February 28, 2020 Ghost stories and haunted houses are my absolute favorites in horror, so I actively seek them out. But due to the quirks of my brain and the busyness of everyday life, I don’t have the focus to read books of standard or more length. I’ve kept to reading comics, novellas, and short […]

New Orleans-style Southern Gothic, where moisture blooms on your skin, where heat sits like a wet comforter on the trees, and the air smells of magnolia blossoms and rotting garbage. New Orleans, where the city dances, voodoo permeates, and vampires and witches prowl the street, along with their mortal prey. New Orleans. I’ve never been. […]

Well, the news has been a bit cuckoo lately and overflowing with talk of COVID-19. I’m in Japan and my brother is in Korea, and we’re right in the throes of it. But life must continue on, and I must continue with our weekly tradition: it’s time to dive into the Roundup! Read More »

For my Speculative Chic Resolution Project 2020, I decided to distract myself from work by catching up on random things I’d never seen before on the new streaming service, Disney+. What I should be working on: Revisions to my latest novel based on feedback from my amazing beta readers. What I watched instead: Descendants, which […]

In 2016 (the year reading challenges really took off on the Internet) a good friend asked if I’d like to do a reading challenge. Most of the challenges I’d seen so far that year were fluffy — nothing wrong with popular fiction, etc., but I’d been looking for something different, as was my friend. We […]

Howdy, dear Chicers! Well, it’s February, which means groundhogs, candy hearts, and, if you’re like my friend Tom, one birthday every four years. February is also a wonderful time for a discussion about the perks and perils of writing. Imagine it, if you will: Two people, a man and a woman, sitting across from one […]

Examining the weird/gothic landscape through eyes firmly embedded with set of rainbow lenses, Tanith Lee erected severely Weird Gothic Towers and Spires throughout the map, starting with her debut novel, The Dragon Hoard in 1971.  Her edifices are constructed using the building blocks of fairy tales, myths, standard fantasy, vampires, and just plain strangeness, and […]

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 Barb Han, whose new novel, […]

We’ve had a busy week here at Speculative Chic! From guest authors and cover reveals, podcasts and books galore, plus a sharing of formative favorites, both old and new, it’s time to get caught up on what you missed with our regular Weekly Roundup! Read More »

おかいり and welcome back, denizens of the otherworlds. We’ve got another week full of sci fi, fantasy, and horror to tickle your speculative tastebuds. As always we have great guest authors, reviews and rewatches, and this month’s book club discussion to boot! It’s been busy around here so if you’ve missed anything, check out our […]

January 31, 2020 Welcome (or for some of you, welcome back!) to the Speculative Chic Book Club! Thank you so much for joining us on our relaunch in 2020. To say I’m excited about it is an understatement: I’m tickled that every month, a different blogger gets to select a book and lead us in […]

February 29, 2020 Well, the news has been a bit cuckoo lately and overflowing with talk of COVID-19. I’m in Japan and my brother is in Korea, and we’re right in the throes of it. But life must continue on, and I must continue with our weekly tradition: it’s time to dive into the Roundup! […]

February 29, 2020 Well, the news has been a bit cuckoo lately and overflowing with talk of COVID-19. I’m in Japan and my brother is in Korea, and we’re right in the throes of it. But life must continue on, and I must continue with our weekly tradition: it’s time to dive into the Roundup! […]

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 Aden Polydoros, whose free prequel […]