May 29, 2020
Some people like their book club books to be the kind of literature they would never read on their own: books they need to be goaded into reading. Others like book club books to be challenging — in either a socially-conscious way or in provocative writing style. There is nothing wrong at all with those approaches; I’ve enjoyed book clubs…
April 1, 2020
When the people behind Serial Box offered a copy of Machina to Speculative Chic for review I jumped at the chance, because I liked the work of three of the involved authors, and the fourth, I’d heard good things about. Plus, the plot piqued my interest: scientific teams competing to see whose AI might just save humanity? Sure. Sign me…
January 17, 2020
It’s a new year and a new decade, and for our January Roundtable, we’re talking new worlds in a post that celebrates the brilliance and care that goes into worldbuilding, often considered a genre qualifier when it comes to science fiction and fantasy. So we asked our contributors, “What fictional world do you want to live in?”and to give examples…
December 27, 2019
There are lots of exciting things slated for 2020 release: the new Wonder Woman movie; the next Ghostbusters film; the long-awaited Black Widow stand-alone; the debut of new series Locke and Key… lots of major premieres and new seasons of returning favorites. But may we also suggest for you some other goodies that might be flying under your radar? Here are…
December 4, 2019
Catfishing on CatNet (2019) Written by: Naomi Kritzer Genre: YA Science Fiction Pages: 294 (Hardcover) Publisher: Tor Teen Why I Chose It: I read and really enjoyed Kritzer’s award-winning short story “More Cat Pictures, Please” and heard she was expanding that world of a kind, cat-loving, self-improvement-urging AI into a novel. My first thought was, “Huh, how’s that going to…
March 22, 2018
All Systems Red (2017) Written by: Martha Wells Genre: Science Fiction Pages: 144 (ebook) Publisher: Tor.com Why I Chose It: All Systems Red had been nominated for the 2017 Philip K. Dick Award, and here at Speculative Chic, we’re reading the nominees! I chose All Systems Red based on the positive reviews and feedback I had been seeing online. The premise: In a…
March 2, 2018
Award season is upon us once again! By now, we here at Speculative Chic have come to the conclusion that when major awards are happening within the genre, we want to be informed. We have previously covered the Hugos, the Nebulas, and of course, the Philip K. Dick Award. Not familiar with this one? From the award’s website: The Philip…
February 9, 2018
The Wrong Stars (2017) Written by: Tim Pratt Genre: Science Fiction Pages: 400 (Kindle) Series: Axiom Book One Publisher: Angry Robot Why I Chose It: Tim Pratt is one of those writers whose books I pick up at random, though I always pay attention when he releases a new one. His books entertain me, but they’re not always must reads.…
January 12, 2018
It’s no secret that there’s a bunch a readers here at Speculative Chic. Asking our writers what their favorite read of 2017 seemed like an easy task, but it wasn’t. When you read as many books as we do, how do you pick just one? And did it have to be a book published in 2017, or just a book…
May 22, 2017
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, three of our selections are perfect for book lovers. This includes a brand new sci-fi novella with a murderous protagonist,…