September 7, 2017
Booksellers may seem like they live the good life, working in a bookstore, surrounded by books and dragon plushies and hosting the occasional Harry Potter party. But bookselling isn’t always fun and games. Sometimes it can be difficult when you have a customer who just doesn’t have the title right and you’re unable to figure out what it is they…
August 30, 2017
When someone mentions fantasy book covers, inevitably a stereotypical image pops up. One of knights standing near dragons, perhaps a chain-mail bra-clad woman with him. Or at least, that’s what used to be the norm. As today’s standards of what’s “cool” and socially acceptable continue to shift, so do the covers of speculative fiction books. Fantasy, science fiction, and horror…
August 11, 2017
Over the summer, we’ve talked a lot about series: when we’ve had to jump ship or when finales have totally fallen flat. One roundtable has inevitably led to the other, which brings us to one of the most natural topics of all. Cancellations That Killed Us The most obvious culprit, naturally, is television, but book series start and never continue.…
August 3, 2017
There exists the old adage: Don’t judge a book by its cover. This is quite true, as the inside of a book can be excellent but the cover doesn’t do the story justice. Yet at the same time, having a good book cover is very important. It doesn’t matter if you’re with a big publishing company or self-published; a top…
August 1, 2017
Ever since Game of Thrones debuted on HBO in 2011, awards have been heaped upon it — and with good reason. Adapted from George R.R. Martin’s sweeping epic fantasy novels (the series is officially named A Song of Ice and Fire), it features an excellent cast, top quality effects and costuming, the exceptional soundtrack skills of Ramin Djawadi, and of…
July 6, 2017
More and more people are discovering books that aren’t with large or small publishers. Rather, they’re print on demand, or POD. These work much differently from the rest of the books you see in the bookstore and, thanks to technology, are becoming more commonplace than ever. There are so many different POD outlets that virtually anyone can publish a book.…
July 3, 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, we’re still all about Wonder Woman, and her awesome soundtrack, and we continue to be obsessed with the Black Panther…
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 1, 2017
People can come into bookstores with some pretty odd notions. Most of the time they’re confusing the bookstore for a library. Other times they just think they know better than the booksellers. But the truth is that the customer is far from right (and whoever coined that phrase clearly never worked in a bookstore — or in any sort of…
May 30, 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 up on your pirate speech and discuss Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, which premiered in the United States on Friday, May 26, 2017. Sound Off! is meant to be…