April 9, 2020 As I’m writing this, it is almost April and I have been in my house for two weeks straight. Isolation isn’t hitting me as hard as it’s probably hitting many folks. I’ve been working from home for years, so I’m used to seeing the inside of my house for days at a […]

December 18, 2019 Am I going for the hat trick? You bet your sweet bippy I am! (The first two iterations of this madness can be found here and here.) And so, without further ado, I present to you The Twelve Days of Spec Fic, 2019 edition! On the twelfth day of Spec Fic, my […]

Happy Monday! I hope your week has gotten off to a great start! As you know, we normally celebrate our Mondays with a dose of My Favorite Things, and sometimes, like today, we bring you a little something extra. Today’s extra comes to you courtesy of Entangled Teen, an excerpt of Lisa Brown Roberts’ Spies, Lies, […]

Welcome back to Sound Off!, a semi-regular column where members of Speculative Chic gather together to chat about the latest BIG THING in entertainment. This time, explore new species and discuss Life, which premiered in the United States on Friday, March 24, 2017.   Sound Off! is meant to be a reaction, but not necessarily […]

April 12, 2017 Graft (2016) Written by: Matt Hill Genre: Science Fiction Pages: 448 pages (Kindle) Publisher: Angry Robot Why I Chose It: At Speculative Chic, we decided to review all of the Philip K. Dick Award nominees, and as Editor-in-Chic, it was my responsibility to coordinate that. One by one, books were selected, until […]

September 25, 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 […]

Welcome back to Sound Off!, a semi-regular column where members of Speculative Chic gather together to chat about the latest BIG THING in entertainment. This time, fall in love all over again and discuss Beauty and the Beast, which premiered in the United States on Friday, March 17, 2017. Sound Off! is meant to be […]

The Mercy Journals (2016)  Written by: Claudia Casper Genre: Post-apocalyptic fiction Pages: 231 (Paperback) Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press Why I Chose It: I had not heard of The Mercy Journals until Speculative Chic asked the contributors if we were willing to review the books nominated for the 2017 Philip K. Dick Award. I was so […]

September 24, 2020 I’m generally not one to read poetry, so I wanted to reach beyond my comfort zone and dive into a collection for the first time. The major conceit of Burials, as listed in its premise — “the narrative of those whose voices have been taken away” — also greatly intrigued me. I’m […]

June 19, 2020 We all love to talk about our Favorite Things, but it’s not always the latest and greatest that charms us. Sometimes it’s those foundational favorites, the works that shaped us, that we find ourselves returning to again and again. Here at Speculative Chic, we decided it was way past time to create a […]

September 25, 2020 I enjoy escaping into space opera, and as a librarian, I enjoy promoting my favorite reads. I loved K.B. Wagers’ The Indranan War trilogy, starting with 2016’s Behind the Throne, which starred a gun smuggler-turned-princess who leveraged her past in negotiating alliances, avenging her family, and stopping wars. So I was excited […]

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, a weekly column where we gab about the greatest in geek. This week, we’re all about AMAZING episodes of superhero television shows, thought provoking alien languages, visiting the […]

September 22, 2020 I fell down a rabbit hole of reading lists about diverse books when the colorful color of The House in the Cerulean Sea caught my eye.  I noticed that the book is set in a home for magical children, which reminded me of one of my favorite series, Ransom Riggs’ Miss Peregrine’s […]

February 7, 2020 One of the great things about Science Fiction and Fantasy is that they are entertaining while offering a new social or political perspective or commentary. We love these books, movies, and TV shows because they get so much right, they tell a great story, they make us think, and of course they […]