April 8, 2020
During lockdown, I’ve been diving into some of the tabletop games I haven’t been able to play yet. Blue Rose, a game from publisher Green Ronin, also has a fiction line set in its world. To learn more about the game, I decided to check out the stories. As a bonus, the short story length is perfect for my chaotic…
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March 17, 2020
Are you hiding from the outside world right now? Practicing “social isolation”? Welcome to my life! There are always good reasons to stay inside, especially if you’re an extreme introvert. However, there are other good reasons to sequester yourself. You may live in an area where COVID-19 has arrived. I’m so very sorry to hear that. If you’ve completed your…
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February 4, 2020
Hi! Venessa here. You might recognize my name from my monthly column here at Spec Chic, where I talk a little bit about books, television shows, and lot about conventions, including my Convention Life series and Con Season on a Budget. I also do some behind-the-scenes stuff for the My Favorite Things column too. In my “other” life, I’m a…
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January 24, 2020
At Speculative Chic, we feature a lot of authors who share everything from their favorite things to the inspiration for their work. Today, we’re introducing a new column called Fiction Friday, where you’ll be able to sample the fiction of a variety of authors, including those who write at Speculative Chic! For our very first column, we’re featuring Judy Black,…
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January 15, 2020
Happy New Year, dear Chicers! I hope your 2020 is off to a good (or at least okay) start. As promised in my resolution post, I plan to reread and discuss the whole of The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey (aka Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) in the next twelve months. I’m also planning to write a book…
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September 24, 2019
Because I work as a librarian, the way I discover new-to-me books has changed from when I was younger and not a librarian. I see what titles cross the circulation desk; peruse the records in the library catalog; read entries in themed book lists from Barnes & Noble and Orbit; and find books or DVDs when I straighten the library…
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April 22, 2019
They might not be raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but that doesn’t mean that we love them any less. Welcome back to My Favorite Things, the weekly column where we grab someone in speculative circles to gab about the greatest in geek. This week, we sit down with Troy Harkin, whose twisted poetry collection, Casting Shadows, was released…
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March 15, 2019
The Pisces (2018) Written by: Melissa Broder Genre: Fiction Pages: 270 (Hardback) Publisher: Hogarth Why I Chose It: After reading Mira Grant’s mermaid novel Into the Drowning Deep and Guillermo del Toro and Daniel Kraus’ romantic tale about a woman and an amphibious man, The Shape of Water, a love story featuring a merman sounded intriguing. The Pisces also fit…
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March 11, 2019
They might not be raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but that doesn’t mean that we love them any less. Welcome back to My Favorite Things, the weekly column where we grab someone in speculative circles to gab about the greatest in geek. This week, we sit down with Sandra Kasturi, whose short story, “The Beautiful Gears of Dying,”…
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February 14, 2019
Editor’s note: We are pleased and honored to welcome Genevieve Iseult Eldredge to Speculative Chic today! Her article needs no introduction from us, so we will simply step aside and let her take it away. It’s no secret that diversity is gaining ground in popular media. Our world is amazingly diverse, and marginalized people are rightfully demanding movies about protagonists…
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