November 19, 2019
Smack dab in the middle of the speculative fiction universe, lies a parochial planetary empire, somewhere to the right of the Cyteen System in firm Space Opera territories, lies Barrayar. Ruled by an emperor, Barrayar is primitive, patriarchal, and flat out backwards in the viewpoint of one of its most famous ladies — Countess Vorkosigan — Captain Cordelia Naismith of…
October 15, 2019
The journey of the White Witch to the Beast’s Garden is a fraught and perilous trek through the beginnings of the realm of Faery, starting out at the dawn of humanity, with the first feminist fairy tale, that of the Animal Bride/Groom, in which, according to noted folklorist Terri Windling, “a human man or woman is married to an animal,…
October 11, 2019
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…
September 17, 2019
The Journey thus far….. In our quest for urban fantasy, we have hitherto journeyed only through the realm of fairy and its migration into the cities of Minneapolis and Newford. But how did we arrive in St. Louis? Well, the master of the city, Jean-Claude, invited us, we gave consent, and followed him and his lover, Anita Blake down from…
August 20, 2019
Being a chronicle of the voyages through the realm of the fantastic, recording a summary of the journey through perilous islands to bohemian cities. As we take a brief tavern break, a welcome respite from the wilderness of words, let’s take a moment to reflect upon our journey through the year. This month marks the second year of our arduous,…
July 20, 2019
Hello once again, friends and readers! Welcome back to the Weekly Roundup, where I practice the art of summary (with a bit of awkward alliteration thrown in for good measure) in order to recap our recent genre delights. Buckle your safety belts, keep your hands inside the vehicle, and let’s ride the rollercoaster that was this week!
July 16, 2019
(This is part two of three on the genesis of Urban Fantasy and the colonization of the cities by the fantastic. Part 1 covered Emma Bull and her seminal novel, The War for the Oaks.) Urban fantasy is a melting pot of myths and mythology applied in a (mostly) modern, urban setting. The first main town to erupt on the…
June 22, 2019
Hello, denizens of geek! How are things in your corner of the world? In a previous roundup I rambled about the rainy season in Japan, and since posting, a strange phenomenon has taken place in my area: almost no rain. As much as I dislike the rainy season, this isn’t a good thing. I live in the Kikuchi Valley region of…
June 18, 2019
Until the 1980’s, magic generally occurred in invented worlds, fantasy based itself on pastoral settings, or extrapolations of various time points in (generally) Western history. In the 1980’s though, with Charles de Lint’s Moonheart and Emma Bull’s War for the Oaks, fantasy moved into town, magic invaded cities and suburbs, and fairy oaks sprouted in urban sidewalk cracks. From its…
May 25, 2019
This week marked a milestone: the end of HBO’s Game of Thrones! The finale ended Sunday in America and Wednesday for me in Japan. It was impossible to avoid the discussions online about how things went down, so I ended up knowing things before I got to sit down with the episode, but it didn’t really diminish the finale for…