More comics nominated for the People’s Choice Awards
1. "In Likeness Of"
2. "The Guilty"
3. "Why I Wake Up Late"
4. "Blind Beauty"
5. "The Moondancer"
6. "The Prophet"
Click HERE for the full list.
Fully Booked’s Picks for People’s Choice Awards
Remember the First Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards? The sponsor, Fully Booked, has unveiled its shortlist for the winners.
Download the stories HERE.
Read, enjoy, and cast your vote on the day of awarding, July 15, 2006. For details on the event, see this page in Fully Booked Online.
The 2nd Akira’s Nightmare Animation Scriptwriting Laboratory
posted by larry e. christian on the phil sf and f writers guild:
The 2nd Akira's Nightmare Animation Scriptwriting Laboratory The goal of this laboratory is to develop animators who can create their own materials. This workshop also seeks to develop animation "toon" writers/story editors (primetime or non primetime). (more…)
The Lack of a “Middle Ground” in Philippine Speculative Fiction
First of all, expressing my gratitude for a mention in the Carl Branson Society Blog, moderated by members of the CBS Steering Committee.
Then, getting to my first essay here. Feedback would be very welcome.
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I was reading Paul Theroux's Riding the Iron Rooster: By Train Through China and a passage there struck me: "No one writes about the future in China. We hardly think about it. There is a little science fiction, but nothing about the future."
We note that the book is copyrighted 1988, and there have been major literary revolutions all over the world since then, but I had to think it was funny that the Philippines is stuck in that exact same state. In this modern world where the Internet, MMORPGs and works of fantasy abound, Philippine future fiction is still in its infancy.
Future fiction is only an offshoot of speculative fiction, which is a fairly new genre in this country. And as a new genre it has difficulty flourising in a local media which is fraught with dichotomies. For example, we have the "highbrow" speculative fiction and graphical works rendered in English, and then we have the local "fantaseryes" in Filipino, which combine folklore based loosely on local and foreign traditions, with tried and tested soap opera formulas. The audience is trapped between these two extremes - and worse yet, they are trapped as an audience, unable to express the ideas sparked in them by the things they watch and read.
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ELMER by Gerry Alanguilan
I'm several days late in helping promote this, but here's something else to look into for an alternative comic theme:
ELMER by Gerry Alanguilan
In the author's own words:
ELMER is a window into an alternate Earth where chickens have suddenly acquired the intelligence and consciousness of humans, where they consider themselves a race no different than whites, browns or blacks, and push to recognize rights for themselves as the newest members of the human race. It tells the story of a family of chickens who live and struggle to survive in a suddenly complicated, dangerous and yet beautiful world.You can purchase copies of ELMER through Komikero Publishing and Alamat Comics. The first issue is available at ComicQuest Megamall, Comics Odyssey Robinson's Malate, and Druid's Keep in Magallanes.
Submit to the Strange Horizons Webzine
Have been posting international spec fic openings here, but if you're looking for exposure, you need not look farther than Strange Horizons, a recognized international speculative fiction publication.
The Philippines' very own Dean Alfar had a story published there, entitled L'Aquilone du Estrellas (The Kite of Stars), which also made it into the zine's 2004 Year's Best Fantasy and Horror Stories anthology published by St. Martin’s Press.
From the website:
Strange Horizons (www.strangehorizons.com) is a weekly web-based magazine of and about speculative fiction. The term "speculative fiction" refers to what is more commonly known as "sci-fi," but which properly embraces science fiction, fantasy, magic realism, slipstream, and a host of sub-genres.Interested writers may check out their submission guidelines. Fictionists are not the only ones welcome to submit - the zine also accepts poetry, art, articles and reviews!
Quatre Gats Press: Site Launch and Call for Submissions
Quatre Gats Press is a new local publishing alternative for Filipino SSFF writers. They also have an upcoming anthology that still needs contributions. As quoted from the official website:
Quatre Gats is a newly launched independent press based in the Philippines which aims to specialize in publishing innovative thematic anthologies, both fiction and non-fiction. We’ve opened up submissions for â€Tropics of Love,†an anthology of fiction based on Jose Rizal’s “Noli Me Tangere†and “El Filibusterismo.†If you’re interested in submitting for the anthology, please take a look at the submission guidelines. Deadline for submission of stories is on November 1, 2006. We’re looking at a publication date of January 2007.submission guidelines are here: http://www.quatre-gats.com/submit.html check out their blog as well: http://press.quatre-gats.com
Just a few site updates
- Borrowed Connections theme from the Wordpress themes listed in Alex King's website. New layout forthcoming.
- Added Democracy plugin: voting is now possible. First poll to follow soon.Incidentally, polls may be restricted to site improvements, while we're still starting off. Let's see how it turns out.
Welcome to the World of Philippine SSFF
For information about this blog, as well as the meaning of "SSFF": please see the About page.