“Hotel” is now up on the Graphic website. Click here, if you want to read. :)
Category: plug
an abduction by mermaids
As a finalist at this year’s Philippines Free Press Literary Awards, this story has a chance to win. Not sure if it will, but being shortlisted is already an honor.
I wonder how that will go at the awarding. Will all the finalists be made to stand onstage and hold hands? Will we be given a chance to cry? Can we put our hands over our mouths and shriek when another person’s name is called? Can we hug each other but secretly think ‘You bitch, that crown should have been mine’?Tell me, is there going to be a suspenseful drumroll? GASP.
Oh, you’re still here. How kind of you.
Anyway, here’s “An Abduction by Mermaids”. Special thanks to Katt, who read it first.
Hope you enjoy it.
P.S. My poem, “Storytellers” is now up on elimae. Click on the link to read.
Okay, back to the story. :D
noted
Just a few minutes ago I’ve been informed by Charles Tan (who manages to read and review several magazines/novels/websites, hold a day job, write fiction on the side, and, possibly, eat, because he has ten clones and/or can bilocate – I’m still not quite sure) that Locus Magazine has praised/mentioned a number of stories off Philippine Speculative Fiction IV – including my story, “Parallel”.
*weird dancing commences*
View the table of contents of Locus’s July issue here. It lets us know that the review is on Page 27, but unfortunately the content’s not available online.
A great honor. Now to find a way to get a copy of the magazine.
Oh, and since you’re here, buy a copy of PSF IV. Yes? Yes???
All right, then. :)
got it
I’m tickled that Expanded Horizons gave me a handwritten check. Hee.
I know it sounds like payment for some legally unsavory services (which might be why the people at the bank kept looking at me funny; they were taking so long with the check that I actually started feeling like a criminal), but really, “Night Out” is a story. Which you can read here, if you feel like it.
EH is also currently accepting submissions for its Fairy Tale issue.
They want stories that
reinterpret well-known (or less well-known) fairy tales and fantasy stories, or tropes. A starting point would be stories told from another character’s viewpoint, for example. (Women, fae, or even otherkin…)
Stories which flesh out the women characters in fairy tales is another possible angle. Stories which thoughtfully reinterpret or relocate “European” fairy tales in non-European contexts are also interesting to us (especially since many of these stories have non-European origins, for example, Cinderella). What happens to fairy tales when cultures collide is another idea.
If you have something – a story, an idea – then by all means work on it and send it in!
* * *
So I’ve started watching BBT‘s Season 2. Some random thoughts:
1. I want Sheldon Cooper’s T-shirt folder.
2. I think Leonard looks like a gay beautician.
* * *
Penny: Has Leonard ever dated a girl who’s not, you know, smart?
Sheldon: Well, once he dated a woman who has a Ph. D. in French Literature.
Penny: How does that not count as “smart”?
Sheldon: Well, for starters, she’s French. And it’s literature.
* * *
The rack where I hang my clothes finally collapsed beneath the weight of my various tops and pants, and so I came home and found my clothes on the floor. Being an enterprising homeowner, I Mighty-Bonded the rack to the door.
Evidently I had applied too much Mighty Bond. I now own a blouse glued to its hanger.
True story.
mini-reviews, 4
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
Well, I didn’t know John Turturro was in this film; if I knew then I would have entered the cinema with a little more than a vague, vague curiosity. John Travolta as the crazy-ass hostage taker, with bespectacled Denzel Washington chained behind a microphone. Pelham 1 2 3, the train, comes to a sudden halt, Travolta’s Ryder gives his demand, and filmmaker Tony Scott freeze-frames every now and then to slap us with the number of minutes remaining, just in case we forget. It’s quick, it’s sleek, and it’s exactly what I needed that Friday afternoon.
James Gandolfini is in this film, too. Bet you didn’t know that.
The Green Mile (novel)
I’ve seen the film years before, and I’ve been meaning to read the novel, but every time I dropped by the bookstore I only find the last two volumes (it was originally published as a serial novel), and what the hell was I supposed to do with that, right. Before going to the movies I passed by a BookSale branch and lo and behold, a copy meant just for me. Good, strong writing, even some lovely passages (See? Even genre readers care about language); a story I can easily get lost in. I finished it late on Saturday night. And because I’ve seen the film first I couldn’t help but hear Tom Hanks’s voice in my head as I read the words of the Narrator.
Sigh, I want to see the film again.
PS I’m pretty sure Cois will again say I should read Hearts in Atlantis, and what is wrong with me? But I’m working on it, I swear! :D
* * *
While in Powerbooks I saw a copy of Tana French’s new book on the counter. I didn’t even know she’d already come out with a sequel!
I really liked her debut novel, In The Woods, but originally had misgivings about the idea of a sequel. (I liked Rob more than Cassie, for one.) Then I saw the book and now I want iiiiiit.
I’ll have to save money, then I’ll come back to grab it. Hopefully by then there’ll be cheaper copies.
* * *
During the screening I saw the trailer of Surrogates, a sci-fi flick starring Bruce Willis. Looks interesting.
* * *
I just found out today that I was this close to winning a free book. :) Tell a mystery/romance sci-fi story in 126 characters, they said, so I sent:
Congrats also to Celestine and Sir Kenneth. :D
earthset
“Earthset” is in the June 15 issue of the Philippines Graphic.
I just wanted to mention that.
Thanks to Sir Kenneth for the head’s-up, and Charles for checking. Will link once the website’s updated. Okay, okay? :)
fiction for 6/12
Philippine Genre Stories and A Time for Dragons contributor Paolo Chikiamco (did I get that spelling right) on June 11 posted a call for six-word speculative fiction stories to celebrate this year’s Independence Day. What better way to celebrate freedom than with stories, right.
I sent him four, and here’s my personal favorite:
I’m now seriously thinking of turning this into a story. :)
* * *
Read more of these short short short stories here. Maybe next year you’ll have more entries, eh, Mr. Chikiamco? And maybe a book? And and prizes?
Kidding.
* * *
Here’s an article about Independence Day from the National Historical Institute. Makes you wonder how things would have turned out if Aguinaldo did different.
* * *
So I’ve been reading Issue 8 of Expanded Horizons, and I have to say that Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s “King of Sand and Stormy Seas” is my favorite story there.
* * *
Here’s a cool announcement about the EH issue from the World SF blog.
Eliza Victoria 