Year: 2011

coffee and the blues

Coffee with the girls (and Kim and Jaykie) on Monday night and Wednesday night. Thankful that I was able to meet up with them. I needed the chika and the laughter. Eliza Victoria and the Infinite Sadness. I feel like I’m wasting my time. Or time is being wasted on me.

In other news, try Starbucks’ Peppermint Brownie. It’s really good.

I’ve been having extraordinarily kind Monday mornings.

After a revision, my short story, “username: tanglaw”, has been accepted for publication in the seventh volume of the Philippine Speculative Fiction anthology! Thank you to editors Kate and Alex Osias for giving me a chance to revisit the piece and make it stronger.

And good news for readers abroad – PSF is going digital this year in order to reach a wider audience. Stay tuned for the details.

From anthology editor Paolo Chikiamco:

On December 14, 2011, “Alternative Alamat“ – our anthology of stories inspired by Philippine mythology – will be released on Amazon.com, Flipreads.com, and the iTunes store. This anthology has been more than a year in the making, and it is near and dear to my heart, so any help spreading the word would be greatly appreciated. I’m excited, not the least of which because of the excellent cover art provided by Mervin Malonzo (creator of “Tabi Po“, who also provides the interior illustrations), and because I believe we’re attempting something that hasn’t been done before, in the context of Philippine mythology.

Book details, story introductions, and information for book bloggers and interested book reviewers.

December 14! I have a story here – “Ana’s Little Pawnshop on Makiling St.” Please buy the book and/or help spread the word!

a visit from the goon squad

Every once in a while you read a book that is like a drink of cold water after a long, hot day. I read the first few pages of A Visit from the Goon Squad and immediately settled down with a sigh. My kind of language, my kind of storytelling. My cold water to parch a thirst. Every chapter in Jennifer Egan’s fantastic novel can stand on its own as a short story (some chapters in fact have appeared in magazines as short stories), but the characters are all connected. The chapters jump back and forth in time, moving a character from success to utter failure. Blink and you will miss it. Happiness is temporary. Love is illusory. Time’s a goon.

thanksgiving

We don’t have Thanksgiving Day here in the Philippines, but that didn’t stop J’s family (who has relatives in Nevada, Oklahoma, New York, and beyond) from whipping up a fabulous dinner.

Behold! Cornbread, pan-fried chicken, biscuits, veggie pot pie (not in picture), steak, mac and cheese, chunky gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing.

For dessert: pecan pie, candied yams (yams topped with marshmallows), and pumpkin mousse tart (not pictured).

I am thankful for: family (mine and J’s), good stories, good weather, good friends, good food, and J.

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Greenhills on Sunday! I now know how to commute to Greenhills! Tao na ako.

Dinner at Bizu. Best clam chowder we’ve ever tasted.

J treated me to Happy Lemon! Cocoa Rock Salt and Cheese at last! No picture of the drink, but believe me, it’s very tasty. And also very rich, so maybe next time I’ll just order the regular size.

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Re-posting an open call for submissions:

Editors Dean Francis Alfar (publisher of the Philippine Speculative Fictionanthologies) and Kenneth Yu (publisher of Philippine Genre Stories) announce an open call for short fiction submissions for HORROR: Fantastic Filipino Fiction for Young Adults.

The Fantastic Filipino Fiction for Young Adults is a new annual anthology series, with the first volume focusing on horror, and launching in mid-2012.

More details here.

Found out today that Stone Telling editors Rose Lemberg and Shweta Narayan have nominated my poem “Prayer” for the Pushcart Prize! Hello, Monday!

Here’s a list of ST’s six nominees:

Sonya Taaffe, Persephone in Hel
Catherynne M. Valente, The Secret of Being a Cowboy
Amal El-Mohtar, Pieces
Jaded, Sewing Souls with Blanks: Silences in Kamala Das’s Poetry
Shira Lipkin, The Changeling’s Lament
Eliza Victoria, Prayer

Information about the Pushcart Prize.

The Pushcart Prize – Best of the Small Presses series, published every year since 1976, is the most honored literary project in America. Hundreds of presses and thousands of writers of short stories, poetry and essays have been represented in the pages of our annual collections.

Writers who were first noticed here include:

Raymond Carver, Tim O’Brien, Jayne Anne Phillips, Charles Baxter, Andre Dubus, Susan Minot, Mona Simpson, John Irving, Rick Moody, and many more. Each year most of the writers and many of the presses are new to the series.