June 23, 2020
The SpaceX launch had me hankering for some space travel science fiction and both The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky have been sitting on my shelf for a while. Also, my husband and I told each other we’d read more science fiction together during quarantine. That hasn’t happened yet, so I jumped in and dragged him along with me.…
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June 5, 2020
At Speculative Chic, we feature a lot of authors who share everything from their favorite things to the inspiration for their work. But why not also share their fiction? Welcome to Fiction Friday, where you’ll be able to sample the fiction of a variety of authors, including those who write at Speculative Chic! Today, we’re featuring our very own Kendra…
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May 27, 2020
I wholeheartedly admit that I am a sucker for anything described as “illustrious leader must unite a band of misfits to save the world/galaxy.” Probably a niche genre but yeah, I love stories like Firefly and Star Trek (2009) and Mass Effect. Ensemble pieces where not everyone works together perfectly at first but by the end you have a cohesive…
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April 22, 2020
Young adult fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast with a werewolf twist? Yes, please! That’s really all I needed to check out Cry Wolf by Jacque Stevens. It also doesn’t hurt that I write fairy tale retellings because I love them so much, and Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorites. Cry Wolf (2020) Written By: Jacque…
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March 25, 2020
If you know me, you know I’m a gamer. I play all sorts of things, but I’m especially drawn to games with great storylines and well-written characters or games where I can explore and build. Or any combination of the above. Which is why I picked up Starbound a few months ago. This one really seemed like a great option…
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March 1, 2020
An Illusion of Thieves (2019) Written by: Cate Glass Genre: Fantasy Adventure Host: Kendra Merritt Discussion Date: 3/27/2020 The Premise: A ragtag crew with forbidden magic must pull off an elaborate heist and stop a civil war in An Illusion of Thieves, a fantasy adventure from Cate Glass. In Cantagna, being a sorcerer is a death sentence. Romy escapes her…
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February 26, 2020
I really loved the characters from the first book in The Tarot Sequence, not to mention the worldbuilding and the relationships. And since the end of the book left those characters with a clear goal in an interesting situation with a bad guy designed to be creepy as well as challenging, picking up the second book in the series was…
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February 14, 2020
It’s Valentine’s Day! In honor of all the lovey-dovey feelings going around today, we’re going to talk about ships — relationships, that is! Romance crops up in all sorts of stories, and the speculative genre is no exception. We asked our contributors to share with us their favorite romantic couples, and we opened it up to both firmly established pairings…
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January 22, 2020
I can’t remember where I first heard about The Last Sun. I think it popped up on a list of science fiction and fantasy picks for your Christmas list. Wherever it was, I was intrigued enough by the idea of a modern Atlantis to put it on Goodreads so I’d remember to check it out. I shouldn’t have worried. Once…
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January 17, 2020
It’s a new year and a new decade, and for our January Roundtable, we’re talking new worlds in a post that celebrates the brilliance and care that goes into worldbuilding, often considered a genre qualifier when it comes to science fiction and fantasy. So we asked our contributors, “What fictional world do you want to live in?”and to give examples…
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