October 21, 2019
It’s Day 21 of The Kasturi/Files at Speculative Chic, as well as Sandra Kasturi’s birthday! And what better to do on an October birthday than to have Sandra and Gemma Files discuss a primo classic of the horror genre: Hellraiser. We have more book recs and cocktails as well — neither for the faint of heart.
October 21, 2019
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 Alex Shvartsman, whose debut novel, Eridani’s Crown, comes out tomorrow,…
October 20, 2019
It’s Day 20 of The Kasturi/Files at Speculative Chic, where Gemma Files and Sandra Kasturi do some trash talking about horror movies for the month of October. By “trash talking” we of course mean erudite and thoughtful examinations of genre tropes as represented in current and past films, and their impact on the cultural conversation. Or saying stuff like “me…
October 19, 2019
Greetings, boils and ghouls! I’m channeling the man of your screams — The Cryptkeeper — for this week’s Roundup, as an exorcise in truly terrible puns. Nothing inspiders more terror than awkward wordplay that requires far too much effort on my part, but I’m going to give it a try until I get the fang of it…or spontaneously combust from…
October 19, 2019
Welcome to Day 19 of The Kasturi/Files at Speculative Chic! Gemma Files and Sandra Kasturi throw down about horror movies all October. And we give some cocktail and book recommendations and argue about existential angst and which movie to talk about next, and whether bonnets will be in season in the spring. You know, important matters.
October 18, 2019
Welcome to Day 18 of The Kasturi/Files at Speculative Chic, where Gemma Files and Sandra Kasturi discuss things filmish, things bookish, and things cocktailish. Today we look at Jim Jarmusch’s elegant little vampire comedy-drama, Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), starring Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston as extremely long-term significant others, and Mia Wasikowska as a kind of bratty younger sister.…
October 18, 2019
Magic Binds (2016) Written by: Ilona Andrews Series: Kate Daniels #9 Genre: Urban Fantasy Pages: 342 (Paperback) Publisher: Ace Why I Chose This: My 2019 Resolution Project for Speculative Chic is to read the books in the Kate Daniels series and finish up with a first read of the final book. I first read Magic Binds in 2017 and reviewed it at my own blog.…
October 17, 2019
Welcome to Day 17 in our month-long horror movie madness here at Speculative Chic! Today on The Kasturi/Files, we talk about Jordan Peele’s deeply strange movie, Us. Plus a weird cocktail. This time we had a tough time finding book recommendations that really fit, because Peele’s movie is so uniquely his own very odd thing, that we couldn’t think of…
October 17, 2019
The Hunger (2018) Written by: Alma Katsu Genre: Fiction Pages: 373 (Hardback) Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Why I Chose It: Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres. Adding a supernatural element to the story of the doomed, cannibalistic Donner Party struck me as an excellent idea. The premise: A tense and gripping reimagining of one of America’s most fascinating…
October 16, 2019
One of the most common questions authors face is a deceptively difficult one to answer: “Where do you get your ideas?” Yet, the answers to that common question can be almost as interesting as the resulting story. Welcome to You’re My Inspiration, a new column dedicated to discovering what inspires a particular author and their work. Whether it be a…