September 25, 2020
I enjoy escaping into space opera, and as a librarian, I enjoy promoting my favorite reads. I loved K.B. Wagers’ The Indranan War trilogy, starting with 2016’s Behind the Throne, which starred a gun smuggler-turned-princess who leveraged her past in negotiating alliances, avenging her family, and stopping wars. So I was excited to hear about A Pale Light in the…
November 23, 2019
I’m going to keep my intro short, sweet, and to-the-point! I had MUCH ILLNESS this week, am still recovering, and do not have the brain cells for a fun, themed intro. So — guess what! A week happened! Yes, another one come and gone, amazing! And if you missed it, no worries, we’ve got you covered. Welcome to the Weekly…
November 19, 2019
Smack dab in the middle of the speculative fiction universe, lies a parochial planetary empire, somewhere to the right of the Cyteen System in firm Space Opera territories, lies Barrayar. Ruled by an emperor, Barrayar is primitive, patriarchal, and flat out backwards in the viewpoint of one of its most famous ladies — Countess Vorkosigan — Captain Cordelia Naismith of…
June 28, 2017
The Philip K. Dick Awards have been announced. The Nebulas have been announced. We didn’t cover them, but the Stokers, the Tiptree, and so many other awards have been announced. What’s left? There’s a few, but the biggest one on Spec Chic’s radar is the Hugos! You may think that blogging the Hugos would be a daunting project for the…
June 23, 2017
This year the Hugos are including a new experimental category for Best Series in order to recognize the awesomeness that can’t be contained in one or even two books. I’m thrilled that one of my absolute favorites is on the ballot. The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold is aptly named, with over fifteen novels and several short stories and…
September 12, 2016
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 is all about our love for sci-fi and fantasy, both old and new. This includes a fantastic trailer for an…