Hello friends, welcome to your last book club discussion before the relaunch (details coming soon). It’s me, your host, Merrin. Following this short review of my impressions of the book, feel free to discuss your takes in the comments! The Magicians (2009) Written by: Lev Grossman Genre: Fantasy Pages: 416 (Hardcover)  Publisher: Viking Premise: In […]

Another Life (2019) Released by: Netflix Rating: TV-MA Created by: Aaron Martin Number of episodes: 10 Why I Chose It: Two words — Katee Sackhoff. Ever since the debut of the Battlestar Galactica reboot, I have been a huge fan of Sackhoff, both on- and off-screen. She and Tricia Helfer (Six) have remained great friends since BSG, […]

One of the most common questions authors face is a deceptively difficult one to answer: “Where do you get your ideas?” Yet, the answers to that common question can be almost as interesting as the resulting story. Welcome to You’re My Inspiration, a new column dedicated to discovering what inspires a particular author and their […]

If you like ebooks and you’re a writer or publisher, or even just a reader, and your drug of choice is science fiction and fantasy, chances are you’ve heard of Macmillan’s TOR experiment. If you haven’t, let me catch you up on the news. Back in June 2018, Macmillan decided to embargo ebook lending uses […]

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 US Army Lieutenant Colonel Troy […]

Hail and well met, strangers! I have returned from a long journey through the wilds of northern Kyushu, encountering stone princesses, water dragons, white snakes, the bones of a mermaid, and a goddess with 1,000 arms — and after viewing these forbidden treasures, I’ve lived to tell the tale! If such stories drive your fancy, […]

Welcome to the first post in a series in which I will be examining vampire fiction — novels, film, and TV shows — through the lens of identity politics. Specifically, I’ll be looking at the concepts of white privilege and racial identity/representation in popular vampire fiction and discussing why certain tropes are problematic. As a […]

Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider, vol 1: Spider-Geddon (2019) Written By: Seanan McGuire Illustrated By: Rosi Kampe and Takeshi Miyazawa Genre: Superhero Pages: 112 pages Publisher: Marvel Comics Why I Chose It: Spider-Gwen is a character that I’ve been meaning to get back into, so a new writer seemed like a great place to start. The premise: […]

Back in June, I wrote a post discussing the fantasy adaptations currently making their way to the small screen. Long story short: Most of the books being adapted are the ones you’d expect — LOTR, Chronicles of Narnia, Wheel of Time, The Kingkiller Chronicles, etc. Classics? Sure. Predictable AF? Absolutely! The good news is that […]

Being a chronicle of the voyages through the realm of the fantastic, recording a summary of the journey through perilous islands to bohemian cities. As we take a brief tavern break, a welcome respite from the wilderness of words, let’s take a moment to reflect upon our journey through the year. This month marks the […]

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 publisher Joshua Palmatier, […]

You know what they say…. time flies when you’re having fun, or when you’re so busy you forget what day of the week it is and you promised one of your contributors you’d take over the weekly roundup! Never fear! Your Editor-in-Chic shook herself off from dreaming about the weekend to make sure you had […]

Magic Breaks (2012) Written by: Ilona Andrews Series: Kate Daniels #7 Genre: Urban Fantasy Pages: 381 (Paperback) Publisher: Ace Why I Chose This: My 2019 Resolution Project for Speculative Chic is to read the books in the Kate Daniels series and finish up with a first read of the final book. I first read Magic Breaks in 2015 and reviewed it […]

Growing-up, I played with Barbie dolls with blonde hair and blue eyes, and I wanted to be like Jessica Wakefield from the Sweet Valley High books. It wasn’t until I was introduced to Claudia Kishi (a Japanese-American teenager with “long, silky black hair and dark, almond-shaped eyes”) from The Babysitter’s Club book series that I […]