Charlie Jane Anders's Blog, page 7

A Grab Bag of Mini Rants!

Sorry, I just got back from a ton of travel and don’t have the spoons to write a proper newsletter today. Plus it’s my birthday! But here are a bunch of random thoughts that I have been wanting to share for a while now…

Please Call Your Senators about KOSA

I wrote before about the Kids Online Safety Act, which is supposed to protect kids on the internet but will actually censor the internet. Queer content, in particular, will be suppressed on platforms, in the name of “protecting” kids. There ha...

Bluestockings Is Reinventing the Radical Bookstore. You Can Help!

I’ve written before about why bookstores are more than just excellent places to discover your new favorite author. They’re also community spaces and key parts of any good neighborhood. I got a new perspective on this last week, when I was lucky to visit an exhibition the NYU library called “Reading from Left to Left: Radical Bookstores in NYC, 1930-2000s,” which showed off the rich ecosystem of progressive, radical, queer and feminist bookstores in New York over the past ninety years. (I put a ...

Weirdest and Best James Brown Cover Versions

Sorry I haven’t put out a newsletter yet this week! I’m traveling on the East Coast (going to Readercon this weekend) and haven’t had time to write anything new. So please enjoy this thing I wrote ages ago, which I never got around to publishing before…

Weirdest and Best James Brown Covers

James Brown made some of the most influential, irresistible music of all time, along with some brilliant musicians like Clyde Stubblefield, Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker and Jimmy Nolen. So it's not surprising th...

We Should All Be Archivists

Lately, I keep obsessing about two seemingly opposing but interrelated trends: 1) The past decade has seen an incredible bounty of art and self-expression from marginalized folks, including BIPOC folks, queers, disabled peeps and others. 2) We’re in the middle of a huge, well-funded backlash against those same marginalized folks, with the goal of driving us out of public life.

I’ve loved so much of the art, culture, criticism and reporting that I’ve seen from marginalized people in the past se...

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About My Breasts

Tom Rulkens/Flickr (CC)

The other day, a man in a car pulled over and rolled down his window, waving to get my attention. I stopped walking because I figured he wanted to ask directions — but he only wanted to know about my breasts. Were they natural or did I have implants? If the latter, where did I get them done?

I gave him the finger and resumed walking away.

But in honor of that bold truth-seeker, I thought I would share with you, my beloved readers, the complete and true story of my breasts...

Let Authors Read Their Work!

One thing that bums me out is my sense that people don't seem to want to listen to authors reading their work in public as much as they used to. (This is a trend that predates covid.) I don’t entirely get it: audiobooks are more popular than ever, but the equivalent a of a live performance of an audiobook isn’t automatically popular.

Live readings have been a huge part of my life. For over twenty years, I organized a literary event called Writers With Drinks, in which authors from very from man...

What It Means To Be Optimistic About the Future

For a few years, before the pandemic, I got asked the same question at every convention, book festival and conference: “Do you feel optimistic about the future?” (Or sometimes, “What makes you optimistic about the future?” Or something about optimism versus pessimism.)

I always responded the same way: Optimism about the future is really optimism about human nature. If you believe in a better future, you’re essentially believing that humans are capable of responding to crises and challenges with...

11 Hot Takes About Doctor Who

Doctor Who is so, so alive. The world’s oldest and arguably greatest science fiction (and occasionally fantasy) series is firing on all cylinders this year, thanks to Ncuti Gatwa’s high-energy performance as the Doctor and Millie Gibson’s super-engaging turn as Ruby Sunday, not to mention the return of Russell T. Davies and Steven Moffat on top form.

To celebrate, here are some HOT takes about the greatest show in the galaxy. Vworp vworp!

(Missed the previous entries in this series? Here are so...

"There's No Way You Can Talk Back to a Gun": On Psychological Warfare

For the past few years, my partner Annalee Newitz has been learning all about the history and theory of psychological warfare. The result is a stunning book, out in one week, called Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind.

Annalee is going on tour next week, hitting Portland, Seattle, and the Bay Area. I’ll be in conversation with Annalee at Massy Books in Vancouver on June 22. You can still pre-order the book and get a beautiful patch, by filling out this form.

For t...

Three Science Fiction Stories That Reveal the Truth About Meritocracy

Meritocracy is our modern religion. It's a just-so story for the just-world fallacy. We want to believe that wealthy, powerful people deserve all the power they wield over the rest of us, because otherwise we're gazing up at an unfairness that feels crushing. And the notion of upward mobility, that talented people can pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, is hardwired into our collective consciousness.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the movie Trading Places, though I haven't had tim...