Hanging out with the cool kids in cyberspace

Oh look! Excellent fictionists Carljoe Javier and Karl M.F. de Mesa's first works will be launched as ebooks courtesy of University of the Philippines Press and made available online! The launch will be on September 6 at the National Computer Center in UP Diliman.

The books here are Carljoe's first short story collection Geek Tragedies (first published in print by UP Press with the ebook recently made available on Amazon) and Karl's first short story collection Damaged People: Tales of the Gothic-Punk (also available in print and on Amazon).

Congrats, guys!

As I once mentioned before in my CNET post, it'll be great to see Filipino works made available internationally thanks to this wonderful little tool called the Internet. So maybe it'll take some time for Filipinos to get published in print in international markets (we're getting there). But thanks to the power of the 'net, we now have left our footprint on the dust of the moon.

P.S. Whoops, looking at the shelf, I forgot to mention that Ian Casocot's first short-story collection, Beautiful Accidents, is also now available both as print and ebook. That's now three writers on the online shelf. Not bad, eh?

Scratching in the Sand, part 3

there is much to be said about the subject. as much as we can, we have tried to classify the three distinct personalities within the subject. in that we are relying too much on sigmund freud's much out-dated classifications, it is still an apt categorization.

the first personality based on the concept of id can only be vaguely desribed as extreme desire. it calls itself 'want' and we have only barely instances of sighting the personality in the subject. when it does appear, it is almost primal in its actions and feelings. it would be impossible to say that it is inhuman, given that the subject is sitting across in front of me is a human being. however, that is the feeling i attribute upon seeing it.

the second personality based on the concept of ego is more malleable and is almost quicksilver-like in appearance. i could almost call this personality sociopathic given its almost nil-regard for society's mores and rules. but this strange juxtaposition of a double personality-type in the subject's second personality, called 'mask', only hides the fact that there is nothing behind the ever-changing faces of this personality. the 'mask' itself is the personality, constantly shifting depending on the situation, context or people it interacts with.

the third personality based on the concept of superego is almost boring in comparison except for the fact that it is almost a human rendition of the state of depersonalization within the subject. the subject calls this near-separate personality within as 'rider' and he states that this personality is always observing his actions, thoughts and feelings. this personality is all cold logic and rationality.

this has been one of the most interesting subjects i have analyzed in the mirror and further research is needed before i conclude this project...

A Love Story 12 Years in the Making

Happy anniversary [identity-protected]!

Never doubt that I truly love you very much.



(Okay, that's really not our pic. She's the white one, I'm a brown-shade of neverwhere...)

Fudge, I Hardly Knew Ye...

(Sorry for the long silence, was a busy writing week.)

I was saddened when I heard that Fudge magazine was closing down. It's one of the few magazines I've seen around for the longest time-- that and Pulp.

And when I started writing for them a few profiles-- Art Valdez for the August/September issue and the bands The Pin Up Girls and Soul Brothers for the February/March issue-- I also got a chance to meet some interesting people.

(Admittedly, I conducted the band interview of Mondo Castro of Pinup and Jay Dilan of Soul Brothers via email. Couldn't be helped, 'twas the maddened Christmas rush over December.)

Here are the two covers where my profiles appeared:


August/September issue


February/March issue

Anyway, here's to Fudge!

... And a Brief Word from Down South

Hope everyone is doing fine!

(r)Evolution Art

Want to see how the cover for The Farthest Shore anthology came to be? The adroit tyron has posted the evolution of the piece at his blog.

Go check it out to see how it changed from studies to final art, plus the commentary. Especially the commentary.


What, you think I'm going to place all the goodies here? Gotta work that mouse, man. Get a little exercise for your fingers.

Writers Speak! (On The Farthest Shore)

Here are two more writers to be interviewed at RocketKapre on The Farthest Shore anthology! Read on!

1. Mia Tijam:

"Were there any particular sources of inspiration for your story?

Ah, once there was this ala hospital metal chart notebook from Eight Years Ago. The front cover has mySAP.com printed on it. On Julius 5 Eight Years Ago, the chart wrote “Freak”. The chart ends the day with “I am not a crusader for the freaks. I do not expect people to know and understand. I do not expect people to stumble over their sentiments just because one person is sensitive to certain topics. Or certain anecdotes. I expect people who are educated to at least have some semblance of the one of the seven outcomes of education: Empathy. I am a freak. I know that. We are all freaks. People don’t know that.” And pasted on it is a post-it-apology masticating on Julius 5. A Dinosaur taught me that sensibility, by the way, and the notebook’s graciously aging in Iron Oxide Heaven. Moving along…"

For your reading pleasure, Mia's story is here.

(Now there's a mind-blowing way to do an interview... *wink*)

2. Rodello Santos:

I've found that comedy and horror are some of the more difficult elements to inject into a story. Do you feel the same?

Absolutely. My approach with comedy is to have the characters act seriously–no matter how absurd their actions and dialogue are. My approach to horror is to write simply and let the situation speak for itself. Of course, I’ve read some terrifying stories with really elegant descriptions. Of the two–comedy and horror–I’d say I have an easier time with the former. But that’s subjective. I know my first draft is never as funny as the final version.

For your reading pleasure, Rod's story is here.

That's two more writers down. Go to, people!

Writers Speak! (On the Farthest Shore)

Rocketkapre has come out with two more interviews of the writers involved in The Farthest Shore anthology. Excellent! That's more gristle for the mill, more fuel for the fire, more.... erh, uhm... anyway, go check them out:

1. Dominique Cimafranca:

"You’ve experienced the displacement that comes from leaving one home for another correct? Did that influence or enrich the writing in any particular way?

Yes, I’ve left home several times, whether for work or for studies. I always managed to come back, though, and that’s a good thing. But I sometimes wonder what happens if you can’t go back. So those are the emotions which made their way into that story."

For your reading pleasure, Dom's story appeared here.

2. Eliza Victoria:

"(H)ad you ever written a secondary world story before?

No. Or if I ever were able to write such a story before, the writing was done unconsciously. If anyone ever reads a story of mine and points this out to me, I’ll probably just dismiss the notion and say, “Oh, those things didn’t really happen, it’s a psychological thing, the character’s just insane”. Etcetera etc. When I write non-realistic fiction it is still very much rooted in our reality, so much so that the fantastic elements can be easily explained by psychology."

For your reading pleasure, Eliza's story appeared here.

Curious Cat Question

Imagine a thief stole from you but was caught by the cops. Imagine that the thief was being brought in, you saw the cops rough him up. How would you feel about that? Would you feel a moral outrage? Or would you feel a certain sense of vengeful satisfaction? Or something else?

To add some spice to the broth, what if the thief was a disabled person? How would you feel then?

Writers Speak! (On The Farthest Shore)

Oh lookee! Rocketkapre interviewed two of the writers featured in The Farthest Shore anthology as part of a series of chit-chats with the people involved. Down below are some excerpts of their interviews. Check 'em out:

1. Kate Aton-Osias:

"Have your experiences during gaming, say the settings, adventures or the characters, spill over or influence your writing?

Most definitely. I learned a lot about characters, and dialogue, through gaming (it doesn’t hurt that our GM is an award winning playwright and fictionist). I try not to write it down directly, though, because I prefer to write something out of my own imagination – or at least, my own interpretation of it (which goes beyond simply using the same characters and exactly the same setting with a different plot) – rather than play in someone else’s sandbox. That is not to say I’m against fanfiction, but its just a personal choice to challenge myself to do something different."

For your reading pleasure, Kate's story appears here.



2. Crystal Koo:

"What aspect of the writing did you enjoy the most?

Lots, actually. One is that the story is structured as a letter addressed to members in a court of law and is clearly meant to be persuasive, which made the story easier to write because of the clear direction. The other is that the protagonist comes from a race of “gilled” humans – like the sort that pops up once in a while in provincial gossip back home in the Philippines, along with babies born with webbed feet. I also enjoyed writing about the orinu, which I imagined to be scaly killer whales, and the orinu trade."

For your reading pleasure, Crystal's story appears here.

Small Worlds

Garr! I just realized that one of my co-workers at the office-- well, barely even that as she had resigned a month or so after I came in-- was actually Erin Denise Chupeco, the third placer at The 2007 Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards (a.k.a. the Neil Gaiman Awards).

I just only managed to confirm this after talking to her boyfriend who works in the same office. And all this time we didn't know we had already passed by each other's presence like the mystical conjunction of planets in the solar system.

Weird. But then again, my boss is Karlo N. B. Samson, a good friend of alex. It just made me realize that: erin knows dean + karlo knows alex and alex knows dean + I know dean = dean is the center of the universe! Ah-hah!

(Picture taken from here.)

The City Viewed Through Crystal

Crystal Koo, who I once met during a PGS meeting with kyu at a Starbucks branch in Edsa Shangrila, has an online short story* at East of the Web. It's entitled Metropolis and is a paean to the city of Beijing. Quite excellent for someone like me who loves city stories. (And appropriate enough, given the controversy surrounding the Beijing Games and Tibet, eh wot?)

But then again, how can I not love a story that has lines like these?

This is how you talk about a city you love. You talk about it as if it's the only place in the world where this story can happen.

...and...

Only a foreigner writes a Beijing story like this.

*And just in case you're asking, no,the story's not spec fic.

And because I missed reading this poem, here is something by Greek poet Constantine Cavafy that I first posted here:

The City

You said, "I will go to another land, I will go to another sea.
Another city will be found, a better one than this.
Every effort of mine is a condemnation of fate;
and my heart is — like a corpse — buried.
How long will my mind remain in this wasteland.
Wherever I turn my eyes, wherever I may look
I see black ruins of my life here,
where I spent so many years destroying and wasting."

You will find no new lands, you will find no other seas.
The city will follow you. You will roam the same
streets. And you will age in the same neighborhoods;
and you will grow gray in these same houses.
Always you will arrive in this city. Do not hope for any other—
There is no ship for you, there is no road.
As you have destroyed your life here
in this little corner, you have ruined it in the entire world.

(trans. by Rae Dalven)

I love the poem's last part.

Why We Like What We Like (Like Horror Movies)

I was pleasantly surprised that one of my favorite directors, Neil Marshall, has a new movie out: Doomsday. Despite the mixed reviews I've read about this movie, I'm all-out for watching this flick coming after Marshall's last two movies, Dog Soldiers and The Descent. (And you know how wow-ed I was about these two.)

It makes me think that for certain artists-- whether directors, writers, etc.-- because of what they do, they will always remain high on a favored list even if they stumble and fall with a particular work. But I've no idea why. Maybe it's a similarity of viewpoints between the writer and the reader, or the director and the watcher-- wherein the work resonates between the two.

In any case, what's not to like with this one? You have all the references to sci-fi/horror movies like Escape from New York, Mad Max, 28 Days Later, etc. as well as calling on memories of those screamer/gore flicks one gets to watch on late night cable. The question remains whether I can catch at this at the cinema. As far as I know, it's already come and gone.

Ah well... at least I'll have posters!

Cool Things Do Happen to Cool People

I don't really know Colleen Lindsay (a.k.a. La Gringa) personally, having only some passing acquaintance due to a SFF forum before.

However, I've managed to keep track of her and finding out that she's back on the saddle of being a literary agent...

...well, that is just so great.*

*So if you people have a novel you want to try out for an agent, you can ask her. Because I know you people are out there. Yes, I'm looking at you dean and vin. I would love to have a Hinirang novel. *winks*

Watts Does the Thing

Er, what I meant to say was that one of my favorite SF authors Peter Watts did a post on one of my favorite SF movies of all time: John Carpenter's remake of The Thing (1982). Go read it for its fascinating scientific analysis of the shape-shifting creature.

We tamed our inner battles using stem cells and transient cells and differentiated tissues, just like Pepper et al. hypothesise. But maybe other worlds spawned other answers. Maybe whatever alien slime mold gave rise to our Antarctic shapeshifter decided to go with the whole cell-competition thing, decided to make it a solution instead of a problem.

(Hell, I didn't even know the Carpenter movie was a remake of another movie made in the 50s, which was based on the 1940s story by John W. Campbell, "Who Goes There?" But I digress.)

And to prove that Watts is really cool, he posted a great SF cat picture from I can haz cheesburger. Hmmm, that's two cat pictures already and it's only January. Do I have a quota on this blog?

Guess which movie this came from? *winks*

Just When You Thought You Could Get Some Work Done...

A couple of local guys separate from Digest of Philippine Genre Stories have come up with another way to waste your online hours: a forum dedicated to PGS. Argh.

As if I didn't have enough reasons to knocking about instead of working on my web specials. Still, it's nice to see a small writers' community gathered around a virtual fire-- i.e. the forum-- and trading tales. Good to know we're not alone. It's also fascinating to see how, despite the different reading tastes among the forum people, we can get along with each other. (Where else can you see Chekhov and Whedon cited as influences in one thread?)

Funny enough, though there's only a double handful of members just signed on, seems like a number of lurkers around. I don't know; I could be wrong.

Now, lemme see who's online...

Looking for Ever

Er, paging local bookhounds?

I hope you people don't mind if I ask a favor: am currently looking for the works of this barely-known fantasist, Felicity Savage, but am having a hard time finding a copy of her books in secondhand bookshops.

To be specific, I'm currently looking for what Jeff Vandermeer called her proto-New Weird series, the Ever trilogy, which I managed to sample via her second book, The Daemon in the Machine. Now, am looking for the first and last books of the trilogy--A Trickster in the Ashes and The War in the Wastes-- so if anyone can help out?

Yes, I can order it online but I don't want to. Alas, I'm spending way too much already on ordering abroad. Ironically, the times I do find a copy of these books, I don't have the funds to get 'em. And when I do go back for 'em with money to burn, they're already gone. This happened with the third book in Booksale at the Valero branch and the first book at the Makati Cinema Square branch.

Sheesh. Makes me wonder if someone's trying to tell me something.