The Odyssey Writing Workshop is a six-week course that takes place every summer on the campus of Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. Like many contributors at Speculative Chic, I had the privilege of attending, and I graduated in 2005 with today’s guest writer, Scott H. Andrews, the World Fantasy Award-winning editor of Beneath Ceaseless […]

Howdy, dear Chicers! I hope you’re staying healthy and safe out there. My Resolution Project for this year was to reread the Expanse series in its entirety in preparation/anticipation for the final book, for which the release date should be announced sooner than later. So, whether you’re looking for a refresher, are as big of […]

How do you get to the wondrous realms of speculative fiction? Why, you open a door and fall into another world, or pass through a gateway, one of which is the “The Jane Yolen Memorial Gateway to the West” — the arch through which you step, tentatively at first, elated but nervous, into the map. […]

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 […]

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 Megan Mackie, who just re-released […]

Welcome back to your favorite recap on the web, the Weekly Roundup! As always, I’m coming to you live from Japan as I write this, and things have been continually slowing down as we deal with containment of COVID-19. This time last year, I was scrambling to sew cosplay for Anime Japan, and it was […]

This month’s Roundtable — the most tragic moments in sci fi, fantasy, and horror — was pitched by Kelly McCarty, and it’s so good because there’s a lot to choose from. One of the key components of a traditional epic is tragedy; and in all good storytelling, there must be stakes and the threat of […]

After gushing about the first book, you couldn’t very well not expect me to read the second, could you? So naturally I set out to tackle this one with gusto. Even better, my Editor-in-Chic told me that there was also a third book, so I checked it out along with this one. Soon I’ll have […]

The Fey Fayre (2019) Written by: RNW Genre: Tabletop Game Publisher: RNW Why I Chose It: I’ve played several one-shots from RNW before and adored them, so when I was looking for a fun, light-hearted adventure for a lazy Saturday, I knew this would be it. The Premise: A whimsical single-session standalone adventure designed for 5th […]

There was a period of time, just after I’d gotten my first job and suddenly had a lot of disposable income and nothing to really spend it on, that I began a collection of Nora Roberts novels. I don’t think I ever had the one that she pulled from publication (for not really fitting her […]

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 Marc L. Abbott, whose novel […]

I’ve got to give thanks and a shout-out to Casey for stepping in for me last week while I dealt with some fothermucking health issues last week, oy. The good news is none of it was ‘rona-related; the bad news is it was still quite awful and severe; and the good news AGAIN is that […]

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (2016) Written by: Jack Thorne, John Tiffany, and J.K. Rowling Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy Pages: 320 (Hardcover) Series: Book Eight of Harry Potter series Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books Why I Chose It: I’ve been a fan of the Harry Potter books for a long time so it was a given that […]

Welcome to Chain Reaction! Introducing a monthly column that will showcase three titles that have a common thread, theme, or plot device.  I’ll take one known quantity and introduce two more along the same lines — something that made me think of another title, and then another. They might be recent; they might have been […]