One of the very first projects we embarked upon at Speculative Chic was blogging about the Best Novel finalists for the 2016 Hugos. That was so much fun, we turned around and did the same thing for the 2016 World Fantasy Best Novel finalists. Now 2017’s award season is upon us, and we just can’t […]

May 15, 2020 It’s been hard to not make things about coronavirus and COVID-19 lately, but this is our new normal — one of continuous change. Maybe you’re struggling with a lot of free time on your hands due to quarantine. Maybe you’re inundated with bad news and have been seeking a pick-me-up outside of […]

September 3, 2020 Usually the advertisements on YouTube are annoying or completely irrelevant to my tastes, and I like to skip over them as soon as possible. But one day, a trailer of some kind (or what I assumed was a trailer) started playing. Then I realized it was actually a series of still images […]

December 20, 2019 In March of 2019 I attended my first convention in Japan, and it was a whopper: Anime Japan in Tokyo! It was my hastily decided resolution for 2019 to do some ambitious cosplay because I felt like there was something special about Japan — cosplayers are pretty hardcore here, and I wanted […]

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 […]

May 20, 2019 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 Lee Murray, […]

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 […]

February 28, 2017 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, we’ve escaped typical horror movie tropes to discuss Get Out, which premiered in the United States on Friday, February 24, 2017.   Sound Off! is meant to […]

Historical fiction is almost always fascinating to me. If that fiction also happens to have a touch of magic to it, even better. That’s exactly what I got when I decided to pick up Ellen Klages’ Passing Strange. Passing Strange (2017) Written by: Ellen Klages Genre: Historical Fantasy Pages: 215 (Trade paperback) Publisher: Tor.com/Tom Doherty […]

Dear Sherry, I’ve been working on this novel for almost two years now. I’ve finished the first draft. I’ve filled in the plot holes. I’ve added description, and fleshed out the characters. I’ve sent it to my critique group for feedback, edited based on that feedback, sent it back to them and edited it again. […]

December 13, 2019 I am so excited! This year, for my resolution project, I’m rewatching the Star Wars franchise. I chose it because I love Star Wars, and I thought it would be fun to re-watch the movies in order of release date, with perhaps a bit more of a critical and appreciative eye than I […]

There used to be a time when, as a fan of speculative fiction, you could pretty much say you’d read and watched it all. Of course, you were probably super dedicated, because even in that Golden Age, I’m sure there was a lot to keep up with (especially if you included short fiction). But nowadays, […]

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 Heidi Ruby Miller, who […]

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 […]