All Systems Red (2017) Written by: Martha Wells Genre: Science Fiction Pages: 144 (ebook) Publisher: Tor.com Why I Chose It: All Systems Red had been nominated for the 2017 Philip K. Dick Award, and here at Speculative Chic, we’re reading the nominees! I chose All Systems Red based on the positive reviews and feedback I had been […]

The Book of Etta (2017) Written by: Meg Elison Genre: Post-apocalyptic fiction Pages: 305 (Paperback) Series: The Road to Nowhere Book #2 Publisher: 47North Why I Chose It: The Book of Etta is one of the nominees for the 2018 Philip K. Dick Award, which Speculative Chic is covering. I did not want to read […]

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife (2016) Written by: Meg Elison Genre: Post-apocalyptic fiction Pages: 291 (Paperback) Series: The Road to Nowhere Book #1 Publisher: 47North Why I Chose It: I read this book because its sequel, The Book of Etta, is nominated for the 2018 Philip K. Dick Award. I really did not want […]

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife (2016) Written by: Meg Elison Genre: Post-apocalyptic fiction Pages: 291 (Paperback) Series: The Road to Nowhere Book #1 Publisher: 47North Why I Chose It: I read this book because its sequel, The Book of Etta, is nominated for the 2018 Philip K. Dick Award. I really did not want […]

The science fiction map is vast and expansive, a giant tome that many have struggled to contain and define. It extends not only to known planets of our own solar system — Mars, for example, which was colonized by Burroughs and Kim Stanley Robinson — to entire sub-universes as big as our reality. Asimov’s Foundation […]

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 author Lauren Baratz-Logsted, whose forthcoming […]

Good afternoon! Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Go easy on the unnaturally green foods and beverages today, my loves. But do indulge in some nice corned beef and cabbage, or a hearty bowl of Irish stew and some soda bread, if the mood strikes you. How am I celebrating today? By locking the door and cowering […]

After last year’s successful resolution, I decided to dip my toes into a new-to-me spec-fic area — podcasts. The rules for 2018: I will listen to twelve spec-fic oriented podcasts, one per month. For each podcast, I will listen to a minimum of five episodes per podcast before I either give up or add it […]

As a child of the 80s and 90s, I grew up on Transformers and the Power Rangers, so when Pacific Rim came out in 2013, it was everything I wanted in a movie. Giant robots fighting sea monsters sounded so awesome! Couple that with a director like Guillermo del Toro (who just won an Oscar […]

Of Lips and Tongue (2016) Written by: A.G. Carpenter Genre: Dark Fantasy, Southern Gothic Pages: 113 (Kindle) Series: Touch Trilogy Book 1 Publisher: Falstaff Books Why I Chose This: I’ve heard amazing things about this book and been looking for something dark to sink my teeth into. The premise: Delaney Green is one of them that […]

As was previously mentioned in my review of Mass Effect: Initiation, I have resolved to read the works of N.K. Jemisin this year. The entire works, no exceptions. Over the last week, I have made my way through The Inheritance Trilogy, which is kind of the trilogy that set off this entire resolution, because I […]

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 author and Changing the Map […]

So, it’s been a pretty brutal winter this year in North America (our home base). Are you as absolutely done with it as I am? It’s blowing snow as I write this, and the forecast predicts another snowfall this weekend. Fortunately, spring is just around the corner, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. When I […]

So, 2018 is well-entrenched and that means Convention Season has started! I thought I’d do a post on some of the big ones that are coming up this year. I’m going to focus on the more “industry” type cons and not on the fan cons. Fans make up a good portion of the attendance at […]