October 26, 2019
Halloween is next week! What are my plans? Well, I’m an English teacher in Japan at three different high schools, and as a cultural ambassador, one of my goals is to expose my students to traditions from my home country. I go all-out for Halloween as much as possible, including giving out candy and of course, wearing a costume! So…
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 12, 2019
The nights are getting longer; the days are getting cooler; the leaves are crisp and the air is crisper. Autumn continues its ascent as we creep further into October, and with the passage of time, another week’s come and gone. Let’s celebrate its passing with the latest Weekly Roundup!
October 5, 2019
Welcome, friends! This week we bade farewell to September and started October off with a bang! It’s officially the spooky season and we’ve got some extra things on our plate to celebrate. Didn’t you know? There’s 31 days of Halloween! And we’ve got more than just tricks and treats; we’re talking flicks and drinks, with a special daily guest column…
September 28, 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…
September 22, 2019
Hello and welcome back to the Weekly Roundup! We’re coming to you a day late and a dollar short because I encountered a timeslip (or had a colossal brainfart…which is the more plausible? 🤔). How was your week? Did you keep to your worldline? Stay out of the wardrobe? Keep your hands and feet tucked in at all times? Good,…
September 14, 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,…
September 7, 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 —…
August 31, 2019
The week’s almost over! The weekend is here! How’d it go for you? Did you achieve the Holy Grail of work-life balance? Did you get to relax? Try something new? Find comfort in the familiar? No matter what, I hope you made it through the week ok! This marks my first weekend to myself in three weeks (!!) and I…
August 24, 2019
Hail and well met, strangers! I have returned from a long journey through the wilds of northern Kyushu, encountering stone princesses, water dragons, white snakes, the bones of a mermaid, and a goddess with 1,000 arms — and after viewing these forbidden treasures, I’ve lived to tell the tale! If such stories drive your fancy, walking the lines of the…