Philippine Action Fiction: call for submissions
Since genre fiction also interests me, I'd like to share this open call for submissions with everyone. First spotted on Banzai Cat's blog:
Philippine Action Fiction
We would like to invite you to contribute a story to the first ever action-adventure fiction anthology in the Philippines! The action-adventure genre has long been downplayed by critics as shallow and lacking in literary merit. We disagree; a well-written action-adventure story contains all the necessary elements of good fiction. We believe that this genre deserves recognition if only for the sheer reading pleasure it accords the audience, in part due to the vicarious experiences, the likes of which real life so seldom allows.
We are looking for stories written in English that provide excitement and thrills through fast-paced action and adventure. Action-adventure stories may take the form of detective or crime stories, espionage, the supernatural or even science fiction. The stories must feature a Filipino protagonist while the setting can be the Philippines or other countries (as in the case of espionage). The stories may be set in the present day, the historical past (no alternate histories) or the imagined future (Earth based, no interplanetary romps). Stories must be 10 to 15 pages long, double-spaced with a font size of 12.
Send your stories to: philactionfiction at gmail dot com
We hope to continue to expand Philippine fiction with this anthology. Send us your contribution soon!
Sincerely yours,
Emil M. Flores and Gerald T. Los Baños
2007 Philippine Speculative Fiction Lists
A while back I got an invitation from Charles Tan to put together my "year's best 5 Pinoy speculative works" list. I thought it was a good idea, so he made this document that puts together four lists - namely mine and those of Don, Banzai Cat, and Charles himself.
Visit their blogs to leave comments on their lists. Better yet, make your own lists! I'd be glad to link to them on this blog. Incidentally, Sean Uy of To the Tale, and Other Such Concerns has posted his reactions to the other people's lists.
I still don't want to call mine a "best of" roster, but I will call it a "current favorites" roster. Unlike everybody else, I didn't come up with exactly five stories. And I won't apologize for my apologies :P
But looking at this list, it seems to me that that my taste for stories appears to run along the unconventional route. Which is funny, because I don't feel unconventional...
Saving the contents here, for posterity.
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Local Publications Available via LBC
First off - guys, I hate Akismet. It's been filtering human-made comments for ages and not letting me in on it.
I'm afraid I can't turn it off, though... I've been getting more spam than I can handle. If you feel you've lost a comment, please email me and I'll email you back a reply as soon as I can.
Now, Charles has come up with a list of local fiction magazines that can be ordered and delivered via LBC's MExpress service. So far only three magazines are signed up for this service, but more may follow.
“Sonia Makes a Baby” in Story Philippines
My story "Sonia Makes a Baby" is out in the latest issue of Story Philippines.
 
PGS Now Available via LBC
You need no longer worry about missing issues of PGS. Kenneth Yu says that "the Digest of Philippine Genre Stories can now be bought online, delivered to your doorstep anywhere in the Philippines!"
Read the details here.
Butch Dalisay on Filipino Speculative and Genre Fiction Writers
Apologies for the late plugs. Still trying to catch up with the latest in the blogosphere. Won't be able to catch them all, I'm sure, but I'll still give it a go.
First off, Butch Dalisay mentions "new kinds of literature" in a paragraph in his Philippine Star column "Animating Philippine Literature":
This brings me to the emergence and the growing popularity of new kinds of literature in the Philippines—genre fiction, speculative fiction, graphic or comic-book fiction, creative nonfiction, chick lit, performance poetry—all of which offer writers, especially new and young ones, some alternatives to mainstream realism. These genres don’t lack for enthusiastic supporters who will go out of their way to promote their favored schools of writing. One young entrepreneur, Kenneth Yu, took it upon himself to publish the slim but groundbreaking Philippine Genre Stories, now on its fourth issue. A prizewinning novelist, Dean Alfar, leads a group of young writers called Lit Critters, who meet regularly to discuss both local and foreign stories that might help them in their own work. Both Kenneth and Dean have extensive online networks. (And here, the formula seems to be alternative + young + Internet + network.)
Call For Submissions: PGS Special Crime/Mystery/Suspense Issue
This is technically not spec fic, but it should still be interesting to spec fic writers out there. The Digest of Philippine Genre Stories is coming out with another special issue - this time for crime/mystery/suspense stories!
Kenneth Yu has put out a call for submissions, and in it he says:
Some restrictions: when we say crime/mystery/suspense, we're talking the realist kind. No cross-genre. Don't mix it up with scifi, fantasy, horror, etc. Ichi wants hard-boiled, gritty, dirty, down-to-earth, stuck-in-the-mud, empirical kind of crime/mystery/suspense fiction. To use TV shows as an example, think those programs on the Crime/Suspense or Fox-Crime channel on cable right now (Law & Order, Dexter, Cold Case, CSI, etc.). And keep the stories Rated PG people. You can get as close to Rated R as you want, just don't cross the (yellow police) line. Think deeply about character and motive, folks, as well as the common themes of such stories, like justice. Or injustice, for that matter. Other notes: The story need not be set in the Philippines. Given how spread out Pinoys are, it is conceivable to write a story set anywhere in the world. Come up with your own conflict/situation. Ah, but Filipino leading characters, please.Read the guidelines and more here.
Kenneth Yu of PGS Profiled in SIM
Learned from Ian Casocot: Ruel De Vera profiles Philippine Genre Stories' Kenneth Yu for Sunday Inquirer Magazine.
Booktopia Review of PGS Holiday Issue
I got the link to a brief review of the Digest of Philippine Genre Stories Holiday Issue from Charles. The review is by Rowena Dimaguila of Booktopia, and she cites my story, "The Magic Christmas Box," and Dominique Cimafranca's "Twilight of the Magi" as her favorites in the issue.
I'm really glad somebody liked "The Magic Christmas Box"! Of course it would not have been read at all if not for Kenneth Yu, publisher of PGS, he of extraordinary kindness, patience and vision :)
Speaking of Booktopia, Kenneth says they have a sale until January 15, 2008. If you'd like to check it out, their address is here.
I haven't said it aloud yet, but I really, really miss reading Pinoy spec fic in print. I can't wait to come home!
RoD Has a Column in MB
I'd like to plug this before Saturday rolls around: Read or Die, a non-profit organization that aims to promote literacy in the Philippines, now has a twice-a-week (every Saturday and Wednesday) column in the Manila Bulletin. Miss Tin Mandigma is currently maintaining it. The first writeup came out on December 22, and could be read here.
If you're interested in helping raise literary awareness in the Philippines, I hope you'll follow this column and keep an eye on RoD's many projects.
Have just been a bit busy/scatterbrained, but should be writing an essay on efforts to promote literacy alongside Philippine speculative fiction sometime. Although perhaps, that's self-explanatory right there?
PS: In case anyone tried to respond to a post on this blog within the last 24 hours, my apologies: I was trying out a plugin that was apparently not working. It took me a while to log back in and fix it. Comments should be working fine now.