I’m a big big fan of High Chair, so I was ecstatic when Issue 12 editors Adam David and Conchitina Cruz picked up “Day: Notes” for the issue’s third installment. Thanks Adam and Chingbee for the comments on my piece and the editing.
It is hard to articulate outrage and fear and grief, but one must try.
Crossed Genres is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine that “supports equal rights and equal treatment regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation or religion”. It releases monthly themed issues, challenging writers to combine that month’s theme genre with science fiction and/or fantasy (hence the name “Crossed Genres”) and has released an anthology called “Year One”, a collection of stories selected from the first twelve issues of the magazine. The theme for May’s Issue 18, the subject of this review, is “Eastern”, broadly defined as any story set in an Eastern culture. Spoiler Warning from here on out, so read the stories for free here (and if you like the issue, donate or buy a downloadable digital copy) then pop on back for the review.
Expanded Horizons, which began publishing stories in 2008, is an online speculative fiction publication that aims to increase diversity in the field, “both in the authors who contribute and in the perspectives presented”. Its specific objectives include increasing the number of women authors in speculative fiction, and increasing authentic ethnic diversity in stories written in this field.
It recently made the longlist of the British Fantasy Awards under the category, “Best Magazine”.
In its latest issue (Issue 18), Expanded Horizons includes stories set in India, Nigeria, the US, and the Philippines, with protagonists ranging from a lonely ghost to a woman who craves human flesh. Here are my impressions of the various stories–obviously, Spoiler Warning applies, so do check out the issue before reading on.
Here is a fact: we will never run out of stories to read.
This is more evident now than it ever has been before. Online speculative fiction publications easily number in the hundreds, including many new publications looking for worthy submissions and just itching to get up and running (e.g. GigaNotoSaurus and Smash Cake Magazine). Just to illustrate: to date, Duotrope lists166 fledgling markets, or those markets with a publication history of less than six months.
Even the Philippines, horribly late in the technological race, generally speaking, has two active online publishing entities: Rocket Kapre, which has published Usok 1 and the charity anthology Ruin and Resolve; and Estranghero Press, which has published the anthologies The Farthest Shore (secondary worlds) and Demons of the New Year (horror). As in the rest of the world, online publications appear to be a growth industry, as evidenced by the upcoming launch of the POC Review (which is not genre-bound) and (a bit farther into the future) the online version of the Philippine Genre Stories.
So: why an online publication?
I’m no gamer. I don’t have the patience, or the required hand-eye coordination. The simplest challenges frustrate me: You mean I have to go to this room first and get this equipment before I can get that equipment to blast open that door – the hell with this, I’m reading a book. I’ve given up on Chrono Cross (too convoluted), Suikoden, Left4Dead (I can’t figure out how to pick up the guns, so I gave up before I could even shoot a zombie), and Resident Evil (too scary; there was one point during the game when a huge crowd of zombies burst through a door – in real life, I threw away my controller). My default gaming strategy, it appears, is that if I can’t get it right the first time, then it probably isn’t worth it. (I don’t apply this to real-life problems, like clothes shopping.)
Then I met my boyfriend, who’s a proud member of the Hobby Gamers’ Circle, a gaming organization based in UP Diliman, a group of like-minded individuals who’d probably throw me down a pit should they ever read this piece of blasphemy.
Bulacan till Easter Sunday. Halu-halo. My mother’s caldereta and kare-kare, yum. Sex and the City. How I Met Your Mother. Some Big Bang Theory. One story, done, but needs re-reading and edits. One story, edited, final read, done (hopefully). Silly computer games, like Diner Dash, to kill time. Jollibee with my brother. Re-read Atwood’s The Robber Bride. Drank Mint Choco Bailey’s with my father while watching a godawful action film. Made my brother watch The Ruins, and of course he hated me for it, hehe.
The heat was torture. I’d take a long cold shower when I wake up and in a few hours I’d be swimming in my own sweat. I’d take a shower in the afternoon, and I’d start sweating while wiping myself dry. How can we live like this?
I hate the summer. I love beaches, the feel of the sand, the look of the water and the sky, but I hate the heat. Hate it hate it hate it. If asked to choose between an airconditioned hotel room and swimming at the beach under direct sunlight, I’d choose the hotel room in a heartbeat. I’m a worthless tourist like that. Seriously, we should hold tours at night, and swim only when it’s dark. (Boy, I sure hope the sun would hide behind thick clouds during the Bohol trip with Jaykie and Friends next month.)
Anyway, met up with the boyfriend after Lent. It was so hot during the commute back to the metro that I was SERIOUSLY this close to punching a stranger. Seriously. Seriously. So I had a shower first in my airconditioned room. Airconditioning. It is bliss.
Went to UP. Lunch at Choco Kiss (airconditioning!), had the Chicken Kiev. Some The Office. On Tuesday we planned to stay indoors, but ahoy rotational blackouts. Even a moron wouldn’t want to stay indoors in this heat, so off we go to UP, which also experienced a blackout (fuck – it’s as if it’s following us), played cards with Mark who happened to be at the HGC tambayan, then off to the mall.
We watched this! (Mark mentioned that Jme wanted to watch it on Saturday I’m sorry Jme it was hot and I was miserable and I wanted to laugh please don’t hate me for dragging Jaykie and watching it ahead of you guys. T_T)
As I was saying –
Photo from Filmofilia.
I love this film. (Despite the fact that the children speak with an American accent while the adults speak with a Scottish accent – despite the fact that they’re all supposed to be Vikings.) It’s one of those few 3D films that you won’t mind paying extra to watch through the funky glasses. (Now, if I can find me a theater where your chair tilts as the dragon spins and descends…)
3D tech has been abused lately, but in this case, it’s quite effective.
Oh, and have I mentioned that I was sweating while we’re waiting in line to buy our tickets inside the mall?
I was sweating. Inside. The mall.
It was seven p.m. when the film ended, so it was safe to venture out since the sun’s finally disappeared from the sky. But before we went home we tried eating at this Vietnamese restaurant (whose name I can’t remember! The heat’s killing off my brain cells!) for dinner. I enjoyed the salad. The vegetable’s really fresh, and the dressing’s light and tasty.
All in all, great vacation. (But still – the heat’s a real fucker.)
* * *
In other news, my story “Once They Were Gods” will appear in is in the April issue of Expanded Horizons soon. Watch this space. Go click and read! :)
I’m also looking forward to the Summer Komikon and the Philippine Speculative Fiction V book launch this month. Yay!
The story won’t advertise itself (it certainly won’t put on a glittery dress and a feather boa and strut its stuff for more readers) so I posted the Demons of the New Year link at the LJ comm ontdcreepy (it got the LJ spotlight some weeks back). Some of the members were kind enough to leave comments about my story:
of course, I had to sit here and read at least yours before starting the day. I loved this! I particularly loved how you ended it, and I won’t say anything more along those lines so as not to spoil it for anyone else. You’re an amazing writer! :-D (dark_sinestra)
Wow! Loved it…you really have a way with words. :) (chromachord)
I love your writing style! You’re certainly very talented. The story had a very dreamy, almost nightmarish tone, and you balanced the narrator’s skepticism and half-belief very well. Amazing. (rtuko)
Thanks, guys!
If you want to read my story, come on over. (Edit: I forgot to say – this story’s based on a personal experience Almi related to me one slow day at the office. I first encountered the “salot” imagery in an article about diseases during the American occupation. I believe it was by Gilda Cordero-Fernando, let me go check. I have used it in my story “Reunion”, which appeared in the Philippines Free Press, and in the prose poem “Dreams After the Storm”, which appeared in the Ruin/Resolve charity anthology.)
If you have an LJ account, you can add me. My LJ blog’s called blissery blogs.
Feel free to share the link to the e-anthology. Orayt! :D
Eliza Victoria 