Hi! Just squeezing in a blog post before

Hi! Just squeezing in a blog post before the rain falls again.

I bought more Nyx SLMC! I love Milan, a “mid-toned blue-toned pink“, the quieter sister of my Addis Ababa tube. This is probably more wearable in the office.

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I also bought San Paulo, plummy-pink, a pink that sits between these two shades, but I haven’t swatched it yet. Here are some nice swatches on Shen’s Addiction.

Oh wait, here you go:

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I ended up on Taste Central again and got a bar of Trader Joe’s PB & J Milk Chocolate Bar. It’s a chocolate bar with creamy peanut butter and raspberry jelly filling. This is the best, and doesn’t feel very heavy. Just don’t eat everything in one sitting. (I did and I’m very sorry.) It sells at PhP 75.

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I bought some gifts for my mother at the Beauty Bar, and got these little samples for free. I do love the Burt’s Bees Intense Hydration Night Cream. It leaves my skin feeling supple and soft. I might just get that when I run out of night creams.

I have used Cure twice already, but I can’t vouch for the exfoliation effects just yet.

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I also saw some tins of Steam Cream at the store, but I controlled myself. Yay? Here’s the Vain Jane gushing about it.

Author and editor Carrie Cuinn has compiled a list of 90-plus authors of Asian descent, with links to their websites and a free sample story. I’m delighted to find my name, and the names of authors I admire, in this list. Click the link and discover some tales!

Meanwhile: The rains are here. Have a green tea cupcake and coffee, dear.

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guest post on rocket kapre: why we read horror

I have a guest post up on Rocket Kapre, manned by fellow writer Paolo Chikiamco.

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I posted an announcement about my new collection of dark fiction, Unseen Moon, the same month two pressure cooker bombs exploded during the Boston Marathon. The following month, three women escaped from a house on Seymour Avenue in Cleveland, freeing themselves from a decade of sex slavery and confinement. In the face of real-life tragedy, who needs horror stories?

Read more here.

how to order ‘unseen moon’, and other updates

So I’m finally done with the posts about my trip. Moving on!

These Tweets from my friend Kate cheered me up this gloomy Friday morning.

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Intrigued? I am done with shipping all of the pre-ordered copies of Unseen Moon, and I’m back to accepting orders. There are two ways you can order:

  1. Email me – victoriaeliza [at] gmail [dot] com – if you want to order, and I will ask Books on Demand Philippines to print you a copy and ship it directly to you. Pro: You’ll get a copy of the book hot off the presses! Con: I won’t be able to sign it beforehand.
  2. Books on Demand Philippines will print you a copy and ship it to me. I’ll sign it, package it, and I’ll ship it to you. Pro: I will be able to sign it beforehand. Con: You will need to shoulder the double shipping fees, which can amount to more than PhP 100. Note: Each copy costs PhP 450.

Either way, if you’re interested, just email me and let’s see what we can do.

Each copy comes with a small gift:

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Cards shipped from London, printed by Moo UK (Note: I only have 50 of these.)

If you live outside of the Philippines, you may want to try the ebook version, or the print version via CreateSpace.

Thanks for looking!

Here’s J wearing the shirt I got him in Bangkok:

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He celebrated his birthday recently, so we got some cupcakes!

Salted caramel:
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Pistachio sans rival:

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On our way to meet with friends, we passed by a Japanese-Korean grocery store and got these:

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Strawberry, Matcha, Sakura Matcha, Blueberry Cheesecake. The cheesecake is the best!

J ended up on Rada St. for work, and we found Mondo Juice + Sip. Try their green tea drink and Caramel Cheesecake.

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My hipster sense is tingling.

Instead of a straw, they give you a tiny wooden knife to cut the plastic cover. The place is called Sip, after all.

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Butchie of Filipina Explorer has included me in her “11 Essential Blogs (And Bloggers) You Oughta Read“. Honored! Thank you very much!

And here’s a recent title consumed, which kept me company from Hanoi to Bangkok:

Into the Darkest CornerInto the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The novel Into the Darkest Corner opens with a transcript of a hearing, followed by a third-person narration of a murder. “As far as days to die were concerned, the longest day of the year was as good a day as any.” I was hooked already at this point, intrigued by the technique of detailing the events through the dying/dead woman’s perspective.

The novel switched to first-person and introduced us to another woman afflicted with a severe case of OCD. “Here I have to check and re-check the flat door properly six or twelve times, and then the communal front door as well.”

The novel, Elizabeth Haynes’ debut, was well-written and tightly paced. I was intrigued, and despite the one-dimensional antagonist (his motivation is plot!) and the not-so-explosive reveal, it kept me reading until the end.

I’ve read many thrillers about escape, but this one is a good, hard look at an escape’s aftermath.

View all my reviews

back + copies of ‘unseen moon’ now here

And I’m back from my nine-day Hanoi-Bangkok-Siem Reap trip with friends! Will post a day-by-day detailed account – with itinerary and costing for interested travelers – after I catch up with my work emails.

UPDATE: Start reading. :)

Hanoi, Vietnam – Day 1 2 3

Bangkok, Thailand – Day 1 2 3

Siem Reap, CambodiaDay 1 2

Anyway, some photos from my phone:

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My high school classmates – and constant travelmates – relaxing outside a small restaurant in Hanoi, Vietnam.
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A touristy photo inside Madame Tussaud’s Bangkok.
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Visiting the temples.

Also, the paperback copies of Unseen Moon are here! Will be shipping these out soon. Visit the Goodreads page or this page for reviews and details about the collection. Thanks to those who have ordered! I hope it’s worth the wait.

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Will work on the next posts/do my laundry/sign the book copies now. *flails and runs*

neon literary magazine, issue # 34, now live

Issue 34 of Neon is here, and I have poems in it. It also features the work of Sam Frankl, Lynn Hoffman, Tracey Iceton, Michael Frazer, Kate Folk, and Heidi James. The cover photograph is by Andrew Shoemaker.

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It’s free to read online, but consider donating, or buying a physical copy. Each issue is 40 pages, A5, saddle-stitched and photo-illustrated in black and white.

Here is “Elegy for the lost minutes“, chosen as part of the preview. My thanks to editor Krishan Coupland.

pre-order the print copy of ‘unseen moon’ (until may 10 only)

Unseen Moon

Unseen Moon by Eliza Victoria
6″ x 9″ (15.24 x 22.86 cm)
220 pages
Paperback
Fiction / Horror / Suspense / Crime
Cover art and design by Biboy Royong

Ghosts in a mansion. A home invasion. A group of friends haunted by a murder. An unlikely friendship, a dead body in an abandoned house. A girl falling to her death, and another falling into the viewless darkness.

Unseen Moon collects five suspenseful stories by award-winning author Eliza Victoria.

Story excerpts, ebook link, and pre-order form after the cut.

Continue reading pre-order the print copy of ‘unseen moon’ (until may 10 only)

Just a quick post for some writing news. Over the weekend I have received proof copy of Issue 34 of Neon Literary Magazine – I have three poems in it! It will be available soon, both online and in UK stores.

And here’s a draft of the upcoming cover for the ebook edition of A Bottle of Storm Cloudsforthcoming from the folks at Flipside.

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