When Charlie Jane Anders was still at io9 — she co-founded the site with Annalee Newitz back in 2008 — she wrote several popular posts offering advice and inspiration to both aspiring and veteran authors of sci-fi and fantasy. Those posts gained even more value after she herself became a best-selling fiction author, thanks to critically acclaimed titles like Victories Greater Than Death, All the Birds in the Sky, and The City in the Middle of the Night.
Her latest release, however, is a nonfiction book in a similar vein to those Gizmodo posts, and the timely title really says it all: Never Say You Can’t Survive: How to Get Through Hard Times by Making Up Stories. It’s described as being “full of memoir, personal anecdote, and insight about how to flourish during the present emergency … the perfect manual for creativity in unprecedented times.” Today, Gizmodo has an exclusive excerpt from the audiobook, which Anders narrated herself. It comes from chapter two of Never Say You Can’t Survive and digs deep into the dreaded (but deeply relatable) feeling of “imposter syndrome,” why you shouldn’t let it get you down, and other topics. Take a listen!
[MacmillanAudio · Never Say You Can’t Survive by Charlie Jane Anders, audiobook excerpt]
“I was super nervous about doing my own audiobook, but I ended up having a total blast,” Anders said in a statement provided to Gizmodo. “With the help of Kimberly Wetherell, Layla Mohamedi, and everyone at Women’s Audio Mission, I felt super comfortable reading my own words out — and I found that I was really feeling those words in a whole new way. I’m proud of how this audiobook turned out: It’s me speaking to you directly, giving you all the advice and encouragement I’ve stored up throughout my career, and hopefully inspiring you to go out and build your own castles in the sky.”
Never Say You Can’t Survive: How to Get Through Hard Times by Making Up Stories will be released in all formats on August 17; you can order a copy here.