Author Archives : Kristina Elyse Butke

Weekly Roundup: October 13-19, 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…

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Roundtable: My Favorite Monster


Greetings, faithful servants! Slip into that trusty white lab coat; wash those hands before sliding on your latex gloves; and don’t forget the proper eyewear! Get ready for a jolt to your electrodes as we mash some monsters for this month’s Roundtable! We’ve invited Speculative Chic contributors to share our favorite beastly horrors with you. From sexy to scary, bad…

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Weekly Roundup: September 23- 27, 2019


Greetings, dark lords! Hail, horrors! Friends and fiends, hearken to my call: welcome back to the realms of science fiction, fantasy, and horror! We’ve returned with another roundup of the best of Speculative Chic this week, coinciding with the Autumnal Equinox. The veil between worlds is lifting — what strange, unknowable things will you see? Fear not! We’ll keep you…

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Weekly Roundup: September 9-13, 2019


It’s the end of the week and the beginning of higanbana season! Every September in Japan, the beautiful spider lilies bloom in droves. These flowers are also called the Flowers of the Other Shore, and the Other Shore lies beyond the River Sanzu, a river of the dead. Many cultures all over the globe affiliate the autumn season with death,…

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Roundtable: Speculative Chic


In honor of the long-standing tradition that is the Vogue September Issue, we’re doing our own take for this month’s Roundtable! We’re talking the memorable fashions from science fiction, fantasy, and horror that truly wowed us. The speculative genre’s key question is “what if?” and costume designers ask the same question when it comes to bringing a world or character…

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Weekly Roundup: September 2-6, 2019


Welcome back to another week at Speculative Chic! Can you believe it’s September already? I can’t, with what feels like a perpetual summer that shows no sign of slowing down here in Japan. Because of the extended heat and humidity, they’re predicting either a delay in the autumn foliage, or a marked difference in how the leaves change colors —…

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