September 14, 2019
It’s the end of the week and the beginning of higanbana season! Every September in Japan, the beautiful spider lilies bloom in droves. These flowers are also called the Flowers of the Other Shore, and the Other Shore lies beyond the River Sanzu, a river of the dead. Many cultures all over the globe affiliate the autumn season with death,…
September 10, 2019
The Infinite Noise (2019) Written by: Lauren Shippen Genre: YA Fantasy Pages: 329 (ARC) Publisher: Tor Teen Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review. The Premise: Caleb Michaels is a sixteen-year-old champion running back. Other than that his life is pretty normal. But when Caleb starts experiencing mood swings…
January 22, 2019
Pyschologists in science fiction or fantasy are kind of a rare character type. Professor X, Nancy Thompson, and Counselor Deanna Troi are great examples. It makes sense that Professor X would be a psychology professional, but to discuss his exploits would take pages that I don’t have here (so go here and here). And as a kid watching TNG who…
November 9, 2018
Without getting in too deep, the last few years have been tough on a lot of us for a variety of reasons. Many things haven’t exactly gone the way that we would like them to. People are even throwing around the term “the darkest timeline” in reference to the way the world is going. When we find something that makes…
February 7, 2018
After last year’s successful resolution (pretty much a first for me!), I decided to dip my toes into a spec-fic area I barely even know exists — podcasts. The rules for 2018: I will listen to twelve spec-fic oriented podcasts, one per month. For each podcast, I will listen to a minimum of five episodes per podcast before I either…
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…