Roundtable: Speculative Beach Reading

Summertime is here, and if you’re lucky, you’re finalizing vacation plans and figuring out the most important part of your trip: what to read! At Speculative Chic, we decided to give you a great list of books to choose from, so whether you’re going to the beach or a remote cabin in the woods, here’s a list of books that are guaranteed to entertain!

Nancy O’Toole Meservier: When I think about a good beach read, I usually go for a book that’s funny, romantic, or fast-paced. And fortunately, I just read a speculative book that fits all three of those categories. Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn is a book about Evie Tanaka, best friends and personal assistant to San Francisco’s premier superhero, Aveda Jupiter. You’d think this would be fun, but given Aveda’s diva-like tendencies, Evie’s job isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Then, Aveda is injured, and Evie is forced to pose as her during an event. But when this supposedly one-night occasion turns into too many, Evie and Aveda find their friendship taking a turn for the worst. Will they manage to pull things together in time to take down the demonic forces attacking San Francisco?

If you like your superhero stories filled with laugh out loud humor, female friendships, and a side of sexy romance, then I’d recommend picking up Heroine Complex. I thought that the author did a great job balancing superhero fun and urban fantasy-esque worldbuilding, with some great drama overall. The characters in this book are all wonderfully flawed and complex, and I really enjoyed watching Evie’s relationship with her powers and the people in her life develop over the course of the novel.  With its bright, cheerful cover art, I could totally see myself bringing this book (or any of the following volumes in the series) to my local beach for some fabulous beach reading.

Casey Price: To me, a beach read should be something that’s fun. I certainly read more serious works, but if I’m on a vacation and looking to relax, I’ll admit: I want to turn off the part of my brain that looks for deeper meanings. To that end, it would be hard to do worse than the excellent novel, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. Fun fact: I actually did read this during a beach vacation a few years ago. The characters make the story. From a sentient AI to a semi-lost human on her first deep space journey, every single member of the crew is fascinating in some way. The crew has a wonderful “found family” attitude towards each other that I just love so much in any book. There’s plenty of adventure, to be sure (it IS space opera, after all), but my favorite passages revolve around the crew in their daily life. It’s been a while since I read this book, so it’s hard for me to remember specific details. What I do recall about the book is the warm sense of friendship and camaraderie that the crew had for each other.

For something a little lighter, I strongly recommend It Happened One Doomsday by Laurence MacNaughton. This one’s just pure enjoyment. Dru Jasper and her friends are another great bunch. They’re all wildly different from each other, but they have their own strengths that complement each other nicely. The story drew me in and kept me reading. It featured something that I hadn’t seen from nearly enough urban fantasies: a heroine who’s not necessarily the biggest badass in the room, but she still does the best that she can to try to save the world (literally). The action moves quickly (because it has to), and there’s a touch of romance thrown in for good measure. One of my favorite characters is more of a frenemy than anything else, and he may or may not be an actual villain (I haven’t read any of the other books in the series yet, so I’m still not sure what his deal is). He’s delightfully shady and always has an answer for every single questionable thing that he’s ever done (I might be in denial; he’s probably an actual villain). I’m fond of antiheroes and sometimes I even like the villains best of all, so I’m looking forward to getting back into this series to see what his deal is. In any case, this is definitely something that I’d recommend for any vacation read. Pack the sequel though! The book ends on an intriguing little semi-cliffhanger, and you’ll probably whip right through this book and find yourself wanting more. The only reason that I haven’t finished the series is lack of time in recent months. I’ll certainly be picking this one up and starting the series again during my own vacation later this year!

Shara White: Yes, beach reads are supposed to be fun, and you’re supposed to turn your brain off so you can simply enjoy a good yarn! I tend to catch up on novellas and short stories when I’m traveling (with many thanks to Seanan McGuire for providing so much additional content to her readers via Patreon), but the first book that came to mind when we decided on this roundtable was Ilona Andrews’ Burn for Me. Why? Yes, this paranormal romance is fun, and it lets me enjoy a great yarn, but the reason this stands out as the ideal beach read is because I can read it on my Kindle and no one ever has to see the cover. Guys, THIS COVER. Ilona Andrews is one of my favorite authors, and I put off buying this book FOREVER because I hated the cover so much. Fortunately, Kindles exist, as do Kindle sales, and when I finally sat down to read it, I fell in absolute love with the world Andrews had created. I loved it so much I devoured the sequels, White Hot, Wildfire, and the latest novella, Diamond Fire. The women in this series are amazing, the romance is hot, and I cannot get enough of the worldbuilding. Think magic, think big families and lots of magical politics, all set in Texas. The next installment in the series, Sapphire Flames, comes out this August, and you can bet your last dollar I’m not waiting until I’m on the beach to read it!

Lane Robins: For me a beach read needs to tick a number of boxes. Familiar (either a beloved reread, or familiar in tone and genre). Engaging enough to want to read it while on vacation when there are other things to do, yet something that you can pick up and set down repeatedly. And it should definitely be something fun enough that you can torment your friends with by reading snippets aloud whether they want you to or not.

That leaves me with tons of candidates, but for some reason one book sprang to mind. The Rook by Daniel O’Malley. It’s all the good things a beach read should be. I’ve read it a dozen times and still find it entertaining. It’s thick enough to last a few days (500 pages or so). It’s wryly funny and makes me smile, yet it’s kick-ass enough to sate my action-loving heart. The Rook, for those of you who’ve missed it, is best summed up a magical spy novel. Like if the X-Men were absorbed into a deeply idiosyncratic branch of the British Secret Service.

By all rights, I shouldn’t love this book. In fact, it took some serious pushing for me to even read it. I kept thinking, oh god, an amnesiac heroine; oh god, mutants in the government; oh no, people named after chess pieces…. But then I was really bored (on vacation, actually) and bought it.

I. Loved. It.

It’s a little slow to start, but that’s all right. It’s a beach read! You’ve got time.

Kelly McCarty: When I think of speculative fiction that makes for a great beach read, I think of books that are fun, easy to read, and a little bit trashy. You know what always fits that bill? Sexy vampires. My recommendation is Charlaine Harris’ The Southern Vampire Mysteries, also known as the books that inspired the TV series True Blood. Sookie Stackhouse is a telepathic waitress in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps. In this world, all kinds of supernatural creatures (vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, witches, etc.) are real. The development of synthetic blood means that vampires no longer technically have to feed on humans to live. In an intriguing plot twist, drinking vampire blood increases strength, boosts libido, and causes superfast healing in humans.

In my opinion, beach reading is not the time for scary content or complex moral issues. There is violence and death in this series but these books are not going to give you nightmares. My favorite is Dead Until Dark, which was the inspiration for the first and best season of True Blood. Vampires have only recently come out of the coffin. Sookie falls for Civil War soldier and vampire, Bill Compton, after discovering that she can’t read vampire minds. Meanwhile, a serial killer is targeting women who date vampires. The series goes on for thirteen books and Harris was definitely phoning it in towards the end. All of the books through number seven, All Together Dead, are delightful in the way that eating cotton candy is enjoyable — they’re light and fluffy but no one would mistake them for a balanced meal.

If you’re looking to laugh this summer, I recommend anything that Christopher Moore ever wrote. His books are eccentric and hilarious. My personal favorites are the books set in the fictional California town of Pine Cove. The local bar is called the Head of the Slug Saloon and the townspeople are equally wild and weird. Practical Demonkeeping features a demon named Catch whose hobbies are reading comic books and devouring people. In The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, the town psychiatrist switches everyone’s antidepressants to placebos, so things get a little weird and that is before Steve, an enormous sea beast who is fascinated by tanker trucks, shows up. The zany fun of Christopher Moore makes for perfect beach reading.

J.L. Gribble: I’m pretty picky when it comes to the beach. It needs to be on a tropical island, I need a lounge chair with some shade, I need a cold and fruity (and preferably alcoholic) beverage in hand, and I need a good book. Needless to say, my opportunities for proper beach reading are few and far between. Luckily, a beach read itself is pretty easy to find, and can always get you in the mood regardless of setting or even season.

Luckily, Love Across the Universe has all the typical “beach read” tropes: some romance, some beaches, and even better, speculative fiction!

This anthology, produced by Stars and Stones Books, contains twelve stories of love on beaches among the stars. The romances range from heterosexual duos to queer pairings and trios — with some androids and AIs sprinkled into the mix for good measure. The settings include alien planets and spaceships, for that proper SF touch. There’s sure to be something to appeal to any dedicated beach reader.

The collection features established folks such as Traci Douglas, Cara McKinnon, and K.W. Taylor, and relative newcomers to the field, Emmerite Sundberg and A.E. Hayes.

Twelve stories also mean this collection won’t last a mere afternoon on the shore. The paperback comes in at over 400 pages, so it’ll last most people the length of a vacation. And maybe even two whole days for my fellow speed readers.

Have you read any of these books and want to chat about them? Do you have favorite “beach reads” of your own? Share your thoughts in the comments!