Okay, maybe you won’t find this important, but I’ll announce it anyway:
I changed my Twitter handle! It is no longer the lame HiElizaHere of old.
Follow me: http://www.twitter.com/elizawriteshere
I’m also thinking of upgrading to a domain name. We’ll see.
The Portal recently reviewed the January to February stories published on the World SF blog, and gave a favorable review to “Sand, Crushed Shells, Chicken Feathers“.
The World SF Blog, run by Lavie Tidhar and Charles Tan, was set up in 2009 to carry news and features on science fiction from the world over. For the last few months, the blog has also been publishing fiction (mostly reprints); this is a look at the stories posted in the first two months of 2011, and it is quite a mixed bag. Nick Wood tells a fine tale of a man whose relationship is becoming as dried out as the land. Pyotr Kowalczyk contributes an amusing portrait of a ramshackle trip into space. Michael Haulica’s story of a gastronomic experiment gone wrong is let down by its translation. Ekaterina Sedia’s piece evokes a keen sense of loss as the supernatural meets the real world. Eliza Victoria brings magic into the real world in a different way, magic that’s enigmatic to her readers and characters alike. Stephen Kotowych poses some intriguing questions about time, in a story that doesn’t quite succeed as a whole. And Charlie Human chills with his brief depiction of a new way to fight a battle.
…
Eliza Victoria’s story “Sand, Crushed Shells, Chicken Feathers” (2010; first published in the Philippine Free Press) concerns two college roommates: John, a firm believer in the supernatural; and Zachary, who is much more skeptical, despite all his grandmother’s tales of magic. Zachary may have cause to question his assumptions, though, when he comes home one day to find John in tears, with the strange voice of an apparently lost girl on the other end of his phone. John was trying to find the spirit of his dead sister, Emma, and instead found two strangers. What really makes this tale work is that Victoria incorporates the supernatural in such a way that it becomes both down-to-earth and mysterious; the magic feels as though it belongs to the contemporary world (with, for example, its use of modern technology), yet one’s sense of exactly how it works and what it does remains murky. The combined effect is nicely unsettling.
The Portal also liked “Parallel“.
Click on the links if you want to read the reviews and/or stories. :)
Eee, I’m so happy to see my name on the cover! Love the colors.
From Rose Lemberg:
As you may have noticed, the third issue is not here yet. I’ve been hit by a particularly nasty flu, and had some other health and work issues that delayed my progress. However, we’re back on track, and the issue should go up sometime next week. Meanwhile, here is the cover and the lineup. I cannot wait to share these poems and columns with you – they are absolutely wonderful.
Poetry:
Jo Walton, “The Weatherkeeper’s Diary”
Ben Cartwright, “Newton’s First Copy of Euclid”Sara Saab, “11:40PM”Michael R. Fosburg, “A Dreamed Zodiac”Caitlyn Paxton, “Firefly Girls”Susan Rooke, “Jonah’s Widowed Wife”
Emily Jiang, “Rice Cooker Dreams”William Doreski, “Self-Portrait as Mushroom”Mary Turzillo, “Moving to Enceladus”Eliza Victoria, “Sodom Gomorrah”Sonya Taaffe, Persephone in Hel”Catherynne Valente “The Secret of Being a Cowboy”Non-fiction:
Deborah Brannon. The Pantoum.Nin Harris. Visions of Courtly Life Translated into Contemporary Meditations: Muhammad Haji Salleh’s Sajak-Sajak Sejarah Melayu
Snowshoe to Otter Creek
Stacie Cassarino
love lasts by not lasting
—Jack Gilbert
The novel opens like a thriller. A British seaman waits in a seedy Manila hotel for a rich Filipino mafioso. He notices several things almost all at once: the dead phone, the peephole covered from the outside, rusty blood spatters on the bedsheet, a gunshot hole in the ceiling, a room with no exit. The Filipino don is in a car with his crew, weaving through the dark streets of the city, and the seaman takes out his gun, believing that they are coming to kill him.
Gunshots and a chase – the staples of action movies – but what reeled me in were the characters and their personal tragedies, and the fact that Garland set his story of one, stifling night in Manila.
Such a pleasure to read a familiar world, made new and intriguing by Garland’s compassionate treatment of his characters, his insights, and his crisp, clear, high-energy prose: Back in his room, some of the wetter stains on the street began to glow red as the sun dropped from the sky. Dropped, because the sun didn’t sink in these parts. At six-fifteen, the elastic that kept it suspended started to stretch, and at six-thirty the elastic snapped. Then you had just ten minutes as the orange ellipse plummeted out of view, and the next thing you knew it was night. You had to watch out for that in Manila. Ten minutes to catch a cab to the right side of town if you were on the wrong side.
Garland writes about Manila (and Negros and Quezon Province, in some flashbacks) as both an insider and an outsider. An outsider because he wasn’t born here, an insider because he’s been here, and has (presumably) learned much about the language and the culture. Because the familiar is made foreign (and the foreign made familiar) he sees and describes things I don’t normally pay attention to, like that rapidly sinking sun.
He obviously had fun with using Filipino words for places: Patay, Sugat, Sayang, Sarap. He also liked mentioning Filipino brand names whenever he could. Magnolia, Bench, Inquirer.
There are errors. You don’t write “Yes, po” if in your head the characters are speaking in Filipino (better stick with “Yes” or write the proper “Opo”), and you don’t say “Mang Don Pepe” because that’s an awkward double honorific (unless of course “Don” is the person’s first name).
But other than that, this is a highly readable book.
Very poignant. Unputdownable.
The Mighty Reading List!
Feast for Crows
The Kobayashi Maru of Love
Showbiz Lengua
PGS Horror issue
Floating Dragon
El Bimbo Variations
The Tesseract
The Dispossessed
Our Story Begins
Glass Soup
Here on Earth
The Pull of the Moon
Little Bee
Jaykie heard about it from Jme. Here’s the event announcement on Facebook. There’s going to be another round next Saturday (March 26), turns out, so if you have anything you want to donate to the sale, or if you have the time and money to buy some items, read up. :)
On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck eastern Japan, and many have lost their homes and livelihood because of the tsunamis and fires that it caused. Right now, numerous earthquakes and aftershocks are still happening, and people from various parts of the world have extended their hands to help.
We’re a group of fans from the Philippines and we’re planning on having a garage sale. If you have a…nything that you are willing to donate (CDs, DVDs, magazines, clothes, notebooks, etc…), please click that you are attending to this event.We will arrange a date and a place where you can drop off or send your donations to, and we will inform you as soon as we have decided on it.
All of the donations will be sold during the garage sale (date and place are still being discussed), and all the proceeds will go to Japan (to be donated to International/ Japan Red Cross). Small things make big changes. Let’s start with what we can do.
We’re hoping for your kind participation.
ありがとうございます！ / Arigatou gozaimasu! / Thank you very much!
DONATIONS DROP OFF:
Luke Granada’s House – 6 Malinis St. UP Village
Jamie Lynn’s House – Veterans Village (can meet up at Trinoma or SM north just contact her 09279649624)
Meet-up at McDonald’s PRC (Adelle) – Makati (Note: After office hours – 6PM)
(more soon to be announced)ANNOUNCEMENTS:
[2011.03.14]
For those who are planning to sell their stuff. Kindly send me an email — adelleuy@gmail.com —- so that I can properly account all the items.Also, if you have any urgent questions please send us an sms at
0922-820125-0 or 0927-964-9624~Arigatou Gozaimasu — Adelle (^3^)
Also, Jme’s Sketching for Japan. Read more here.
By now I’m sure you’re all aware of the devastation in Japan, and if you’re looking for a way to lend a helping hand I’m Sketching for Japan.
I’ll be taking $5 sketch commissions over the next few days (or weeks, as long as it takes). $4 out of every $5 paid will go to fund relief efforts in the Pacific. Your sketch will be done and sent via email within 24 hours of payment. I also have something BIG planned as an added “Thank You” to everyone who participates in this fundraiser.
Send me a Note with your sketch details and I’ll message you back, pronto. Or e-mail me at james_macaspac@yahoo.com
If you’re not interested in a sketch, I would strongly urge you to give what you can on your own. Every little bit helps.
Thanks so much in advance, guys.
Hey, Jme! I want to join, but let me replenish my PayPal account first. (I think I only have 95 cents left, hehe.)
Anyway, Jaykie and I went to the sale at 6 Malinis St. UP Village yesterday.
I got these:
Jaykie got this:
*
In other, mediocre news: I got a haircut at this salon near the Q. Ave MRT station, and while my hair was being cut a team from GMA came in and spoke with the owner. Apparently Kay Susan Tayo was going to shoot a segment there (something about tsismis and kwentong barbero). Susan Enriquez and Cesar Apolinario were sitting behind me as they waited for the crew to figure out blocking, watching my hair get blow-dried. How tantalizing. There was a camera trained on my hair at one point; I suppose they would use it as a filler shot?
My short story, “Voyage to Bathala“, is now live on the Philippines Free Press site. Hope you enjoy it. Feel free to share.
Eliza Victoria 