July 20, 2017
Penric and the Shaman (2016) Written by: Lois McMaster Bujold Pages: 160 (Kindle) Publisher: Spectrum Literary Agency, Inc Why I chose it: I’ve read (and adored) Bujold’s Sharing Knife series and have been wanting to read more of her work. When this Penric novella was offered as a Hugo reading, I took the opportunity to expand my Bujold repertoire. The…
July 19, 2017
The Dragon’s Playlist (2017) Written by: Laura Bickle Genre: YA Fantasy Pages: 219 (Kindle) Publisher: Pronoun Why I Chose It: 100% truthfully? It was free. I’ve been enjoying Bickle’s Petra Dee books, but I wasn’t so sure about this one. Part of it is that after 30 plus years of fantasy reading, I have dragon fatigue. But in the end,…
July 18, 2017
My recipe for success has always been: take something you’re interested in and add dragons. It started back at the age of 13 when I first read Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern and it continued straight through 2006, when I picked up His Majesty’s Dragon, the first in the Temeraire series. And I don’t just mean any dragon. There has to be something…
July 13, 2017
Island of Exiles (2017) Written by: Erica Cameron Genre: Young Adult Fantasy Pages: 400 (Trade Paperback) Series: Book One of The Ryogan Chronicles Publisher: Entangled Teen Why I Chose It: I heard this one described as the kind of young adult fantasy we really need in the market, with things like a strong female protagonist and great magic. Granted it…
July 13, 2017
If you haven’t watched Sense8 before, this post will be something of a spoiler in that I’ll be talking about the world the show has created (in the Welcome to Your Cluster section) as well as the characters as human beings (or variations of). I’ll also make general reference to the plot but I won’t talk about specific plot lines, and…
July 12, 2017
The Bone Witch (2017) Written by: Rin Chupeco Genre: Fantasy Pages: 432 pages (Kindle) Series: The Bone Witch, Book 1 Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire Why I Chose This: From the second I heard about this book I knew I had to have it. Necromancers have a special place in my heart and the story of a young dark magic user raising…
July 4, 2017
In 2013, Rainbow Rowell published Fangirl, a young adult novel with an interesting speculative twist. The novel itself wasn’t speculative. It revolves around a set of twin sisters who grew up absolutely enthralled with Rowell’s answer to Harry Potter, Simon Snow. The main focus of the novel is one twin, Cath. Cath isn’t ready to leave her days in the…
June 14, 2017
Caraval (2017) Written by: Stephanie Garber Genre: Teen/Fantasy Pages: 407 (Hardcover) Publisher: Flatiron Books Why I Chose It: Caraval first enticed me with its cover, then more with the magical ticket on the back cover, and then finally with the description within the jacket. I like carnivals and games and magic, and I have two sisters. While the premise itself sounds…
June 13, 2017
Welcome back to Sound Off!, a semi-regular column where members of Speculative Chic gather together to chat about the latest BIG THING in entertainment. This time, brush the sand out of your hair and discuss The Mummy, which premiered in the United States on Friday, June 9, 2017. Sound Off! is meant to be a reaction, but not necessarily a review. After all,…
June 8, 2017
The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. ~~ Stephen King; The Gunslinger I’m a little bit of a Stephen King nerd. I admit it. I’m not hyper-crazy or anything (nevermind that I used to write letters to him that I never sent, telling him about my writing). But I do love most of his work.…