Peeking Back In
Offline for nearly a month, and I miss a lot of things. First of all, congratulations to the winners of Fully Booked's second Philippine Graphic/Fiction awards!
Also, I heard Neil Gaiman's latest visit to the country was a lot of fun. Thanks for the links, Charles :)
I hope people do attend the launch of Dean and Nikki Alfar's Philippine Speculative Fiction III later today. And I really hope it goes well!
PS: Wow, 431 comments, most of which is spam... I'll have to start auto-deleting wildly very soon. If you commented earlier and are waiting to hear from me, please email me at preyfal at yahoo dot com. Sorry for the inconvenience.
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 :)
Philippine Genre Stories Forum
A forum for readers of the Philippine Genre Stories is up!
The following is from the forum's disclaimer, as written by Charles Tan, who co-mods along with Paolo Chikiamco:
The Digest of Philippine Genre Stories (PGS) and it's publisher, Kenneth Yu, is not officially connected to this PGS forum in any way. No official of the Digest is a moderator of this forum, which runs independently, and retains it's right to be such. It is, however, meant to be an online forum for discussions on PGS--its stories, authors, features, articles--as well as to give suggestions for its improvement. It is also a place where its members can discuss anything related to publishing, fiction, literary events, books, reading, and the like.Some interesting discussions have already been generated. Register and jump in!
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.
NWA5 Writers Forum
Attended the NWA5 forum as promised. Was only able to get away with two poor-quality pictures. I'm sure others have gotten better.
More Spec Fic News
- Charles has transcribed the PGS interview at Jam 88.3 at his blog.He's also recorded the latest LitCritters session at Serendra, where three PGS stories (including Charles' own story, "The Devil is in the Details") were discussed. Many thanks for your diligence, as always, Charles :)
- Two new Kare-Kare Comics by Andrew Drilon out: Two Tiny Things and What Will You Bring?.Awesome stuff! And awfully symbolic, that last one, what? :D
- Mention of The Kite of Stars in Fantastic fiction writer Anna Tambour's blog.
- Mention of various Philippine spec fic writers and artists - namely Gerry Alanguilan, Dean and Nikki Alfar, Stanley Geronimo, Francezca Kwe, Vin Simbulan and Joshua Lim So - by Ellen Datlow and Jeff Vandermeer. Details here.Congrats, guys!
- New Worlds 5 is pushing through in spite of the recent bombing scare. Some security regulations are in place, however - attendees are encouraged to observe.See you there!
Spec Fic-Related Announcements
1. From Philippine Genre Stories:
There will be a feature and interview on October 18, 2007, on the radio station Jam 88.3, for PGS. It will be from 8 to 9 in the evening. I'll be there, on-air, with PGS contributor Miggy Escaño, author of the cover story for PGS3, Tuko. Hope you have the time to tune-in and listen!2. Don't forget, the LitCritters will be holding their next Open Session on October 20, at A Different Bookstore in Serendra. Everyone's welcome to attend. 3. The Writers Forum panelists for New Worlds 5: The 5th Philippine Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention, have been revealed! For their names and the forum schedule, click 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!