Weekly Roundup, November 6-10

Happy Saturday! How was your first week in November? I hope it was delightful. We had another great week here. If you were crazy busy this last week, you may have missed something. As always, I am your humble guide to what our writers have been up to all week. Check it out!

Monday

Nancy O’Toole Meservier started the week off with her own personal edition of My Favorite Things. Fun fact! If you’ve been following us for a while, you may recall that Nancy used to curate this column back when it was just our regular contributors sharing the things they loved best. This week, though, it’s all about the things that our Nancy loves. Spoilers: “divisive sci-fi shows, nerdy violinists, post-apocalyptic manga, and (just maybe) Wonder Woman figurines.” Check this out and see if you find something new to love!

Tuesday

Yours truly started Tuesday off with the story of how I recently came to appreciate the spacier side of science fiction. Yes, friends, I was not a fan of things that took place out there in the stars for most of my life. Read about my former phobia here, and if there’s a space tale that I mustn’t miss, make sure to let me know.

Our second Tuesday post was our Sound Off! for Thor: Ragnarok. Did you see it? Come chat with our contributors! There are spoilers. But they’re marked and in the final section, so you can still read what our contributors thought and decide whether or not you want to check this one out without ruining the experience for yourself. Personally, I’m not caught up on the MCU, but I may still have to check out anyway. It seems like the sort of film that deserves the grandeur of the big screen! Trailer here if you’re interested.

Wednesday

Andrea Judy brought us a review of the truly excellent alternate history novella, River of Teeth. This is a great little book. Hippos, revenge, and an amazing cast all add up to an exciting way to spend your reading time. Check out Andrea’s spoiler free review to see if this might be up your alley!

Thursday

Thursday’s first post was Venessa Giunta‘s second review of Channel Zero. You can find her thoughts on the first half of Season Two here. The series is an anthology horror show that airs on SyFy. Venessa’s reaction to the first half left her wanting more from the show’s potential. Did SyFy manage to capture her interest? You’ll have to read her review to find out whether she’ll be tuning in next time.

On Thursday afternoon we featured book club president Merrin‘s review of Terry Pratchett’s The Long Earth. Are you a Pratchett reader? If so, have you ventured outside of his marvelous Discworld? (I haven’t.) If not, perhaps Merrin’s review will give you some insight into some of Pratchett’s other works and whether or not she thinks that they’re worth your time. No spoilers here, either.

Friday

On Friday, several of our contributors got together for our latest Roundtable discussion. This month’s topic? What, from the speculative world, has brought us joy during this tumultuous year? (Other than all things Wonder Woman, that is.) Visit this discussion and chime in with the things that brought you happiness in the dark places.

(Although, you have to admit that Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman is very joy-inducing indeed.)


Book Club

One final reminder to join in on our discussion of October’s selection, Jac Jemc’s The Grip of It! It’s still not too late to consume this compact meditation on haunted houses and other themes which I won’t write here for the sake of spoilers. You really ought to give this one a read, even if horror’s not really your bag. It’s an extremely literary novel, and Jemc’s writing is beautiful. It’s a fever dream of a book, and you can’t fully appreciate what you’re getting into unless you experience it for yourself.

If you’ve been there and read that, don’t forget that we’re busily reading Erin Morgenstern’s lovely novel, The Night Circus for November’s discussion later this month.

Ahead of the game? Hogfather is our December book! And we’re still voting on our January selection. That’s right, we’re ahead of the game here at SpecChic, and we want you to be able to have as much time as possible to participate. So head over here and scroll to the bottom to cast your ballots for January’s book club selection. The books are decided by those who show up! So show up and make your opinion heard! As for the theme, per Merrin:

“January is a month of firsts of the year. First times spent with friends, first meals at a favorite restaurant, etc. In keeping with the “first” idea, January’s book club selections are all about first contact between humans and an alien species.”

Something the cast of Galaxy Quest (a fun space romp that was recommended to me earlier this week!) knows a thing or two about. Later, readers! Enjoy the rest of your weekend! See you Monday.

 

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