November 22, 2016
Stories about class struggle are not new. In fact, these plots have been around for a long time, and we’re familiar with most of them: the Matrix trilogy, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Hunger Games, Escape from New York, The Grapes of Wrath, The Outsiders, Jane Eyre, We, Equilibrium, almost any Philip K. Dick story, The Dispossessed, the Divergent series, even The…
November 21, 2016
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, a weekly column where we gab about the greatest in geek. This week we’re all about creative ways to sneak in nerdy elements to our every day lives. This can be through cool art…
October 31, 2016
Welcome to a special, giant-sized edition of My Favorite Things! Normally this is a spot for us to share our recent favs, but we couldn’t resist putting a ghoulish twist on the column for one of our favorite holidays — Halloween! There’s no better day for carving wicked jack-o-lanterns, marathoning horror movies, and gorging yourself on way too much candy. Read on…
October 25, 2016
It’s October! Always a good month to scare yourself silly (and other people if you can manage it without retaliation. Erm, not that I’m advocating being a bully or anything). If you’re like me, my family, my friends, our uncles, aunts, third cousins, and all the people we passed notes to in first grade, you’ve seen Stranger Things at least…
October 18, 2016
The Buried Giant (2015) Written by: Kazuo Ishiguro Genre: Fantasy/Literary Fantasy Pages: 317 Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Why I Chose It: The last Ishiguro book I read was The Remains of The Day, which was sad and beautiful all at the same time and which I absolutely loved. I’ve been wanting to read The Buried Giant, but had too many…
October 17, 2016
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, a weekly column where we gab about the greatest in geek. This week, we’re falling in love with superhero television shows, a sci-fi comic about star-crossed lovers and bounty hunters (plus one cat),…
September 27, 2016
We have a little less than one month until October 23 and the premiere of The Walking Dead’s seventh season! I enjoyed the Alexandria arc, but the last few episodes of the sixth season felt like Rick, Michonne and the rest of the gang were being moved around like chess pieces. I wasn’t fond of the horrible cliffhanger, either. But…
September 19, 2016
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, a weekly column where we gab about the greatest in geek. This week includes a comedic memoir about growing up nerdy, a Lovecraft-inspired novella, a favorite e-reader, and one of the biggest sci-fi…
August 31, 2016
Speculative Chic is fairly new, but contributors Lane Robins and Carey M. Ballard already had plans to attend Worldcon (aka MidAmericon II), held from August 17-21 in Kansas City, Missouri. They share their thoughts, experiences, and advice below. What did we expect of the con? Lane: I attended primarily as a vacation, so I expected to meet up with a…
August 23, 2016
Welcome to Chain Reaction! Introducing a monthly column that will showcase three titles that have a common thread, theme, or plot device. I’ll take one known quantity and introduce two more along the same lines — something that made me think of another title, and then another. They might be recent; they might have been around for awhile; they might…