September 9, 2020
One of the most common questions authors face is a deceptively difficult one to answer: “Where do you get your ideas?” Yet, the answers to that common question can be almost as interesting as the resulting story. Welcome to You’re My Inspiration, a column dedicated to discovering what inspires a particular author and their work. Whether it be a lifelong…
April 21, 2020
Today, let’s sail through the Icy Seas, around the Poles of the world, to the Blazing World, whereupon we shall frolic with the Bear-Men, and the Fox-Men, and those wise beings of a Grass-Green Complexion — let us journey to a Fiery Sphere of feminism. “Mad Madge,” aka Margaret Cavendish, forged the path in 1666 for all writers of science…
April 16, 2020
From its very inception, H.G. Wells’s The Invisible Man (retroactive spoiler alert for a book first published in 1897) has always been a story about how quickly people tend to stop feeling guilty once you remove all apparent possibility of them getting caught. The titular character arrives in the tiny British village of Iping, already invisible, and making a total…
December 31, 2019
We march into 2020 totally brave and bold with some of our most ambitious Resolution Projects yet! Whether it’s knocking through a catalog of 15 to 20 books, blazing through seasons upon seasons of series both old and newly beloved, or cracking open the cookbooks and assembling a smorgasbord of speculative treats, we’ve got something for everyone to look forward…
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,…
December 3, 2018
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, the weekly column where we grab someone in speculative circles to gab about the greatest in geek. This week, we sit down with Merrie Destefano, whose debut novel, Valiant, will be released tomorrow,…
November 20, 2018
For those who doubt that science fiction is rooted in the concepts of feminism, take at look at its primary parents: “Mama” Mary Shelley (Frankenstein) and “Papa” H.G. Wells. Mama, a noted feminist and radical thinker, started the genre with the publication of Frankenstein in January of 1818.
October 23, 2018
Last year I wrote about vampire stories, and talked about how I find Halloween waaay more exciting than Christmas. As a kid I looked forward to December; in recent years Halloween has become my favorite holiday. Every October 1 it’s time to break out the soundtrack to The Nightmare Before Christmas. (And yeah, I also like the Marilyn Manson version…
January 17, 2018
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.: A Novel (2017) Written by: Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland Genre: Science Fantasy Pages: 754 (Kindle) Publisher: William Morrow Why I Chose It: Although I’ve never read anything by Neal Stephenson (I know!) or Nicole Galland, I’ve always had a weakness for both time travel stories and epistolary novels. The premise: From bestselling author…
January 1, 2018
Last year, a handful of our writers embarked on a Speculative Chic Resolution. As with all resolutions, we started out with the best of intentions, but as 2017 progressed and wound down, well, you can see how we fared here. But the lure of a New Year is that clean slate, a chance to start over, and a chance to…