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Six Months, Three Days, Five Others
Before the success of her debut SF-and-fantasy novel All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders was a rising star in SF and fantasy short fiction. Collected in a mini-book format, here—for the first time in print—are six of her quirky, wry, engaging best:
In "The Fermi Paradox Is Our Business Model," aliens reveal the terrible truth about how humans were created—and why we'll never discover aliens.
"As Good as New" is a brilliant twist on the tale of three wishes, set after the end of the world.
"Intestate" is about a family reunion in which some attendees aren't quite human anymore—but they're still family.
"The Cartography of Sudden Death" demonstrates that when you try to solve a problem with time travel, you now have two problems.
"Six Months, Three Days" is the story of the love affair between a man who can see the one true foreordained future, and a woman who can see all the possible futures. They're both right, and the story won the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.
And "Clover," exclusively written for this collection, is a coda to All the Birds in the Sky, answering the burning question of what happened to Patricia's cat.
In "The Fermi Paradox Is Our Business Model," aliens reveal the terrible truth about how humans were created—and why we'll never discover aliens.
"As Good as New" is a brilliant twist on the tale of three wishes, set after the end of the world.
"Intestate" is about a family reunion in which some attendees aren't quite human anymore—but they're still family.
"The Cartography of Sudden Death" demonstrates that when you try to solve a problem with time travel, you now have two problems.
"Six Months, Three Days" is the story of the love affair between a man who can see the one true foreordained future, and a woman who can see all the possible futures. They're both right, and the story won the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.
And "Clover," exclusively written for this collection, is a coda to All the Birds in the Sky, answering the burning question of what happened to Patricia's cat.
179 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 17, 2017
87 people are currently reading
2176 people want to read
About the author
Charlie Jane Anders
163 books4,061 followersMy latest book is Victories Greater Than Death. Coming in August: Never Say You Can't Survive: How to Get Through Hard Times By Making Up Stories.
Previously: All the Birds in the Sky, The City in the Middle of the Night, and a short story collection, Six Months, Three Days, Five Others.
Coming soon: An adult novel, and a short story collection called Even Greater Mistakes.
I used to write for a site called io9.com, and now I write for various places here and there.
I won the Emperor Norton Award, for “extraordinary invention and creativity unhindered by the constraints of paltry reason.” I've also won a Hugo Award, a Nebula Award, a William H. Crawford Award, a Theodore Sturgeon Award, a Locus Award and a Lambda Literary Award.
My stories, essays and journalism have appeared in Wired Magazine, the Boston Review, Conjunctions, Tin House, Slate, MIT Technology Review, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, Tor.com, Lightspeed Magazine, McSweeney’s, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, ZYZZYVA, Strange Horizons, Apex Magazine, Uncanny Magazine, 3 AM Magazine, Flurb.net, Monkey Bicycle, Pindeldyboz, Instant City, Broken Pencil, and in tons and tons of anthologies.
I organize Writers With Drinks, which is a monthly reading series here in San Francisco that mashes up a ton of different genres. I co-host a Hugo Award-winning podcast, Our Opinions Are Correct, with Annalee Newitz.
Back in 2007, Annalee and I put out a book of first-person stories by female geeks called She’s Such a Geek: Women Write About Science, Technology and Other Nerdy Stuff. There was a lot of resistance to doing this book, because nobody believed there was a market for writing about female geeks. Also, Annalee and I put out a print magazine called other, which was about pop culture, politics and general weirdness, aimed at people who don’t fit into other categories. To raise money for other magazine, we put on events like a Ballerina Pie Fight – which is just what it sounds like – and a sexy show in a hair salon where people took off their clothes while getting their hair cut.
I used to live in a Buddhist nunnery, when I was a teenager. I love to do karaoke. I eat way too much spicy food. I hug trees and pat stone lions for luck. I talk to myself way too much when I’m working on a story.
Previously: All the Birds in the Sky, The City in the Middle of the Night, and a short story collection, Six Months, Three Days, Five Others.
Coming soon: An adult novel, and a short story collection called Even Greater Mistakes.
I used to write for a site called io9.com, and now I write for various places here and there.
I won the Emperor Norton Award, for “extraordinary invention and creativity unhindered by the constraints of paltry reason.” I've also won a Hugo Award, a Nebula Award, a William H. Crawford Award, a Theodore Sturgeon Award, a Locus Award and a Lambda Literary Award.
My stories, essays and journalism have appeared in Wired Magazine, the Boston Review, Conjunctions, Tin House, Slate, MIT Technology Review, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, Tor.com, Lightspeed Magazine, McSweeney’s, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, ZYZZYVA, Strange Horizons, Apex Magazine, Uncanny Magazine, 3 AM Magazine, Flurb.net, Monkey Bicycle, Pindeldyboz, Instant City, Broken Pencil, and in tons and tons of anthologies.
I organize Writers With Drinks, which is a monthly reading series here in San Francisco that mashes up a ton of different genres. I co-host a Hugo Award-winning podcast, Our Opinions Are Correct, with Annalee Newitz.
Back in 2007, Annalee and I put out a book of first-person stories by female geeks called She’s Such a Geek: Women Write About Science, Technology and Other Nerdy Stuff. There was a lot of resistance to doing this book, because nobody believed there was a market for writing about female geeks. Also, Annalee and I put out a print magazine called other, which was about pop culture, politics and general weirdness, aimed at people who don’t fit into other categories. To raise money for other magazine, we put on events like a Ballerina Pie Fight – which is just what it sounds like – and a sexy show in a hair salon where people took off their clothes while getting their hair cut.
I used to live in a Buddhist nunnery, when I was a teenager. I love to do karaoke. I eat way too much spicy food. I hug trees and pat stone lions for luck. I talk to myself way too much when I’m working on a story.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 216 reviews
August 5, 2022
Are you looking for a bite sized collection of short stories that will keep you engaged and entertained?
Look no further than Charlie Jane Ander's Six Months, Three Days, Five Others, a collection that contains one of the best short stories I've read this year. While all the stories within are engaging and fun, three in particular stuck in my memory:
The title story (and one of my top picks of 2022) Six Months, Three Days is brilliant. The underlying premise is genius - a woman who can see all possible futures meets up with a man who can also see the future, but only the one true version of it that he believes cannot be altered. Both of them know they will be together for six months and then go through a messy breakup, but both of them still want to date for the experiences they know they will have together. What follows is a fantastic story of a unique relationship both animated and poisoned by their respective knowledge of the grim future in store for them. This story alone is worth buying Anders' book for.
The Cartography of Sudden Death stood out for me too. It's a breakneck story in a world dominated for centuries by an oppressive empire, and Anders uses this setting to tell an action packed and interesting tale of time-hopping.
Clover is also a stand-out story, with almost the tone of a fable. A couple are given a cat by a mysterious man, and told the cat will bring them nine years of luck. Nine years later the strange man returns and gifts them another cat to take care of, and their run of luck comes to and end. The two cats fight, the couple's relationship is strained, and the new feline turns out to be far more than just a house cat. It's a delightful story of magic, kindness and a relationship on the edge of ending. Apparently it is connected to Anders' first novel, but I enjoyed it despite not having read her book.
The other stories in the collection are good too, and are full of interesting ideas well told even if they don't quite have the heft and impact of the three I've mentioned here. Considering the brevity of this collection - you could knock it off in an afternoon - it's a genuine case of all thriller, no filler.
Overall, Charlie Jane Anders is a talented writer to watch, and Six Months, Three Days, Five Others showcases her gift for fresh, compelling spec-fic stories.
Four and a half finger-food-sized morsels of fun out of five.
Look no further than Charlie Jane Ander's Six Months, Three Days, Five Others, a collection that contains one of the best short stories I've read this year. While all the stories within are engaging and fun, three in particular stuck in my memory:
The title story (and one of my top picks of 2022) Six Months, Three Days is brilliant. The underlying premise is genius - a woman who can see all possible futures meets up with a man who can also see the future, but only the one true version of it that he believes cannot be altered. Both of them know they will be together for six months and then go through a messy breakup, but both of them still want to date for the experiences they know they will have together. What follows is a fantastic story of a unique relationship both animated and poisoned by their respective knowledge of the grim future in store for them. This story alone is worth buying Anders' book for.
The Cartography of Sudden Death stood out for me too. It's a breakneck story in a world dominated for centuries by an oppressive empire, and Anders uses this setting to tell an action packed and interesting tale of time-hopping.
Clover is also a stand-out story, with almost the tone of a fable. A couple are given a cat by a mysterious man, and told the cat will bring them nine years of luck. Nine years later the strange man returns and gifts them another cat to take care of, and their run of luck comes to and end. The two cats fight, the couple's relationship is strained, and the new feline turns out to be far more than just a house cat. It's a delightful story of magic, kindness and a relationship on the edge of ending. Apparently it is connected to Anders' first novel, but I enjoyed it despite not having read her book.
The other stories in the collection are good too, and are full of interesting ideas well told even if they don't quite have the heft and impact of the three I've mentioned here. Considering the brevity of this collection - you could knock it off in an afternoon - it's a genuine case of all thriller, no filler.
Overall, Charlie Jane Anders is a talented writer to watch, and Six Months, Three Days, Five Others showcases her gift for fresh, compelling spec-fic stories.
Four and a half finger-food-sized morsels of fun out of five.
October 6, 2018
Trying really hard not to cry right now. This collection of short stories is AMAZING. One story was four stars, the rest five, so 5 stars this is. I am SO GLAD that I was able to pick this up and meet the author at NYCC yesterday. I’m so excited to pick up the books of hers that I also have waiting for me!
Only neg? Many of the stories feel like part of a larger story. They end, they aren’t cliff hangers, BUT the reader gets the feeling that there is more to the stories and you want to know more, MUCH more.
This author is one to watch! Such a gifted writer, with such a creative imagination. She paints a word picture in your head, creating flesh and blood characters you get to know and want to know more about.
Not saying a WORD about these stories, other than Levar Burton Reads one of them on his podcast, live and then interviews the author. Which is what made me greedy for the next book due out next year.
5, if you like sci-fi and contemporary with a twist, this is the book for you, stars! Highly recommended!
Only neg? Many of the stories feel like part of a larger story. They end, they aren’t cliff hangers, BUT the reader gets the feeling that there is more to the stories and you want to know more, MUCH more.
This author is one to watch! Such a gifted writer, with such a creative imagination. She paints a word picture in your head, creating flesh and blood characters you get to know and want to know more about.
Not saying a WORD about these stories, other than Levar Burton Reads one of them on his podcast, live and then interviews the author. Which is what made me greedy for the next book due out next year.
5, if you like sci-fi and contemporary with a twist, this is the book for you, stars! Highly recommended!
October 2, 2018
This is a phenomenal speculative short fiction collection.
The standout was definitely the titular "Six Months, Three Days." It was a fascinating concept--a couple, where one person can see one future and the other can see multiple futures.
Anders excels when it comes to concepts. Her stories feel fresh and are wildly inventive. They also retain a sense of hope, and a sense of silliness. Her work often reminds me of the Catherynne M Valente quote from Space Opera, "Life is beautiful and life is stupid." Anders captures that mentality.
That's not to say that her writing is ever stupid--it's not--but rather that she manages to show the simultaneous profundity and stupidity that is the human experience. Her work feels very literary, but sans the abject bleakness that you get from self-important literati dudebros. It's the best.
The standout was definitely the titular "Six Months, Three Days." It was a fascinating concept--a couple, where one person can see one future and the other can see multiple futures.
Anders excels when it comes to concepts. Her stories feel fresh and are wildly inventive. They also retain a sense of hope, and a sense of silliness. Her work often reminds me of the Catherynne M Valente quote from Space Opera, "Life is beautiful and life is stupid." Anders captures that mentality.
That's not to say that her writing is ever stupid--it's not--but rather that she manages to show the simultaneous profundity and stupidity that is the human experience. Her work feels very literary, but sans the abject bleakness that you get from self-important literati dudebros. It's the best.
August 15, 2017
I stumbled on All the Birds in the Sky signed in Volumes book café in Chicago accompanied by stickers and a recommendation with no clue of who Charlie Jane Anders was. But it wasn’t long before her debut had swept me away into her twisty SF/F world and voice, and it was one of my favorite releases of 2016. So I was thrilled to receive a copy of Six Months, Three Days, Five Others from Tor.com in exchange for an honest review.
Anders’s priorities are usually solidly balanced between world-building and her characters. Every once in a while, they wobble into overdrive towards world-building—“The Cartography of Sudden Death” slips between character- and world- driven, moving back and forth (sometimes awkwardly) between exposition and emotive focus on our MC. It sort of works, sometimes struggles. But usually (by which I mean almost always), that strange balance works for Anders, and is what makes her writing so different from anything I’ve read in SF/F. Her knack for speculative fiction and her drive towards the “what if…” drives her to excellent investigations: ‘How would you use three wishes to make the world not have ended but also not end of something else soon after?’ (“As Good as New”), or ‘What if there was a group of capitalism-driven aliens that waited for other worlds to create new technology and then went around stealing it?’ (“The Fermi Paradox is Our Business Model”). Sometimes these can take away from the characters, but the ideas are interesting enough themselves to leave the reader puzzled, or to lend them chuckles along the way.
I have a particular love for Anders’s special brand of relatively calm, put-together female characters with a gift for shrugging their way through chaos with a take-no-shit attitude (examples: Patricia, Marisol, Em). Her best stories in this collection are the ones in which her characters’ stories rise above the magic, or the world-building, and speak the loudest. “Clover” is a story about what happens to Patricia’s cat from All the Birds in the Sky, but it’s also a fantastic story incorporating cat logic and cat love into a tale about two people trying to make their relationship last. “Six Months, Three Days” is the standout of the collection. The concept seems gimmick-y: Doug sees one future, Judy sees many possible futures, and they are on a date. But it quickly becomes this twisting tale about fate and life, and the hard parts of relationships, and about two characters, one with defeatist tendencies (we all know a Doug), and one with endless optimism, trying to make their relationship work and last. It’s emotionally devastating in all the best ways, and the perfect balance of character- and world-driven.
Six Months, Three Days, Five Others is a fantastic, twisty joyride through the incredible talent of Charlie Jane Anders. It will be released as one of the newly-announced mini hardcover series from Tor on October 3!
Anders’s priorities are usually solidly balanced between world-building and her characters. Every once in a while, they wobble into overdrive towards world-building—“The Cartography of Sudden Death” slips between character- and world- driven, moving back and forth (sometimes awkwardly) between exposition and emotive focus on our MC. It sort of works, sometimes struggles. But usually (by which I mean almost always), that strange balance works for Anders, and is what makes her writing so different from anything I’ve read in SF/F. Her knack for speculative fiction and her drive towards the “what if…” drives her to excellent investigations: ‘How would you use three wishes to make the world not have ended but also not end of something else soon after?’ (“As Good as New”), or ‘What if there was a group of capitalism-driven aliens that waited for other worlds to create new technology and then went around stealing it?’ (“The Fermi Paradox is Our Business Model”). Sometimes these can take away from the characters, but the ideas are interesting enough themselves to leave the reader puzzled, or to lend them chuckles along the way.
I have a particular love for Anders’s special brand of relatively calm, put-together female characters with a gift for shrugging their way through chaos with a take-no-shit attitude (examples: Patricia, Marisol, Em). Her best stories in this collection are the ones in which her characters’ stories rise above the magic, or the world-building, and speak the loudest. “Clover” is a story about what happens to Patricia’s cat from All the Birds in the Sky, but it’s also a fantastic story incorporating cat logic and cat love into a tale about two people trying to make their relationship last. “Six Months, Three Days” is the standout of the collection. The concept seems gimmick-y: Doug sees one future, Judy sees many possible futures, and they are on a date. But it quickly becomes this twisting tale about fate and life, and the hard parts of relationships, and about two characters, one with defeatist tendencies (we all know a Doug), and one with endless optimism, trying to make their relationship work and last. It’s emotionally devastating in all the best ways, and the perfect balance of character- and world-driven.
Six Months, Three Days, Five Others is a fantastic, twisty joyride through the incredible talent of Charlie Jane Anders. It will be released as one of the newly-announced mini hardcover series from Tor on October 3!
November 21, 2017
I’m honestly not really a fan of short stories or short fiction in general and although the name sounded familiar I really had no idea who Charlie Jane Anders was before this book arrived on my doorstep. So I was a little bit hesitant to start reading it and didn’t really set my expectations all that high or expect to really enjoy it. Boy, what a fool I was — I sat down and read all 6 of the amazing short stories in Six Months, Three Days, Five Others in just a few hours and loved every single one of them. I loved just about everything about this book, from the oddly adorable miniature hardback format it comes in, to how well written and absurd the stories could be.
I won’t go into much detail on the stories because I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone, so my review may be a little short, but this is definitely a collection of short stories that I think everyone would enjoy reading. I don’t think I could even pick a favorite because all 6 of them were just that good. Every single one of them was charmingly ridiculous and full of surprisingly detailed characters for how short the stories were. One of my biggest complaints about short fiction is that I feel like just as I’m starting to enjoy a story or character the book is just over with, but in Six Months, Three Days, Five Others I felt like the length of each story was just perfect.
Instead of trying to cram a really long or detailed story into such a small space, Charlie Jane Anders gives us 6 fantastic slice-of life-stories and uses the characters to really movie the stories along and packs them all with a strong emotional punch.
I honestly don’t know how I’ve never heard of Charlie Jane Anders before this, but that is an oversight on my part that I’m going to have to rectify very quickly. Because of Six Months, Three Days, Five Others I’m going to read every piece of short fiction of hers that I can get my hands on. If the rest of what she writes is anything like this I can already tell that she’s going to become one of
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Originally posted at www.archeddoorway.com
I won’t go into much detail on the stories because I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone, so my review may be a little short, but this is definitely a collection of short stories that I think everyone would enjoy reading. I don’t think I could even pick a favorite because all 6 of them were just that good. Every single one of them was charmingly ridiculous and full of surprisingly detailed characters for how short the stories were. One of my biggest complaints about short fiction is that I feel like just as I’m starting to enjoy a story or character the book is just over with, but in Six Months, Three Days, Five Others I felt like the length of each story was just perfect.
Instead of trying to cram a really long or detailed story into such a small space, Charlie Jane Anders gives us 6 fantastic slice-of life-stories and uses the characters to really movie the stories along and packs them all with a strong emotional punch.
I honestly don’t know how I’ve never heard of Charlie Jane Anders before this, but that is an oversight on my part that I’m going to have to rectify very quickly. Because of Six Months, Three Days, Five Others I’m going to read every piece of short fiction of hers that I can get my hands on. If the rest of what she writes is anything like this I can already tell that she’s going to become one of
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Originally posted at www.archeddoorway.com
February 18, 2018
I thought I was pretty imaginative until I read this book. Charlie Jane Anders is way out in another league, and I'm just glad I get to live in the same world, so I can read her work.
Her novel, All The Birds In The Sky, is on my 2018 "shelf" here in GoodReads, but I was in the Worthington Public Library looking for Andre Aciman's Call Me By Your Name (all copies out at the moment), and this was on the shelf, so I thought, "Why not," and I'm so glad I did.
Now I wonder what I will find when I go looking for her novel -- maybe some other lucky surprise may come my way? But if all I find is her novel, I'm sure that will be a lucky surprise, too!
Her novel, All The Birds In The Sky, is on my 2018 "shelf" here in GoodReads, but I was in the Worthington Public Library looking for Andre Aciman's Call Me By Your Name (all copies out at the moment), and this was on the shelf, so I thought, "Why not," and I'm so glad I did.
Now I wonder what I will find when I go looking for her novel -- maybe some other lucky surprise may come my way? But if all I find is her novel, I'm sure that will be a lucky surprise, too!
November 26, 2017
I have to disclose my relationship to this book: Charlie very kindly claims that my 2012 WisCon guest of honor speech gave her the idea for her time-traveling do-gooder, Jemima Brookwater, who is a key player in "The Cartography of Death," one of the "five others." (The speech is not currently online, so I can't post a link.)
That being said, I love Charlie's writing anyway, and would have read this "Six Months, Three Days," the title story, won the Hugo Award for best novelette, and is maybe being made into a TV series, which should work really well. Since the premise is stated in the first line, it's not a spoiler: the story is about a love affair between a man who can see the future and a woman who can see a panoply of possible futures.
Aside from those two stories, Charlie gifts us with a very innovative "aliens find earth" story, an extraordinary "genie in a bottle story," a family reunion like you've never seen before, and the sweetest "two men married to each other get a cat" story that I have ever read (plus, the cat is also a character in Charlie's novel, All the Birds in the Sky).
No one else has a mind like Charlie Jane Anders' mind. And maybe that's a good thing. But it's certainly a good thing that we get these glimpses into hers.
That being said, I love Charlie's writing anyway, and would have read this "Six Months, Three Days," the title story, won the Hugo Award for best novelette, and is maybe being made into a TV series, which should work really well. Since the premise is stated in the first line, it's not a spoiler: the story is about a love affair between a man who can see the future and a woman who can see a panoply of possible futures.
Aside from those two stories, Charlie gifts us with a very innovative "aliens find earth" story, an extraordinary "genie in a bottle story," a family reunion like you've never seen before, and the sweetest "two men married to each other get a cat" story that I have ever read (plus, the cat is also a character in Charlie's novel, All the Birds in the Sky).
No one else has a mind like Charlie Jane Anders' mind. And maybe that's a good thing. But it's certainly a good thing that we get these glimpses into hers.
April 4, 2018
Considering there are multiple stories in this book, I figured I’d “review” them separately.
The Fermi Paradox Is Our Business Model: Well Ferb, I know what we’re going to do today. Today we’re going to kill god.
As Good As New: The fate of the world is in the hands a the writer. Or, in the hands of the critic.
Interstate: Raincheck Ferb, today we’re going to kill my dad. And after, will cut him up and sell his body parts on the black market.
The Cartography of Sudden Death: As a surprise to no one, I love me some powerful, time traveling, badass women.
Six Months, Three Days: Wow, guess who’s a big sob. It me.
Clover: HOW WAS THIS SHORT STORY BETTER THAN THE ENTIRETY OF ALL THE BIRDS IN THE SKY EVEN THOUGH THIS STORY IS A SPIN OFF STORY TO ALL THE BIRDS IN THE SKY?
Needless to say, I loved this book. Short but fabulous, simply beautiful, well written, and quite charming.
The Fermi Paradox Is Our Business Model: Well Ferb, I know what we’re going to do today. Today we’re going to kill god.
As Good As New: The fate of the world is in the hands a the writer. Or, in the hands of the critic.
Interstate: Raincheck Ferb, today we’re going to kill my dad. And after, will cut him up and sell his body parts on the black market.
The Cartography of Sudden Death: As a surprise to no one, I love me some powerful, time traveling, badass women.
Six Months, Three Days: Wow, guess who’s a big sob. It me.
Clover: HOW WAS THIS SHORT STORY BETTER THAN THE ENTIRETY OF ALL THE BIRDS IN THE SKY EVEN THOUGH THIS STORY IS A SPIN OFF STORY TO ALL THE BIRDS IN THE SKY?
Needless to say, I loved this book. Short but fabulous, simply beautiful, well written, and quite charming.
August 25, 2018
Charlie Jane Anders is one of my new favorite authors! She’s been writing short stories for years, and this is a new collection. She does something more with her stories, and this collection of six stories presents life lessons on love, death, family, wishing, and friendship. Plus, I finally got to see what happened to Patricia’s cat (from All the Birds in the Sky)! I chose this book as the February Book of the Month on my podcast and gave it a full review there.
Check it out: https://soundcloud.com/wrbhreadingrad...
Show Notes: http://tubbyandcoos.com/novel-ideas-7...
Check it out: https://soundcloud.com/wrbhreadingrad...
Show Notes: http://tubbyandcoos.com/novel-ideas-7...
November 6, 2017
These are so fun - Aimee Bender syntax with Lev Grossmann and Cory Doctorow content, except twisted about 90 degrees out of phase in terms of humor. With real, complex emotions attached - Six Months Three Days is everything I can remember loving/hating about relationships, Cartography investigates grief through time travel, As Good As It Gets confronts alienation, Clover (a beautiful interstitial for All the Birds In the Sky) is just... lovely and loving and oh, cats.
Really glad I picked up the collection - Anders is screwball but anchored and perpetually amused, which is what I needed right now.
Really glad I picked up the collection - Anders is screwball but anchored and perpetually amused, which is what I needed right now.
January 9, 2018
My absolute favorite new author! She is everything you could want - creative, fresh and modern, irreverant, gutteral, funny, and absurd. I loved everything about this book of short stories - except I skipped the last story in the book because it is a follow-up to her other novel, All the Birds in the Sky, and I didn't want to ruin that book, because of course now I am going to devour everything she has ever written.
December 2, 2017
I really enjoyed this little book of short stories. It’s hard to pick a favorite. At times I felt like I was reading Black Mirror novellas. I’m definitely going to check out her other stuff. I also appreciated that every story was different. Even though the stories were short, the characters were well developed.
March 8, 2018
Wow. Just. Wow. So much humanity and awesomeness in each of these stories.
April 24, 2018
A stellar collection. Loved it!
July 18, 2019
Charlie Jane Anders is secure in her place as one of my favorite authors.
January 28, 2018
Charlie Jane Anders' Six Months, Three Days, Five Others is not a long book, nor a difficult one. I burned through this one in a couple of hours on a lazy Sunday, in fact. Sometimes, though, that's what exactly you want—a short, sharp collection of confections.
The similar prose styles also made this book a good companion piece with Naomi Kritzer's Cat Pictures Please, which I'd read just before.
Anders' ingenious title (she's really good at titles) doesn't lie, either—there are just a half-dozen stories in Six Months, Three Days, Five Others:
"The Fermi Paradox Is Our Business Model"
—John Campbell would probably have liked this one too. Between that and the title, I think you have all you need to know about this one going in.
"As Good as New"
—Rod Serling might have liked this one. Marisol, a failed playwright turned rich man's housekeeper, is the last person on Earth. Or so she believes, anyway... Let's just say that this one veers unexpectedly into even weightier philosophical territory than you might expect from the End of the World.
"Intestate"
—The children gather, making plans (which seem somewhat premature, since he's not quite dead yet) for their eccentric father's effects—possessions which, since he's a cyborg, include the parts of his own body...
"The Cartography of Sudden Death"
—Ythna serves the Beldame in the Bountiful Era of the Gaven Empire. She cannot conceive of any other life. But that wouldn't make much of a story...
This one struck me as something like a mashup between Audrey Niffenegger and Robert A. Heinlein, if you can imagine that. Anders apparently could.
"Six Months, Three Days"
—Two different kinds of precognition clash. Determinism and choice cannot coexist in the same universe, or the same relationship... between Doug and Judy, something's gotta give.
"Clover"
—Cats bring good luck—everyone knows that. But as newlyweds Anwar and Joe discover, even the luck a cat brings can't last forever...
The synopses above may not make it entirely clear, but I really liked Six Months, Three Days, Five Others—more than I expected to, even. And I'm looking forward to reading her novel All the Birds in the Sky, too...
The similar prose styles also made this book a good companion piece with Naomi Kritzer's Cat Pictures Please, which I'd read just before.
Anders' ingenious title (she's really good at titles) doesn't lie, either—there are just a half-dozen stories in Six Months, Three Days, Five Others:
"The Fermi Paradox Is Our Business Model"
—John Campbell would probably have liked this one too. Between that and the title, I think you have all you need to know about this one going in.
"As Good as New"
—Rod Serling might have liked this one. Marisol, a failed playwright turned rich man's housekeeper, is the last person on Earth. Or so she believes, anyway... Let's just say that this one veers unexpectedly into even weightier philosophical territory than you might expect from the End of the World.
"Intestate"
—The children gather, making plans (which seem somewhat premature, since he's not quite dead yet) for their eccentric father's effects—possessions which, since he's a cyborg, include the parts of his own body...
"The Cartography of Sudden Death"
—Ythna serves the Beldame in the Bountiful Era of the Gaven Empire. She cannot conceive of any other life. But that wouldn't make much of a story...
This one struck me as something like a mashup between Audrey Niffenegger and Robert A. Heinlein, if you can imagine that. Anders apparently could.
"Six Months, Three Days"
—Two different kinds of precognition clash. Determinism and choice cannot coexist in the same universe, or the same relationship... between Doug and Judy, something's gotta give.
"Clover"
—Cats bring good luck—everyone knows that. But as newlyweds Anwar and Joe discover, even the luck a cat brings can't last forever...
The synopses above may not make it entirely clear, but I really liked Six Months, Three Days, Five Others—more than I expected to, even. And I'm looking forward to reading her novel All the Birds in the Sky, too...
September 2, 2019
Between her novels and her Writers with Drinks intros, I think of Charlie Jane as a master of the fantastic absurd. But these stories are a great reminder that she can modulate the absurdity at will to devastating effect.
Each is the six stories (I'm still not over how clever the title is) starts from its own wild premise, from a genie in a bottle after an apocalypse to a time traveler mapping the connections between significant deaths. The stories grow from there, becoming so much more at the same time. They are as much about people and relationships and art and capitalism as they are about the wildest things Charlie Jane decided to put to paper.
The last story ties into All the Birds in the Sky, though I didn't notice at first. The other five I wouldn't mind seeing spin out into their own bigger versions. Not that I'm greedy. They're just that good.
Each is the six stories (I'm still not over how clever the title is) starts from its own wild premise, from a genie in a bottle after an apocalypse to a time traveler mapping the connections between significant deaths. The stories grow from there, becoming so much more at the same time. They are as much about people and relationships and art and capitalism as they are about the wildest things Charlie Jane decided to put to paper.
The last story ties into All the Birds in the Sky, though I didn't notice at first. The other five I wouldn't mind seeing spin out into their own bigger versions. Not that I'm greedy. They're just that good.
April 15, 2019
Six Months, Three Days, Five Others may only have six short stories, but they are mighty good stories. The stories in this collection are fun, they're inventive and creative, each adding a new spin on a familiar idea or introducing a new idea altogether.
And though each of these SFF stories presents vastly different words and ideas, they're never difficult to read. The world-building is smooth and I didn't struggle to understand the six different realities in the short time I had with them—a problem I've had many times in the past with SFF short stories. The worlds were complex but understandable, the stories ripe for extended discussion but still easy to read and enjoy. A really wonderful collection!
And though each of these SFF stories presents vastly different words and ideas, they're never difficult to read. The world-building is smooth and I didn't struggle to understand the six different realities in the short time I had with them—a problem I've had many times in the past with SFF short stories. The worlds were complex but understandable, the stories ripe for extended discussion but still easy to read and enjoy. A really wonderful collection!
April 8, 2018
5 Second Review of Six Months, Three Days, Five Others.
The Good: They call this "absurdism" and it may be my favorite genre. The stories reminded me of Aimee Bender's, and she's my favorite. But at the same time, I couldn't see Bender writing these specific stories, they're unique to Anders. I want to read her novel now.
The Bad: --
The Mediocre: The first, second, fifth, and sixth stories were my favorite. Which means, I didn't love stories three and four quite as much. I think if someone handed me story three or four independently and suggested I read it, I would've loved the crap out of them.
The Good: They call this "absurdism" and it may be my favorite genre. The stories reminded me of Aimee Bender's, and she's my favorite. But at the same time, I couldn't see Bender writing these specific stories, they're unique to Anders. I want to read her novel now.
The Bad: --
The Mediocre: The first, second, fifth, and sixth stories were my favorite. Which means, I didn't love stories three and four quite as much. I think if someone handed me story three or four independently and suggested I read it, I would've loved the crap out of them.
November 19, 2017
I fell in love with Anders' writing with her first novel and snapped this little collection up as soon as it was published. I wanted it so much, in fact, that Amazon mistakenly sent two copies and I gave the extra to my son. It's every bit as quirky and charming as All the Birds in the Sky but, well, short. I'm not reporting any plots because discovering a Charlie Jane Anders story is too much fun. There, that's my review. Buy this book and read it.
June 3, 2018
I devoured this book of stories. Beautifully written and exceptionally clever. I honestly enjoyed them all, but As Good As New and the title story are definite standouts. I was introduced to Charlie Jane Anders via her fantastic novel "All the Birds in the Sky" and am so excited that there is such a trove of short fiction available to satisfy my need for more of her beautiful and often absurd (in the best way possible) work!
June 26, 2018
Charlie Jane Anderson makes me angry because she writes stories that should be hackneyed and stupid but turn out delightfully absurd. Genie Theatre Critic? Should be dumb. Is my favorite short story in a long time. Bio-engineered family seeking to inherit dad's body parts? Should be ridiculous. Is refreshingly complex and touching.
Also, we find out what happened to Patricia's cat, and the story made me need to hug my cat for much longer than he prefers.
Also, we find out what happened to Patricia's cat, and the story made me need to hug my cat for much longer than he prefers.
July 27, 2018
I had read Anders' journalism previously in places like IO9, but had never had an opportunity to read her fiction until now - absolutely first rate. Each of these stories almost begged to be longer, and her inventive turns of phrase - little asides and descriptions so brilliantly written that it makes one sit back and think, "well that's damn near perfect" - are a delight. Very much looking forward to reading All The Birds In The Sky.
August 12, 2018
4.5 stars
I started by listening to "As Good as New" on the Levar Burton Reads podcast yesterday, and had to read the rest. This collection made me remember how much I loved All the Birds in the Sky and how much I'm looking forward to Charlie Jane Anders' next novel. Her imagination is something else! All of the stories were great, but I particularly loved the update to All the Birds...
I started by listening to "As Good as New" on the Levar Burton Reads podcast yesterday, and had to read the rest. This collection made me remember how much I loved All the Birds in the Sky and how much I'm looking forward to Charlie Jane Anders' next novel. Her imagination is something else! All of the stories were great, but I particularly loved the update to All the Birds...
January 23, 2018
So fun! My favorites were "The Fermi Paradox Is Our Business Model," "Six Months, Three Days," and "Clover." "The Cartography of Sudden Death" is a close one, too. What I am trying to say is I really liked these short stories.
September 27, 2018
Charlie Jane Anders is simply one of the most entertaining and thought-provoking authors I've had the pleasure to read, and these short stories are great quick reads for those commute-length science fiction and fantasy cravings.
June 6, 2019
Some that were new to me, some comfortably familiar ones.
I'm a fan of Charlie Jane's work and this is a great collection. It really showcases her talent for clever writing. Clover is a favorite of mine, remember "the absence of good luck is not bad luck. it's just ... life."
I'm a fan of Charlie Jane's work and this is a great collection. It really showcases her talent for clever writing. Clover is a favorite of mine, remember "the absence of good luck is not bad luck. it's just ... life."
November 21, 2017
If you want to find humor, beauty and compassion, come look for it between the pages of this little blue book. I read it over the weekend and was endlessly charmed & mystified.
April 3, 2018
I loved this. It was delightful. I felt actual delight reading it. I think my favourite was The Fermi Paradox is Our Business Model but all of them were wonderful.
July 25, 2018
So good!! Truly unique science fiction stories, plus a short story resolving a tiny unresolved thread from All the Birds in the Sky. I think I have a new favorite author to add to my list. ;-)
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