Six Months, Three Days

Charlie Jane Anders is a writer that I discovered last year and immediately fell in love with. I enjoyed The City in the Middle of the Night, and I had to investigate all the other things she has written as a matter of course. I am so glad I did. Anders is a Hugo and Nebula award-winning writer and a Hugo nominated fancaster with her partner Annalee Newitz. You can find her excellent podcast here. I bought a hardback copy of her short stories after checking out and reviewing As Good As New. A twist on the classic three wishes tropes, and is also my favorite short story. As Good As New exudes pure positivity even in the face of tragic or exhausting circumstances. It is a quality that I find quite a bit in Anders's writing. She has a way of finding the good, the beautiful, the heartfelt in places where finding those things is hard. Even in the direst of circumstances, there is always good and always something beautiful even if you can't see it, and Anders calls it out; she shows us.

There are six stories in Six Months, Three Days, Five Others, all are wonderful. However, the two I gravitated towards where As Good As New referenced above, and Six Months, and Five Days. Six Months and Five days is another short story with the same sense of optimism demonstrated in As Good as New. Six Months and Three Days is a love story, of a sort. What happens when two individuals, one who can see his future, and another who can see all futures meet and fall in love? It is a literal definition of a rock and a hard place.

The story is charming, and we know right from the beginning how it is going to end. But, the ending is not important. It doesn't matter how Doug and Judy end up getting there; it is the six months and three days of life that happen before the final moment, which I think Anders wanted to highlight. Yes, we can know all the answers. Yes, we know there will be lots of pain in this relationship. Yes, we know exactly how it is going to end. However, there are many beautiful moments, moments of love, and life that are worth celebrating even if you have already seen them in your mind's eye; you haven't experienced them.

The juice is worth the squeeze!

Check out the full story collection, but read Six Months and Three Days for sure.