November 17, 2016
Beware of spoilers for the following: The Walking Dead series. When The Walking Dead television series premiered in 2010, I was totally on board with the show. I loved the concept of humans fighting walkers (zombies), and I was a big fan of our hero Rick Grimes. When we met Rick in season one, he was on a mission to…
November 16, 2016
It’s a turbulent, emotional time in the United States right now. After eight years of progress on many fronts, many people who differ from the norm (norm = straight white male, or in some cases, straight white female) are feeling rightfully terrified by the electorate’s choice on President Elect. When I was watching my five Orphan Black episodes for November,…
November 15, 2016
Let me begin by saying this is my first solo post as a contributor for Speculative Chic! I was surprised and happy when the Editor-in-Chic reached out to me, as this blog has everything I really want in a site: SF/F/H, reviews, and a great group of women (and some familiar faces)! Without further ado, here’s a review of Updraft…
November 14, 2016
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, a weekly column where we gab about the greatest in geek. This week’s MFT is chock-full of selections of every flavor. Television viewers might want to know about a great new horror series, or…
November 11, 2016
Welcome to Coach’s Corner, where I offer some thoughts on the creative process and breaking through moments of self-doubt. Defeating writer’s block is a huge industry. There are dozens upon dozens of books available at the bookstore on it (including mine). There are hundreds of workshops advertised on Facebook every day that are dedicated to it (including mine). Most writers…
November 10, 2016
We are volcanoes. When we women offer our experience as our truth, as human truth, all the maps change. There are new mountains. —Ursula K Le Guin I took the October death of novelist Sheri S. Tepper hard. You couldn’t call her passing at 87 early or unnatural. And although she never achieved the star status of her literary equals,…
November 9, 2016
The Chimes (2016) Written by: Anna Smaill Genre: Fantasy/Literary Fantasy Pages: 304 (hardcover) 265 (epub) Publisher: Quercus Why I Chose It: When the call went out to read the World Fantasy Award nominees, I selected The Chimes based on its premise: an entire society full people with a severe memory disorder. For reasons which I will get into in the discussion,…
November 8, 2016
Even though I have enjoyed books since I was six months old (at least according to my mother), I used to be a snob about genre. When I thought about science fiction or fantasy, I thought about pimply teen-aged boys with Cheeto-stained fingers playing Dungeons & Dragons. I was a nerd, but I wasn’t that kind of nerd. After meeting…
November 7, 2016
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, a weekly column where we gab about the greatest in geek. This week is all about a gorgeous new book cover for an upcoming release, and not one, but two Marvel movies! One features…
November 4, 2016
Dear Sherry, I want to be a writer. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I’m writing short stories and thinking about submitting them, but I’m worried they’re not good enough. I’m worried that I’m not good enough. I haven’t taken any classes or workshops, and I don’t have a degree in creative writing like you do. Shouldn’t I have…