Several UP Press books are going to be launched next Friday, August 23, including two books by Estranghero Press, The Farthest Shore (which includes my story, “The Just World of Helena Jimenez”, a story that also appears in A Bottle of Storm Clouds) and Diaspora Ad Astra(which includes “Rizal”). Do drop by and buy some books!
On Sept. 7, Visprint, Inc. (publisher of my story collection) and co-presenter National Book Development Board will present the first annual Aklatan: The All-Filipino Book Festival. Read the official press release for the details.
Alphaland Southgate, Magallanes will host this year’s Aklatan on September 7, 2013, Saturday. Although doors open as early as 8 a.m., the formal program will begin at 9 a.m. Artists include Lourd de Veyra, Eros Atalia, and other writers.
Break-out rooms Boracay and Balesin will host talks or seminars and an “unwritten book audition” during which writers will have an opportunity to pitch book ideas to eager publishers, “The Voice of the Philippines” style.
Due to the nature of its inception, the event boasts of a wide and inclusive line-up of Filipino writers and book publishers from critically acclaimed National Artists to their contemporaries preeminent popular culture. Bigger publishers will stand shoulder to shoulder with independent presses.
The complete program is scheduled for release by mid-August. The entrance fee for non-students is P20 while students will receive a 50 percent discount.
Back from the long weekend! I enjoyed staying at home but did not enjoy the heat. No, sir. I have heat rash on my face and arms. A bit annoyed also, because I’m having very little writing done due to work, planning a vacation with my siblings, cleaning the apartment, cooking my own lunch, and other things. I used to have so much writing stamina, but nowadays after work I just go home and watch TV or read a book. I need to save up and buy me some extra hours!
Anyway, this blog post is about book sales (wheeee) and I just want to say that I have received my first sales record from Visprint. I don’t expect much from my sales (Filipino authors, who go through literary life with no agents and no advances, often expect not to be paid, and get surprised when they do get paid a fair amount of money) , but I was happily surprised by the numbers: 507 copies of A Bottle of Storm Clouds sold from September 2012 to February 2013, with 30 copies sold at the book launch during the WIT event. It’s been sold in places in the country that I’ve never been, like Iloilo, GenSan, and the Mt. Cloud Bookshop (I know, yikes, I’ve never been to Baguio). This is why I still love traditional publishing: I can never sell 500 copies on my own (I think), and with such reach.
If you’re one of those who bought a copy of the book, thank you! And thank you to Ms. Nida, Kyra, and Visprint.
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My thanks also to Flipside Publishing for providing me with reports. For 2012, Lower Myths sold 13 copies, and The Viewless Dark sold 8. (I hear you snickering back there. It’s not a lot, I know, but I’ve received good reviews, and I’m grateful. But of course: do buy a copy?)
Apocalypses, I‘m happy to announce, has sold 23 copies so far.
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These numbers are small I know, but they’re not yours they are my own – charot. I’m just here to sell some books.
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In the pipeline: the ebook version of A Bottle of Storm Clouds, a print version of The Viewless Dark as part of an anthology, and a science fiction novel.
I received some pahabol Christmas gifts from Visprint last week. Surprised and touched. I love this notebook.
Ah, the apartment. It’s an endless work-in-progress. I should stay away from groceries. Got these cute laundry baskets from Rustan’s Shopwise.
The curtains are from his ma. It fit the earth-toned motif we accidentally got going on.
And new hair! Of course. My hair was so thick and heavy I decided to have most of them chopped off. Became a mascot for the salon’s Permanent Blowdry service. (“Look at her hair! Ang ganda di ba?”) It was entertaining and weird.
I gave J a link to some easy marinades, and he found one that made the chicken taste…expensive. Haha!
Around midnight we had a McDonald’s craving, but the Globe signal was so bad in our place that the operator couldn’t hear our orders.
So, good job, Globe. You just saved our arteries.
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PS Watch Archer! It’s been described as Arrested Development meets James Bond. Some familiar AD voices there. (And Jessica Walter voices a character that looks like Lucille Bluth – just look at the photo.) It’s irreverent, and hilarious as hell.
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 listsA 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 recommendsLower 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! :)
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.
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.
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.
Eliza Victoria 