elizavictoria

fidelis tan reviews ‘demons of the new year’

Here and here, over at POC. About my story, “Salot“, Tan writes:

Salot

Eliza Victoria

Salot brings us to the birthing place of horror stories – the “probinsya.” A good portion of the story involves the main character – a girl from the province about to go to the city for college – going over the horror stories she’s heard from friends and family. These stories are strange little blurbs about sighting apparitions and hearing voices in the night – the kind of stories we’ve all heard before, from maybe a family member or friend, and which more often than not take place outside the safeties of big cities.

The main character gripes over these stories – they’re part of an absurd, backwards culture she’s ready to ditch. But just as she’s about to leave all those old superstitions behind, the old superstitions (in typical horror story fashion) come to her. This is when the story takes a sharp turn for the unexpected – the salot, the supposed bringers of plague and ill fortune, are not quite what she’s always been told they were, and the way she treats them is far from how other people have.

Salot is a sweet read, and the suggestion that the things that go bump in the night might have much more to them than the probinsya-type horror stories suggest, is in itself enough to make it worth reading.

Read the whole anthology here. It’s available online for free.

eight

Minsang may kaibigan kang nagtanong sa’yo, Ito na ba?

Hindi ka man lang huminto para mag-isip. Sabi mo, Oo naman.

Naisip ko, Pwedeeeee.

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That’s eight months well spent with you, and I’m looking forward to the months that will follow.

I think we both agree there’ll be more of them.

Photo taken June 4, Marriott Hotel.

how i met your mother

I just finished Season 5 and I love it and I want more.

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But then of course we can’t have more MORE, sooner or later the writers have to sit down and write that scene where Ted finally meets his future wife and we can finally see her face.

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While clicking through links online I saw this little tidbit: Before “How I Met Your Mother” (2005) started, Neil Patrick Harris and Josh Radnor had already acted together, as lovers in a Los Angeles production of the Jon Robin Baitz play “The Paris Letter”.

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Ooh.

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I WANT TO SEE THAT PLAY.

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Also watching: Lost (Season 2 – I know, I KNOW), Dollhouse, Mad Men, The Sopranos (I’m so late), Big Bang Theory, Fringe. Whenever a re-run of Frasier or Everybody Loves Raymond is on, I sit down and watch. I used to follow Two and a Half Men, maybe I’ll borrow a DVD from someone. Also, House and Boston Legal and 30 Rock. The Wire was really good but my DVD died, so I wasn’t even able to finish Season 1. CSI is entertaining, but CSI: Miami and New York are laaaaaame.

I’ll revisit Will and Grace soon – I miss that show.

What are you watching?

strange horizons (may fiction) review

Strange Horizons is a multi-awarded, US-based online speculative fiction magazine founded in September 2000. A non-profit magazine, Strange Horizons receives financial support via “direct donations (through PayPal or by check), arts grants, corporate sponsorship, and affiliate programs through Amazon.com and Powell’s Books”. Every Monday Strange Horizons uploads a new piece of fiction which is accessible free of charge (they also have various non-fiction pieces, as well as reviews, though these follow a different schedule), although of course readers are encouraged to donate if they have the means to do so.

Here are my thoughts on the stories published by Strange Horizons in the month of May. As always, Spoiler Warning applies, so do check out the stories at the website (older stories can be found in the archives) before reading on.

WE HEART VAMPIRES!!!

I saw the multiple exclamation points in this story’s title, and I knew – I knew – I was in for something terribly terrific.

How can you fail, with a paragraph like this?

George found Bob puzzling over the new Clairol “Tru U!” offerings. It seemed to George that every product aimed at their demographic was missing a significant amount of letters. She understood this came from txting and IM. But George dropped letters because it was faster that way, not because she didn’t like the look of the English language. She was worried that soon she’d pass through a strange teenage Ellis Island where smiling marketing interns, like the kind that messaged you on MySpace back when people used MySpace, would refashion her name and give her a new, de-lettered identity. It would be something terrible, too, like Gorg. Bob—Roberta—would get something cool. Like Ta. Or Ro.

hotel staycation

It rained like crazy over the weekend so Subic was no-go. But didn’t you just love the weather? Cold, gray, cuddleweather. It was a welcome respite from the long string of 38-degree days.

Jaykie’s parents opted to spend Friday to Sunday at the Marriott Hotel. We shared a room with Jaykie’s sister, brother-in-law, and littol George.

Forgive the touristy photos, I love taking pictures of hotel rooms. (Because they’re so clean and pretty! How come I can’t make my room look that clean and pretty, despite all my efforts in scrubbing and un-cluttering?)

Look at me green toesies!

Day 1 Jaykie and family treated me and the HGC peeps at Mercado in Resorts World Manila, which is right beside the casino so NO PICTURES! But we took a walk after eating and Jme whipped out her camera:

Jaykie and I lurve this gift from Jme.

Day 2 was spent just lounging around, playing Monopoly (Monopoly! I haven’t played you in ages!), watching TV, and admiring the rain. Staycation!

My thanks to the Lazarte family for their kindness and generosity. :D

scenes from last night’s book swap

Read about our first book swap here!

Book swap last night at Starbucks 6750 with m’lovelies Andrea, Kate, and Kat. I invited Jaykie (so he could finally meet Andrea and Kat) and he was nice enough to drive Kate and I from the office. (LOL proper name overload sorry.) We stayed till midnight for some late-night coffee, cake, Pinoy Henyo (yes) and quality tsismisan.

I lent Kat Joshua Ferris’s excellent Then We Came to the End and Atwood’s The Blind Assassin. Andrea ended up taking Revolutionary Road and Big If. I got er so many books I forgot to take note of them all haha. Will sort through them next week. Oh, God have mercy on my TBR pile now quickly turning into a mountain.

I loved the girls’ accessories last night. Pictures!