August 19, 2016
“Dear Sherry” is an opportunity to ask for advice on writer’s/creativity block, time management, the process of writing, and more. Sherry Peters is a Certified Life Coach who works with writers at all stages of their writing career looking to increase their productivity through pushing past the self-doubt holding them back. Her fiction has won the Writer’s Digest Self-Published e-book award,…
August 18, 2016
The Aeronaut’s Windlass (2015) Written by: Jim Butcher Genre: Steampunk Pages: 768 (Kindle) Series: Book One of The Cinder Spires Publisher: Roc Why I Chose It: As part of a Speculative Chic dare to review this year’s Hugo Nominees. And because my editor told me there were talking cats in this book. TALKING CATS! Premise: Since time immemorial, the Spires…
August 18, 2016
Even though I wrote my first short story in the third grade, my journey as a writer actually started 10 years ago. I was a 24-year-old recent college graduate who had majored in English and minored in journalism, but I had no idea what the word “genre” meant. I had spent the last two years writing four novels about a…
August 17, 2016
I’m a fan of endings. By that I mean when I hear a favorite show is getting a final season (not canceled, mind you), I’m actually pretty excited about it. Oh, sure: I know I’m going to miss seeing that show on my screen every week. I’m going to miss seeing those characters and speculating on the story. However, the…
August 17, 2016
Uprooted (2015) Written by: Naomi Novik Genre: Fantasy Pages: 448 (Kindle) Series: Stand Alone Publisher: Del Rey Why I Chose It: I’ve been a fan of Naomi Novik since she first introduced us to Temeraire 10 years ago. I’ve always enjoyed her writing style and humor, so I had my eye on this to read even before it turned up…
August 16, 2016
You see this here? Other than an alphabetically-arranged-by-author shelf of books, what you may not know is…they’re all unread. They’re not alone. I currently own 381 unread books, which have come from various sources — bought new, bought second-hand, from the publisher, from the author. And because I prioritize reading library books with their due dates, my own books remain…
August 15, 2016
Welcome back to My Favorite Things, a weekly column where our writers share all of their favorite nerdy obsessions. You can tell we love a good book here at Speculative Chic, as three of our picks this week are related to awesome sci-fi/fantasy books. This includes a ghostly (and addictive!) ebook series, everyone’s favorite urban fantasy pet, and a kick…
August 12, 2016
Welcome to Coach’s Corner where I offer some thoughts on the creative process and breaking through moments of self-doubt. There seems to be an unwritten rule that after a certain age, everything we do must be for a purpose. Emphasis is placed on learning what will be on the test. We are constantly being asked what we “want to be…
August 11, 2016
I’m currently listening to Blackstar by David Bowie (it’s taken me pretty much all year to be able to, because sad), unpacking from the NC burn, Transformus, so that I can repack for Dragon*Con, which is Labor Day weekend. Whew! Who Am I? You can read more about me on my bio page, but I wanted to make a quick…
August 10, 2016
Seveneves (2015) Written by: Neal Stephenson Genre: Science Fiction Pages: 744 (Nook) Series: Stand Alone Publisher: William Morrow Why I Chose It: Title was selected as a part of the Speculative Chic retrospective on the titles nominated for a Hugo. I’m quite possibly the only person on earth who actively liked the Librarian info-dumps Snow Crash, which still counts as my…