philippine speculative fiction 10

i will have a play in the virgin labfest, and other shiny writerly updates

Virgin Labfest XII

My one-act play Marte has been chosen as part of the main line-up of the upcoming Virgin Labfest. Very exciting news; I have seen great plays in the fest, and now I’ll be able to be a part of it! I can’t wait to see this little thing come to life onstage.

See the full list below, which was culled from an unprecedented 197 entries.

Virgin Labfest 12
Established in 2005, the Virgin Labfest is a laboratory festival of new plays by emerging and established Filipino playwrights and held annually at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). The Virgin Labfest aims to provide Filipino playwrights a venue to present their unpublished, unstaged, untested and untried works to theatergoing public. The Virgin Labfest is a yearly project of the Manila-based playwrights group Writer’s Bloc, Inc., acclaimed theater company Tanghalang Pilipino, and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), in cooperation with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

MAIN LINE-UP:

Eliza Victoria’s “Marte”
Carlo Vergara’s “Mula sa Kulimliman”
Herlyn Alegre‘s “Bahay-Bahayan Tagu-Taguan”
Guelan Luarca‘s “Bait”
Ricardo Dingdong Novenario‘s “Daddy’s Girl”
Kanakan Balintagos‘ “Loyalist”
Ma. Cecilia dela Rosa’s “Ang Mga Bisita ni Jean”
Alexandra May Cordoso’s “Ang Sugilanon ng Kabiguan ni Epefania”
Jose Socrates delos Reyes’ “Dahan-Dahan ang Paglubog ng Araw”
Rick Patriarca’s “Hapag-Kainan”
Dominique La Victoria’s “Ang Bata sa Drum”
Oggie Arcenas‘ “Si Jaya, Si Ronda, Si Barbra at ang Mahiwagang Kanta”

REVISITED:

Maynard Manansala‘s “Dalawang Gabi”
Juan Miguel Severo’s “Hintayan ng Langit”
Eljay Castro Deldoc‘s “Si Maria Isabella at ang Guryon ng mga Tala”

STAGED READINGS:

Layeta Pinzon Bucoy‘s “Mac and Naty”
Job Pagsibigan‘s “Mrs. Victoria”
Vincent A. DeJesus ‘ “Changing Partners”
Adrian Ho’s “Run, Marga, Run”
Jonathan Tad Tadioan‘s “Dinuguan”

FRAGMENTS:

Alex Dungca’s “Nang Maligaw ang mga Halimaw”
Dwein Baltazar’s “Ang Debutante sa Bubongan”
Jerome Ignacio‘s “Perfecto Gomez”

Here’s from the fest’s first write-up on Market Monitor:

Of the playwrights whose works were picked for the main line-up, five are “virgins.” Of these, the most notable is Eliza Victoria, who first gained attention—at least, from the literary community—for her Palanca award-winning poetry collections “Reportage” and “Maps,” and for her National Book Award-winning novel Dwellers.

Read more here.

Wounded Little Gods giveaway

My thanks to all those who joined the giveaway, and congratulations to Mays T. I also chose another winner (Pamala G) from those who participated in my survey from way back. Thanks and enjoy reading!

Copies of the book have also been delivered to Fully Booked and Precious Pages bookstore branches. Here’s a photo from Budjette Tan as proof.

It’s coming soon to other book stores near you. If you want a copy now, do email/alert bookorders@visprint.net.

PSF X

The tenth volume of the Philippine Speculative Fiction series is now available in the following online venues, so please grab a copy.

Flipside – http://flipside.ph/…/philippine-speculative-fiction-volume-…

Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/Philippine-Speculative-Fiction-Fra…/…/

Kobo – https://store.kobobooks.com/…/philippine-speculative-fictio…

Google Play – https://play.google.com/…/Dean_Francis_Alfar_Philippine_Spe…

iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/…/philippine-speculat…/id1100520266

Weightless Books – https://weightlessbooks.com/…/philippine-speculative-ficti…/

This is the landmark tenth volume of what’s been called “one of the most important projects to come out of the contemporary writing generation”. PSF is credited as the springboard for the thriving Philippine speculative fiction movement, which defines, explores, and sometimes blurs the boundaries of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and all things in between.

Philippine Speculative Fiction X is proud to present a representative range of exemplary stories from Filipino writers, including both renowned veterans and exciting new voices in the field.

Contributors include:

Alyssa Wong
Sarge Lacuesta
Joel Pablo Salud
Eliza Victoria
Jose Elvin Bueno
Victor Fernando R. Ocampo
Cyan Abad-Jugo
Kenneth G. Yu
Andrew Drilon
Kate Osias
Gabriela Lee
Joseph Montecillo
Renz Torres
Vincent Michael Simbulan
Francis Gabriel Concepcion
EK Gonzales
Alexander M. Osias
Noel Tio
AJ Elicaño
Lakan Umali
Razel Tomacder
Raymund P. Reyes
Richard Calayeg Cornelio

Edited by Dean Francis Alfar & Nikki Alfar

There will be a launch on Saturday, May 7, at 2 p.m. at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Shangri-La Plaza Mall. Please join us.

‘dwellers’ is best novel finalist for the national book awards, and other writing news

In this post: National Book Awards, Philippine Speculative Fiction, Voyage to Bathala, Best of the Net, Philippine Literary Festival, Filipino Readercon, goddess fan art, #BuwanNgMgaAkdangPinoy.

1. First off, my short novel Dwellers is a finalist for the 34th National Book Awards (Best Novel in English). Thank you to the NBDB (National Book Development Board) and the MCC (Manila Critics’ Circle) for the honor, and to Visprint for giving my words a home. My congratulations as well to friends and other fellow finalists. You can see the entire list here.

This is my second nomination. Last year, Project 17 was a finalist for the same category.

To know more about Dwellers (what’s it about, where to buy online and in the bookstores), click here.

2. My story, “The Target”, will be appearing in the upcoming tenth volume of Philippine Speculative Fiction. This is part of a collection of interconnected science fiction stories that I’m working on, and I’m excited to share this one piece of it with you. Thank you Dean and Nikki! Here’s the full TOC, from Rocket Kapre.

A Long Walk Home – Alexander M. Osias
A Report – Sarge Lacuesta
A Small Hope – Gabriela Lee
For Sale: Big Ass Sword – Kenneth G. Yu
Children of the Stars – Francis Gabriel Concepcion
Fisher of Men – Razel Tomacder
Hunger – Lakan Umali
IT Girl – AJ Elicaño
Lamat – Noel Tio
Marvin and the Jinni – Raymund Reyes
Mechanical Failures – Jose Elvin Bueno
Mene, Thecel, Phares – Victor Fernando R. Ocampo
Night Predators – Joseph Montecillo
Oblation – Richard Cornelio
Santos de Sampaguita – Alyssa Wong
Soulless – EK Gonzales
The Dollmaker – Joel Pablo Salud
The Last God of Cavite – Andrew Drilon
The Owl and the Hoopoe – Renz Torres
The Run to Grand Maharlika Station – Vincent Michael Simbulan
The Target – Eliza Victoria
Thunderstorm – Cyan Abad-Jugo
When the Gods Left – Kate Osias

3. Another story of mine, called “At the Diazes'”, also from this set of interconnected stories, has been accepted for publication, but I’ve yet to hear more about that, so let me get back to you.

4. Southern Pacific Review has nominated my poem “Stargazing” for Best of the Net 2015. Thank you! Click on the link to read the nominated poem.

5. Read my stories “The Missing”, “Maybe Another Song at Dusk”, “The Handmade House”, and “Voyage to Bathala” in one volume. Voyage to Bathala and Other Stories is part of the Encounters series published by et al and edited by Dean Alfar and Sarge Lacuesta.

6. I will be attending the second day of the Philippine Literary Festival 2015 to sign books and maaaybe give a sneak peek of the comic book Mervin Malonzo and I are working on. Come visit!

Admission to the PLF at the Raffles Hotel in Makati from August 28 to 30 is free of charge, but seats are limited. Thank you to Nikko over on Facebook for this image.

7. I served as panelist in last year’s Silliman University National Writers Workshop, and it was such a fun (grueling) experience. They are now accepting manuscripts. Read more here.

The Silliman University National Writers Workshop is now accepting applications for the55th National Writers Workshop to be held 9—27 May 2016 at the Silliman University Rose Lamb Sobrepeña Writers Village.

This Writers Workshop is offering twelve fellowships to promising writers in the Philippines who want to have a chance to hone their craft and refine their style. Fellows will be provided housing, a modest stipend, and a subsidy to partially defray costs of their transportation.

To be considered, applicants should submit manuscripts in English on or before 30 September 2015.

8. The Filipino Readercon team is up and about and organizing the Readers’ Choice Awards, with a slight change in rules this year. Watch out for that.

9. Alternative Alamat editor Paolo Chikiamco shared this fan art with me. “Tala’s Spectacles” and “Alunsina’s Mask”, based on characters that appeared in my stories in that volume (“Ana’s Little Pawnshop on Makiling St.” and “Remembrance”). “Ana’s Little Pawnshop” also appears in my short story collection, A Bottle of Storm Clouds (a phrase lifted from the story). Art by michstar090. Maraming salamat!

Image link: http://michstar090.deviantart.com/art/Tala-s-Spectacles-552978428

Image link: http://michstar090.deviantart.com/art/Alunsina-s-Mask-551325575

10. Subaybayan ang hashtag na #BuwanNgMgaAkdangPinoy sa Twitter o Facebook, kaakibat ng pagdiriwang ng Buwan ng Wika ngayong Agosto.

Heto ang mga itinatampok kong akda para sa photo-op na ito (iilan lamang sa mga nahila galing sa lalagyan ng mga aklat):

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