Charlie Jane Anders's Blog, page 5

Fandom Has Made Me a Bigger (and Better) Fan

So I guess there’s some kind of holiday situation going on, and people are buying presents and stuff? In which case, I just wanted to point out that you can get any of my books from Green Apple Books in San Francisco. I will sign them! I will personalize them! (Please specify in the comments section of your order.) I will draw a terrible doodle! I will do whatever you want, within reason. You can get my YA trilogy, my short story collection or my writing advice book, Never Say You Can’t Survive....

Superheroes Will Never Again Be As Good as the Arrowverse

Quick housekeeping before we get started… first, I have a few bound galleys of my new novel for adults, Lessons in Magic and Disaster, which comes out August 19. It’s about a young witch who teaches her grieving mother how to do magic. I’m thinking of doing something unusual: I send this early copy to a reader of this newsletter, who promises to send it on to another person when they’re done. And when that person is done, they also send it on to someone else. Each person writes their name in the...

Does An Unreliable Narrator Need To Be an Asshole?

Narrators! You can't rely on them these days. They always let you down, even the ones who have five stars on Yelp. One time, I hired a narrator to move a sofa and they claimed they brought it to my house, but it was actually five blocks away. Freaking narrators.

You've probably heard, or even used, the phrase "unreliable narrator." But what is an unreliable narrator, and why do we keep them around even though they let us down constantly? 

I often hear two slightly contradictory things about the ...

Can You Write a Book That Speaks to This Terrible Time?

Nah. You can't ever write a book that speaks to a particular moment in history. Sorry.

This is mostly due to the timescales of writing and publishing. No matter how fast you type, you'll still take a minute to put together a story and polish it up to a publishable standard, and then the publishing industry will take anywhere from nine months to a few years to get your book into the world. But also, it's just hard to crystallize a particular set of circumstances and formulate a story that respond...

5 Words That Might Help You Deal With What's Coming

(Hey, before I get started, please please pre-order my novel Lessons in Magic and Disaster. It’s about queer families and surviving in spite of right-wing hatred, among other things. Get a signed/personalized copy here.)

As I've mentioned before, most of my teachers in elementary school couldn't stand me. I had a very severe learning disability, and I acted loopy and chaotic at the best of times. I’m eternally grateful to Ms. Pennington, the special-ed teacher who saved me from falling through t...

"It's Not About Making the Word Count, But Making the Work Count"

Hey, thanks for reading my newsletter! There’s no paywall, and I have no plans to monetize it in the future, but if you would like to support me financially, the absolute best way is to pre-order my upcoming novel Lessons in Magic and Disaster. Plus that way, you get a book that I’m immensely proud of, about a young witch who teaches her heartbroken mother how to do magic. It’s full of queer joy and connection and dirty magic, and it’s probably my favorite thing I’ve ever written. There is so mu...

They Ran For President. What Did They Learn?

First of all, in case you missed it: I have a new novel for grown-ups coming out in August 2025! Lessons in Magic and Disaster is about a young trans woman who teaches her mother, Serena, how to become a witch, to help Serena get over the death of her wife. Plus we discover the secrets of a mysterious novel from 1747! You can pre-order it from Bookshop.org, or if you want a signed/personalized/doodled copy, you can pre-order from Green Apple Books.

I just got back from being guest of honor at Mi...

I'm So Sick of the Death of Superman

Hey, did you know that I have a new novel for adults coming out in August 2025? It’s true! Lessons in Magic and Disaster is my first grown-up novel since 2019, and I couldn’t be prouder of how it turned out.

It’s about a young witch named Jamie who’s trying to finish her PhD dissertation about eighteenth-century lady novelists. Jamie’s mother, Serena, has been hiding away in an old one-room schoolhouse for several years, since Serena’s wife died and her career imploded.

Jamie decides to bring Se...

Please be a book hipster!

This is a free newsletter! If you would like to support me — and give your future self a gift of a lovely read — please do pre-order my upcoming adult novel Lessons in Magic and Disaster. It’s about a witch who teaches her grief-stricken mother how to do magic, and it’s also about the brilliant unsung women novelists of the mid-eighteenth century. I poured my actual heart into this one, y’all. You can pre-order it anywhere books are sold, but you can also get a signed, personalized, doodled copy...

Why Are Toxic "Superfans" Such a Nightmare for Hollywood?

ICYMI I have a novel coming out next August called Lessons in Magic and Disaster, about a young witch who teaches her mother how to be a witch. Along the way, the witch also uncovers the secrets of a mysterious novel from 1749. You can pre-order it everywhere, but if you pre-order from Green Apple, I’ll sign and personalize with a terrible drawing. (And stay tuned for pre-order rewards!) Also, please scroll down to the bottom for some updates about Escapade, the trans superhero I co-created for ...