funny, sharp and kind I loved it!
This Is Why We Can’t have Nasty Things – an unusually non speculative tale but one about the last night in a watering hole and the end of its resident queer community that uses it and in particular a relationship between two characters. Warm, raucous, and bittersweet with a twist of hope I love the way this place came alive in just a few pages
Don’t Press Charges and I Won’t Sue – This story is a dark and disturbing horror story, and it tells us a of a world where they attempt to ‘cure’ trans and non-binary characters in a truly horrible way. It’s a tale of growing up and also exploring who would become the person happy to work in such a place. A reminder behind all the dictators are people who see this as a job hey can justify doing bad things for some ‘greater good’ and monthly pay.
The Bookstore at the End of America – Molly and her daughter Phoebe have run a bookstore set between the ultra-liberal land of California and the ultra-conservative country of America. It’s customers both buy books but never cross paths and yet a wider war of hostility grows ever nearer. Anders covers America’s descent into two worldviews and the inability for either to engage and where that may lead but it also [praises the ability for people to talk things through and why books and stories may be the best way to ever help that situation improve in future generations. I loved the satire and the hopeful message this sends about books!
This is a dazzling varied collection, and I loved all the stories within this. We get to see Ander’s ability to handle stories light and dark in any sub-genre of speculative fiction. That focus on the character’s humanity (even when they’re alien or non-human) shines in each tale and as all good literature does it helps us look at ourselves and our world in different ways. A truly awesome collection I strongly recommend!
PS - did i mention you also get bonus short stories set in the worlds of both All The Birds In The Sky and The City In The Middle of The Night? Not like I meant to tempt you but….
