Monthly Archives: June 2012

bringing life to my tbr (to-be-read) pile

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I am very much guilty of abandoning books, and equally guilty of amassing them. Among the books I recently abandoned are Lord of the Rings (I TRIED I REALLY TRIED) and Let the Right One In. 

So there they continue to sit on my shelf the floor, looking at me with contempt as I order the following online:

From The Book Depository

Carol by Patricia Highsmith (Crime)

Slights by Kaaron Warren (Horror)

We Bury the Landscape by Kristine Ong Muslim (Surreal/Slipstream?)

I wanted to buy only ebooks because SPACE. (Have I told you that I do not have a bookshelf in my place in Makati? And that the shelves in Bulacan are overflowing with paperbacks?) Unfortunately I don’t own a credit card, so Amazon won’t let me buy shit.

It was only after I’ve ordered a paperback copy of Slights did I find out that Angry Robot (who brought us Lauren Beukes’s wonderful novels) has an ebook arm – The Robot Trading Company.

Well, dammit. Why didn’t you tell me? I could have ordered Slights off of that and be able to read it tonight instead of, you know, a month from now. (Thank you snail mail.)

But TRTC is awesome. They sell DRM-free ePubs that get dispatched instantly. How about that!

I already have:

Ghostwriting and A Writer’s Life by Eric Brown (both Horror)

The Accord by Keith Brooke (Science Fiction)

And I have Lionel Shriver’s Post-Birthday World somewhere.

Now: where can I order time to read all this?

we need to talk about kevin (novel)

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After every school shooting (and there have been many – and not just in the United States) the news reports become saturated with expert insights and armchair analyses of the shooter. Was he disturbed? Was he sad? Was he bullied? Classmates are interviewed, and a picture is painted of the teenage outcast turned murderer. Such an extensive coverage, but I have yet to read an in-depth interview with the shooter’s mother. How can we even begin to imagine the pain and guilt of a woman who gave birth to a boy and ended up with a monster?

Lionel Shriver imagined it in this powerful novel. In We Need To Talk About Kevin, Eva Katchadourian writes a series of letters to her husband, eighteen months after their 16-year-old son Kevin killed nine people in his own school. The book is not just about Kevin – it’s about motherhood, marriage, the nature of evil and violence, Middle America, traveling, women and their wants and their bodies, the United States and its shame. It is told through Eva’s eyes, so we as the reader have no choice but to see things as she sees them. Was Kevin truly born evil, or were Eva and her husband partly to blame? I don’t know. It is hard to tell. The novel is absorbing and beautifully written; as suspenseful as any horror story, as insightful as any work of art. Throughout the novel, Shriver manages to withhold an important piece of information from us, and when she reveals it, it feels like an arrow to the chest.

I was in a haze after I finished this book. Stunning.

prometheus, girl with the dragon tattoo, some photos

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Haven’t been blogging much because it appears that I’m working on a novel! Or at least, something definitely longer than a short story.

In between jotting down character names and story ideas, I have seen:

Prometheus

Initially planned to just skip this due to several friends commenting that, in effect, it is a waste of time. Now that I’ve seen it, I don’t get the hate. Maybe it’s just a matter of improper pre-movie orientation? Wrong expectations? I heard someone announce loudly that he hated Prometheus because he thought “it’s about the myth”.

Look: if you’ve been living under a rock and believe that the film Prometheus is about that dude who gave away fire to mortals and got chained to a rock as punishment, and wouldn’t be open to watching a science-fiction horror film that could get bloody at times, then watch something else. 

Prometheus is a prequel to Alien. If you’ve seen Alien, then you’ll know exactly what this film’s got in store for you. Expect an Act One of chat and build-up and an Act Two of gore. It’s not flawless, and it’s not necessarily groundbreaking – it’s premise of Panspermia (theory that life on Earth might have originated from somewhere else in the big Universe) has been dissected to death. Try watching one episode of Ancient Aliens. But don’t overthink it. It’s going to be a fun two hours.

(And don’t you just love their suits?)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I haven’t read any of Stieg Larsson’s books, so I was confused while watching this. Not because it’s hard to follow, but because it feels like three films crammed into one. One film could be about Lisbeth Salander, freelance surveillance agent and the titular girl with the dragon tattoo. The second could be about Mikael Blomkvist, a journalist charged with libel by the billionaire he’s investigating. The third could be about Harriet Vanger and the Vanger family. Harriet disappeared 40 years ago, and Henrik Vanger believes she was murdered.

How it all connects: Henrik Vanger hires Mikael Blomkvist and promises him damning evidence against the billionaire so Mikael could win his case and clear his name. Later on, Mikael asks for a research assistant as he investigates Harriet’s death, and they hire Lisbeth Salander.

Because of all the arcs, I knew next to nothing about Lisbeth. A straightforward plot would have Lisbeth front and center, solving a cold case, with Mikael as supporting character.

I’d still recommend this film (it’s a long film though, more than two hours) because I liked the performances, but bear in mind that they’d focus more on The Man Who Runs Millennium Magazine than on The Girl with the Damn Tattoo.

In other news

J and I have been together 32 months on the 17th. :)

Espresso date at Cafe Maxims.

Ravioli at Bizu.

Helloooo.

You took this picture.

the happy list

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I suck at blog entry titles.

Anyway, I’m happy because 1. “Fairy Tales” is getting a handful of positive comments on Daily Science Fiction’s Facebook page, and I’m receiving them online and in my email. Thank you to everyone who read it! Ken Liu (who wrote one of my favorite stories, “The Man Who Ended History“) said “it is a great story!” and “like all tales with political overtones, different readers will read it differently. I found it a delicate and moving metaphor.”

2. I just got waxed. This is slowly sliding into TMI territory but before you look away in disgust I just want to plug Lay Bare.

Services are cheap in price but the place is very clean and the waxers are very professional. Lay Bare also offers packages. For example, Package 2 involves a Brazilian, half-leg wax, eyebrow threading, and underarm wax, all for less than 900 pesos.

Some important notes to remember:

- Taking a painkiller before a waxing procedure helps with the pain. (But actually the pain is very bearable.)

- You can’t wet the area for 4 hours after waxing.

- You can’t have contact (sexual or otherwise) for 8 to 10 hours after waxing. Similarly, you should avoid activities that will make you sweat heavily (like exercising) after waxing because your pores will be wide open and prone to infection.

- Exfoliate!

3. This photo, which makes me smile every time I see it.

young adult

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Before I saw this film I was getting ready to hate it. Then something weird happened: Young Adult turned out to be one gem of a film.

This is directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody. Diablo Cody, you say! Do I love Juno? I enjoyed it, but it gave me too much slang. Jennifer’s Body is a parody of teenage horror films, and it worked perfectly. 

Young Adult is about failure and sadness, and it is spot-on.

Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) writes young adult novels. She looks perpetually disheveled and miserable, gulping Coke like a thirsty sailor first thing in the morning. One day, while trying to work on the last book in the series, she receives an email from an old flame. He is now married, with child. Mavis, in her depression, gets this brilliant idea: What if I steal my ex-boyfriend from his wife?

Unlike in Cody’s previous films, characters here do not talk constantly (most of the time we are forced to simply observe Mavis – as she puts on make-up, as she stares at herself, as she turns her back to us to gorge on KFC), and when they do, they are more blunt than witty.

I love this film. That is all I am going to say. Watch it.

back

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I wasn’t online for two days due to a work-related workshop, wherein I learned that when giving CPR, and you’re a wee bit overweight, your knees tend to hurt like hell. My entire weight crushing my kneecaps – what an excellent mode of torture. I have bruises on both knees to prove it to you.

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Anyway, before that, on Tuesday, Charles Tan told me to listen to Emily Jiang and Rose Lemberg talk about speculative poetry in a Locus Roundtable. I listened to it while jogging Wednesday night. It was great to finally hear their voices! I had to stop jogging when Rose mentioned my name.

It’s a great podcast. Listen to the whole thing!

As part of our series on poetry, I was happy to get Emily Jiang and Rose Lemberg to talk with me about their experiences with the speculative poetry community. You can tell that this was recorded before Wiscon; I hope that everyone had a great time there! You can read more of Emily’s work atStrange Horizons, and see the product of Rose’s editing work at Stone Telling. – Karen Burnham

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 Before that, J had a great birthday dinner, took his Financial Math exam (second in a series of actuarial exams that he’s taking – if you’re looking for an actuary, tell us!) and learned that he passed!

He took me out to dinner Tuesday night:

Congrats!

Heaven & Eggs. Bring back your old decor. Your rock & roll theme just looks weird, but the food’s still good!

These photos have been posted on Instagram. (Oh, right, I have an Instagram account – follow me if you wish.)

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Getting bored with all of my books for some reason, so re-reading Moxyland. Also, I need a bookshelf.

kristine ong muslim reviews ‘lower myths’

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Posted on Amazon:

Lower Myths is Eliza Victoria’s splendid two-story debut collection. I like the second novella better than the first one. “The Very Last Case of Messrs. Aristotel and Arkimedes Magtanggol, Attorneys-at-Law” unfolds at an Elmore Leonard pace – brute, concise, confident. There’s a combination of boldness and grace in Lower Myths, making it an enjoyable romp into the macabre. I imagined the two stories, with their distinct Philippine flavor and genre trappings culled straight from the vernacular, would have made excellent graphic novels.

Kristine is the author of We Bury the Landscape, and she serves as poetry editor of LONTAR: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction.

I am a fan of Kristine, and Elmore Leonard, and this review made me happy.

book number 2 for flipside publishing

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I’ve been sitting on this news for a few days now, but since I already have the contract (which I have every intention of signing) in my hands, I can finally announce that Flipside Publishing, publisher of my book, Lower Myths, has accepted a short novel of mine for publication.

Title and opening paragraphs after the cut.

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