What a whirlwind of a week! If you’re feeling whiplash already, no one would blame you. July disappeared in a blink of an eye, and in some parts of the US, school’s back in session! It’s been so busy that this week’s edition of the Weekly Roundup is being brought to you by TWO PEOPLE: both your regular tour guide Kristina and your Editor-in-Chic Shara. If you’ve been as busy as we have, maybe it’s time to take a breather and check out all the awesome that Speculative Chic had to offer this week!
Monday
J.L. Gribble joins us for our latest My Favorite Things, as we’re celebrating her newest release in the Steel Blood series, Steel Shadows. This isn’t J.L.’s first rodeo with us, but you can bet she’s got some new and exciting things for us to explore. This time, we’re talking weird — from modern expansions of the Lovecraftian mythos to not-so-average crime-fighting duos to from the multiverses brought to life through the magic of TV and film, this post has something for everyone.
Tuesday
Shara does double-duty, bringing us her take on the first seasons of two of the latest bingeworthy series: AMC’s NOS4A2 and Amazon’s The Boys. These shows have completely different personalities: NOS4A2 is based off Joe Hill’s novel of the same name, dealing with a unique twist on vampires and magic. Meanwhile, The Boys is an adaptation of Garth Ennis’s comic series, and concerns superheroes — who may or may not actually be terrible people. Intrigued? Take a look!
Wednesday
Lane reviews Alexis Hall’s The Affair of the Mysterious Letter, a fantasy that pays homage to Sherlock Holmes while mashing up other genres, creating memorable characters, and playing around with worldbuilding. The book is more than elementary, dear readers, and so is Lane’s post. Don’t miss it!
Thursday
Venessa continues reviewing Seanan McGuire’s InCryptid series with a look at book two, Midnight Blue-Light Special. Verity Price is back, helping humans and cryptids play nice with each other in New York, all the while battling an enemy covenant and potentially her on-and-off boyfriend as well! Even with the lovable Aeslin Mice, it’s not all fun and games — the book takes a turn for the heavy. For the better? For the worse? Find out here!
Following up with Venessa’s review, we have a special announcement regarding our very own J.L. Gribble. Woohoo!
Friday
We’ve got another exciting Roundtable in store for you this month! This time we’re talking works in translation — books, movies, and TV series whose original language isn’t English. The world is big and beautiful and has so much to offer! What speculative works tickled our fancy? Have a taste, and tell us about yours!
Also on Friday, we have a beautiful in memoriam post from R.J. that discusses the inspirational life and work of Toni Morrison. Rest in Power, Toni.
Book Club
As you may or may not know, this is our last book club selection for the year! We’re revamping the project, so definitely stay tuned in the coming weeks for details. In the meantime, have you read Lev Grossman’s The Magicians yet? Don’t miss out! Read it now, and join us on Friday, August 30th to tell us your thoughts!
And that’s a wrap! We hope this post has given you a much needed breather, but remember, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, it never hurts to team up with a friend to get stuff done!
Queen Maeve and Homelander from The Boys 1.03: “Get Some”
No Comments