Day: June 5, 2012

kristine ong muslim reviews ‘lower myths’

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

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.

Continue reading book number 2 for flipside publishing

homeland

Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) is an analyst of the CIA who is informed by an asset that an American POW has been turned by al-Qaeda. Ten months later, Carrie learns in an emergency meeting that a US Marine Sergeant named Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis), declared missing in action in 2003, has been rescued in a raid. While the CIA and the rest of the country tout Brody a war hero, Carrie sets up an unauthorized surveillance system in the Marine’s home, wiretapping his phones and observing his life, believing Brody is a terrorist on American soil.

It becomes complicated, with Carrie’s assets and informants and false leads, and her mood disorder which can make you question her credibility. Throw in a good mix of domestic drama and infidelity and you end up with a confusing web of lies. Is he or isn’t he? But you realize the plot is actually simple, once you go through the episodes and filter the truth from the lie, once you find out the horrible act that set all of these events in motion.

It’s a very compelling watch.