a bottle of storm clouds – Page 6

hello 2013

It’s the second day of the new year and I’m scrambling to get some work done. So? How have you all been? Wait, let me just share with you these links before I dash:

Thursday Never Looking Back, an anthology about the world’s end, is now available on Amazon. Buy a copy! It has three of my poems, and great work from local authors.
Authors talk to the Manila Bulletin about what books to give as gifts. It’s never too late to go book-shopping. Read about our answers here.
Jerald Uy on Rappler lists A Bottle of Storm Clouds as one of several Pinoy book you can give to your loved ones.
My poems – “Ten Truths”, “Somebody tell the river”, and “Elegy for the lost minutes” – will appear in an upcoming issue of UK-based literary magazine, NEON. Many thanks to editor Krishan Coupland. http://www.neonmagazine.co.uk/
For those who can’t find A Bottle of Storm Clouds in the bookstores, you can order a copy online via Lazada. It’s available for nationwide delivery.
Meann Ortiz on GMA News Online recommends Lower Myths and other books.

For more information about my published works, please visit this page.

Back home, found these babies, old issues of Asimov’s SF.

And here’s J, channeling Bruce Lee in Bulacan.

More blather about 2012 to follow. But I’m grateful, grateful, grateful. Happy New Year, everybody! :)

one more page reviews lower myths, the viewless dark, storm clouds

Well, if this ain’t the best way to cap off my week: Tina Matanguihan of One More Page reviews my three books.

Lower Myths is a good starter for Eliza’s works, if you’re into quick, fantasy reads with a local flavor. Of course, it could also be too short for you, but that’s why you’d end up looking for her other works just to satisfy that craving. :)

…

A Bottle of Storm Clouds is one of those books that you can’t help but keep on reading but you also don’t want to end just yet. I tried not to read this book too fast because I wanted to savor each story. There’s something interesting and entirely different in each story — some of them were creepy, most of them sad, but all had really good fantasy elements that stretched my imagination wider than it did before. :) I liked how Eliza hinged most of the stories with real human experiences like grief and sadness, family and friendship and love and even selfishness and life crisis.

…

The Viewless Dark…even if I read this in broad daylight, I still felt creeped out every now and then with the story. I liked how the story unfolded from the death of Flo and into flashbacks that pointed just to how exactly Flo ended up that way to what happened to Anthony’s family. I liked how vivid the setting was and how sufficiently creepy the “possession” they set up, until the final twist in the end which undid everything I thought I knew. And then Eliza wraps it up in a different way, giving it a poignant, almost hopeful ending.

Read the full post here.

the next big thing – a chain letter for writers

Before November ended, I got an email from the lovely Kristine Ong Muslim, asking me to participate in The Next Big Thing blog cycle, where writers have to answer 10 book-related/self-promo questions about themselves on their blog, then link up to 5 other writers. A chain letter of sorts, but hopefully not an annoying one.

Here we go!

1) What is the title of your latest book?

It’s a short story collection called, A Bottle of Storm Clouds.

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?

One day I just realized that I have enough stories to fill a collection, and wouldn’t that be fun?

3) What genre does your book fall under?

It’s a collection, so it has a bit of everything: horror, science fiction, fantasy, realist.

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

BEN WHISHAW!

Just kidding. He can’t play any of my characters because he’s not Filipino. He can try, but that would be weird.

You know what, I have no idea. Maybe Zanjoe Marudo as Gerardo Nagtahan in “Siren Song”? Really grasping at straws here.

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Sixteen short stories mixing the magical with the mundane.

6) Who published your book?

Visprint!

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

These were previously published stories collected since 2007, but some of the stories have been written long before that.

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I don’t know.

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

Perhaps I should talk about influences: Donna Tartt, Margaret Atwood, Stephen King, Nick Joaquin, Gregorio Brillantes. And my family, who, like most Filipino families, treat the magical and the supernatural as something common.

10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?

It has stories coming from many genres. “Ana’s Little Pawnshop” appears to be a favorite, according to the readers who have approached me, but other readers have different favorite stories, and that’s a wonderful thing.

Tagged, you’re it! Visit these authors’ sites next week, Dec. 19, for their answers.

Brooke Wonders in “Everything Must Go” reinvents the tired trope of the drunkard father, the grieving mother, the children caught in between, and the house they have to leave behind, by stretching metaphors to their limits. It’s incredible storytelling, and what language.

He watches his father remove a fifth of Jack from its sock-drawer hideaway and down a few quick swigs. Through his father’s transparent flesh, Bird can see the liquor slide slow down Glass’s throat until it joins the tawny liquid sloshing waist-high. Tiny waves break against his bellybutton. The immediate difference is imperceptible, but as the days rush by, Bird watches the amber tide rise from bellybutton to chest to clavicle, until Glass has filled himself up nearly to the brim, his eyes shiny as bottle caps.

I listened to Kate Baker’s audio adaptation of the story while jogging last night. Enjoy.

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/audio_11_12b/

Another thing: Carljoe Javier’s Top 10 reads for 2012 is now live on Flipside. A Bottle of Storm Clouds is included in the list! Thanks, Carl.

A Bottle of Storm Clouds by Eliza Victoria

This collection of short stories goes in such a wonderful range of directions. It portrays the familiar, school, kids, family issues, but also delves into worlds strange and fantastic. I have liked Eliza’s writing since I first read it, and this first book of hers is something I have been immensely impressed by.

a review of ‘a bottle of storm clouds’ from dibuho pilipinas

I met Ms Janina Gillian Santos at Visprint’s WIT 2 event. Thanks for the support, Janina! She reviews my short story collection on Dibuho Pilipinas.

Before I actually met the author, I’ve already read one of her works in Philippine Speculative Fiction. It was a story called Monster. Honestly, I really did not pay attention to the writer’s name, but what I found out was she has a thing for taking creatures of Philippine Mythology and spinning humanity into them. This is what caught made me re-read Monster several times. It reminded me of another Filipino work I enjoyed – the indie film Yanggaw. In Eliza Victoria’s world, even aswangs go online and surf the Internet. They work for a living. They party, drink beer, and do drugs. They fall in love. Not the typical portrayal in mainstream media that’s already kaskas.

I remember Ms. Eliza wearing a cute dress and tights when I first saw her. I thought she was funny and girly. Her stories, however, are anything but. They remind me of twisted fairy tales. One particular story was An Abduction by Mermaids, which starts out with an apathetic guy working in a newspaper office. He gets a call from his mom who tells him that his sister has been abducted by mermaid. Guess what happens? Of course, the main character has to go on a quest, but it isn’t a quest you’d be prepared for. It doesn’t end with happily ever after either. It seems that none of Ms. Eliza’s stories do. Actually, they don’t seem to end at all. I guess I would never cease to wonder what would happen to David Cruz, whose sister was supposedly kidnapped by mermaids. Or how it was possible for all the dead of a small town to rise from the grave and live again. Or if business deals with gods and goddesses were really as brutal as Ms. Eliza portrayed.

Truth be told, it was the second time I’ve read the book, but I couldn’t really resist flipping through the 197-page volume again.

You can read the rest of her review here.

It’s Cyber Monday! (Well, in the States, it’s Tuesday here.) Check out these books on sale by Flipside Publishing.

Do consider buying:

Visprint will deliver books anywhere in the Philippines for free – till Dec. 10. Read more here.

Do consider buying:

A Bottle of Storm Clouds by Eliza Victoria | PhP 220

We’ve seen the Lights & Sound show at the Ayala Triangle. Drop by if you have the time.

Lights and Sound Show
Nov. 16 – Dec. 30
Watch the lights come to life in Ayala Triangle Gardens every 30 minutes from 6:00 to 9:00 PM

And I bought some new books. Again. (The KJ Parker title I split with J.)

Now reading: Prince of Thorns, to be followed by Gone Girl.

books for the holidays

Visprint’s much-loved pre-holiday promo is back!

Order a Visprint book via email from November 10 to December 10 and they’ll deliver it for free anywhere in the Philippines, with no minimum purchase required. The rest of the mechanics is here. Please read the whole thing.

A Bottle of Storm Clouds (PhP 220 or US$ 5.35), of course, is included in the list of books that you can order. :) More books this way!

Speaking of books, I’m now reading Catherynne Valente’s The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making:

Not writing anything, other than work stuff and these blog posts, but then I have just finished writing a long-ish piece. I guess my brain just wants to take a break.

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