Even Greater Mistakes

Nebula- and Hugo-winner Anders (Victories Greater Than Death), well known for her novels, here returns to the short story form that first catapulted her from journalism into fiction. This book’s 19 stories travel to the edges of speculative fiction and back, demonstrating Anders’s skill in introspection, humor, and immersive storytelling. The collection begins with “As Good as New,” about what happens when an apocalypse survivor discovers a genie; the story’s “three wishes” dilemma spans playwriting, medicine, and the destruction of the world. “Don’t Press Charges and I Won’t Sue” looks at friendship and authoritarianism through the eyes of Rachel, a trans woman in a fascist United States, whose consciousness is being transferred into a male body by her childhood best friend. American dissolution reappears in “The Bookstore at the End of America,” in which the nation splits into two countries with disparate beliefs. Each of Anders’s stories is preceded by an introduction and content warnings.