Personal Plugs
I'm probably the last to know about this: my story "Spaceman" has come out in the December 24 special Christmas issue of the Philippine Graphic.
I first learned about it from Kenneth Yu's blog post (read very, very late - I'm sorry for the tardiness) and earlier today I was able to confirm it from members of my family. I wonder if there are copies of this issue left in newsstands?
In other news, I've started a blog for my uncle Vernon Gerard, a Kiwi geophysicist who participated in a historic expedition to the Antarctic in the late 1950's and received a Polar Medal. His accounts are fascinating and I've done my best to preserve them verbatim.
In other news, I've started a blog for my uncle Vernon Gerard, a Kiwi geophysicist who participated in a historic expedition to the Antarctic in the late 1950's and received a Polar Medal. His accounts are fascinating and I've done my best to preserve them verbatim.
[ Old Antarctic Days ]
As per his instructions, I'll only be posting a few times a month. Should be posting the next chapter soon, in fact. Take my word for it: there is and will be a lot of good (possibly even controversial) stuff there, especially for science/history buffs!
1UP Wants Writers from the Video Game Generation
From Charles:
Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the ads. Banzai Cat mentions that the same group is looking for Pinoy-style stories on The Apocalypse. Email the above individuals for details. I'll do the same soon and hope for shareable info :)
"This is a call for submissions for 1UP. 1UP is a multiformat collection of works by writers of the video game generation. Submit your fiction, non-fiction, poetry, comics, and any other form that the video game generation might choose to tell its stories to carl.javier@gmail.com and juncruznaligas@gmail.com"
Philippine Speculative Fiction vol. 3 and Philippine Genre Stories Out Now
Liwayway Magasin Another Venue for Filipino/Tagalog Spec Fic
I'm way waaaay behind on things. I'm out of the country currently and my Internet time is very limited. I'll still try to post as much as I can, though.
In the meantime, I post a reply from the managing editor of Liwayway Magasin to my inquiry regarding short story publication. This is a follow-up to this earlier post.
Bb. Ar[a]cega: Malugod po namin kayong inaanyayahan na makibahagi ng inyong mga panulat sa magasing Liwayway. Natutuwa rin po kami kung inyong ipamamalita sa inyong kapwa manunulat ang paanyayang ito. Ang Liwayway ay bukas para sa lahat ng mga taong may kakayahan sa pagsusulat ng maikling kuwento, sanaysay, tula at ibang may kaugnayan sa Panitikang Filipino. Salamat po, ANGIE J. PEREZ Managing EditorI've asked where the submissions should be emailed to, and what the format should be. If anyone has any information, please do share! EDITED TO ADD: Ms. Angie Perez wrote back to say submissions should be emailed to liwayway_manilabulletin@yahoo.com. If anyone has access to a recent copy of Liwayway Magasin, perhaps they have already started printing their submission guidelines. If not, I guess anything goes :)
News Bits
- Charles has posted a summary and MP3 of the latest LitCritters session here.
- Kenneth has posted pics and details of some events, among which are the NWA5 writers forum and the Manila LitCritters meetup. Visit the PGS blog for more.
- Speaking of Kenneth, his short story "House 1.0" is now out on The Town Drunk. Go read!
- Andrew Drilon's Kare-Kare Komiks has been featured in the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Congrats, Andrew!
- Read or Die announces its plans for the first series of Write Or Die: Writers Write lecture workshops. The purpose of the workshop is to promote the UP Gawad Centennial Likhaan 2008, a special literary prize sponsored by the University of the Philippines.
Non-professional and non-academic writers are encouraged to submit their work for consideration to the Gawad Likhaan. For more information, see this page.
- Related to Write or Die: Writers who wish to have their chapter excerpts from their novel-length manuscripts critiqued by Charlson Ong and Jun Cruz Reyes should submit their excerpt to readordie.ph@gmail.com on or before November 8 (for Jun Cruz Reyes) and November 18 (for Charlson Ong).
A maximum of 5 manuscripts will be discussed. For more details, see this page.
- This is not related to spec fic, but still something that may interest Tagalog essay writers:
Bilang paghahanda sa darating na kapaskuhan ay magsisimula nang tumanggap ang patnugutan ng mga lathalaing napapanahon sa okasyong darating. Tatanggap at bibigyang halaga rin ang mga lathalaing tumatalakay sa Edukasyon, Sining at Kultura at artikulo hinggil sa Wika na makapaghahatid impormasyon sa mga mambabasa. Mangyari lamang na lakipan ng mga larawan ng talakayin ang bawat artikulo, 4 na pahina, double space, at ipadala sa liwayway_manilabulletin@yahoo.com. Lakipan din ng maikling detalye ng manunulat, kanyang larawan at propesyon kasama ang maikling impormasyon hinggil sa kanyang tagumpay na nakamit sa larangan ng pagsusulat. Kapag napili at nalathala sa Liwayway, kinakailangang nagtataglay ang sumulat ng valid ID at TIN number upang matanggap ang kaukulang kabayaran sa bawat artikulo. Maaari ring ipadala sa koreo ang akda sa: Managing Editor, Liwayway Department, 2nd floor, Manila Bulletin Bldg., Muralla Street, Intramuros, Manila.
On that note, would anyone know if Liwayway still accepts fiction contributions? I've emailed them asking if any of their magazines (Liwayway, Bannawag, Bisaya and Hiligaynon) still accept fiction, especially spec fic. I certainly hope I didn't breach protocol by doing so. Updates, if any, will be posted here.
Comics and Manga Day 2007, and a Question
Gotten from Komiks.ph:
Still related to komiks, I have a question: Is it still correct to say Philippine speculative fiction is a "young" genre, when we have been printing fantastic stories for over a century - although mostly in komiks form, not in prose form? Are our komiks traditions and literary traditions so distant from each other that we can't draw any relationships? Or is a literary tradition that spans a little over 100 years still considered "young"? I'm just wondering. It doesn't seem like many modern fictionists in the Philippines like to build on what our predecessors have made, at least not our predecessors in komiks. And classic fantastic komiks were also largely influenced by foreign lore and literature, like our current writings. There are a lot of parallels, I think... In short, I'm asking if when we say "the history of Philippine speculative fiction," we should also discuss speculative fiction in the form of komiks? Or should we stick to prose only?
Saturday, October 20, 2007 1pm-6pm Powerbooks, SM MEGAMALL FREE ENTRANCE! featuring artists in the field of comics and manga. - panel discussions - signings and autographs with the artists - sketching - raffle prizes - comics and art lectures - portfolio reviews - art shows and exhibits - drawing exhibition - and much more!Read more about it here.
Still related to komiks, I have a question: Is it still correct to say Philippine speculative fiction is a "young" genre, when we have been printing fantastic stories for over a century - although mostly in komiks form, not in prose form? Are our komiks traditions and literary traditions so distant from each other that we can't draw any relationships? Or is a literary tradition that spans a little over 100 years still considered "young"? I'm just wondering. It doesn't seem like many modern fictionists in the Philippines like to build on what our predecessors have made, at least not our predecessors in komiks. And classic fantastic komiks were also largely influenced by foreign lore and literature, like our current writings. There are a lot of parallels, I think... In short, I'm asking if when we say "the history of Philippine speculative fiction," we should also discuss speculative fiction in the form of komiks? Or should we stick to prose only?
Two Ways to Write Science Fiction, and Some Announcements
1. Mia and Charles both recently made posts related to writing science fiction:
- More Notes on Science and Writing - Mia shares what she sees are possible angles for good science fiction stories. An abridged version of this entry may be found at the Read or Die blog. Share your own ideas!
- Writing Science Fiction - Charles tells about how the heart of a science fiction story is not actually the science. I find this essay comforting, because while science fiction fascinates me the most, I don't think I can write hard science to save my life :P Not right now, anyway!
Some Links
1. Not related to Philippine spec fic per se, but Chris Garcia writes interesting things about the possibilities of fostering a love for science fiction among Hispanic readers, in "Building Science Fictionistas."
2. Charles starts a vote and recommend new stories meme. Not being up to date on a lot of works published this year, I'm afraid I can't participate - but I'd sure love to know which works everyone else nominates.
Banzai Cat has already posted his recommendation. Anyone else?
3. Kenneth of Philippine Genre Stories says that in the next Manila LitCritters session, there will be a critique session for 3 stories from PGS3. In the same entry, he asks if we could bring up examples of stories that we like (or don't like) that may fall under "Philippine" fiction, speculative or realist. Read his entry here.
4. Dean and Nikki Alfar post the Philippine Speculative Fiction vol. 3 TOC. My story "The Singer's Man" will be there. And no, it is not what I consider to be a "Filipino" speculative story :)
I've already expressed my gratitude to the Alfars over SMS, but I'd like to do that again here. Maraming salamat po, Sir Dean at Ma'am Nikki!
“The Kite of Stars and Other Stories” Launched
I wasn't able to attend Dean's book launch on Saturday, but I'm still happy to hear it went well. See his post for photos and cool anecdotes (crack fiction? XD Asteg!).
The Kite of Stars and Other Stories is now available at Powerbooks and National Bookstore. Soon it will be available at Fully Booked and other local bookshops. Grab a copy now!
Heads up! I want to upgrade to a newer version of Wordpress today, but since I might botch that, this blog might go down for a few hours. I don't really feel like changing the layout since I've grown quite fond of this one... but if the Wordpress upgrade doesn't make it any easier for me to edit/reformat existing posts, I'll be seriously considering it. Edit: I didn't botch it! And I'm keeping the old layout for now. Old clothes are hard to throw away. Even if it's still a pain to edit >:E
Philippine Genre Stories Writing Contest #3
I've been failing to plug these for some time, but now I'm catching up. Philippine Genre Stories has a running contest where they put up illustrations, and readers are invited to write a 500-word (max) story around each one.
The entries are judged, and the winning pieces are published in future issues of PGS. The writers of the winning pieces get a free copy of the next issue and P100.
The third such writing contest is up! To see the new image and learn more about the contest, check out the PGS blog.