Category: writing

“sand, crushed shells, chicken feathers”, reviewed

The Portal recently reviewed the January to February stories published on the World SF blog, and gave a favorable review to “Sand, Crushed Shells, Chicken Feathers“.

The World SF Blog, run by Lavie Tidhar and Charles Tan, was set up in 2009 to carry news and features on science fiction from the world over. For the last few months, the blog has also been publishing fiction (mostly reprints); this is a look at the stories posted in the first two months of 2011, and it is quite a mixed bag. Nick Wood tells a fine tale of a man whose relationship is becoming as dried out as the land. Pyotr Kowalczyk contributes an amusing portrait of a ramshackle trip into space. Michael Haulica’s story of a gastronomic experiment gone wrong is let down by its translation. Ekaterina Sedia’s piece evokes a keen sense of loss as the supernatural meets the real world. Eliza Victoria brings magic into the real world in a different way, magic that’s enigmatic to her readers and characters alike. Stephen Kotowych poses some intriguing questions about time, in a story that doesn’t quite succeed as a whole. And Charlie Human chills with his brief depiction of a new way to fight a battle.

…

Eliza Victoria’s story “Sand, Crushed Shells, Chicken Feathers” (2010; first published in the Philippine Free Press) concerns two college roommates: John, a firm believer in the supernatural; and Zachary, who is much more skeptical, despite all his grandmother’s tales of magic. Zachary may have cause to question his assumptions, though, when he comes home one day to find John in tears, with the strange voice of an apparently lost girl on the other end of his phone. John was trying to find the spirit of his dead sister, Emma, and instead found two strangers. What really makes this tale work is that Victoria incorporates the supernatural in such a way that it becomes both down-to-earth and mysterious; the magic feels as though it belongs to the contemporary world (with, for example, its use of modern technology), yet one’s sense of exactly how it works and what it does remains murky. The combined effect is nicely unsettling.

The Portal also liked “Parallel“.

Click on the links if you want to read the reviews and/or stories. :)

stone telling 3 toc

Eee, I’m so happy to see my name on the cover! Love the colors.

From Rose Lemberg:

As you may have noticed, the third issue is not here yet. I’ve been hit by a particularly nasty flu, and had some other health and work issues that delayed my progress. However, we’re back on track, and the issue should go up sometime next week. Meanwhile, here is the cover and the lineup. I cannot wait to share these poems and columns with you – they are absolutely wonderful.

Poetry:

Jo Walton, “The Weatherkeeper’s Diary”

Ben Cartwright, “Newton’s First Copy of Euclid”
Sara Saab, “11:40PM”
Michael R. Fosburg, “A Dreamed Zodiac”
Caitlyn Paxton, “Firefly Girls”
Susan Rooke, “Jonah’s Widowed Wife”
Emily Jiang, “Rice Cooker Dreams”
William Doreski, “Self-Portrait as Mushroom”
Mary Turzillo, “Moving to Enceladus”
Eliza Victoria, “Sodom Gomorrah”
Sonya Taaffe, Persephone in Hel” 

Catherynne Valente “The Secret of Being a Cowboy” 

Non-fiction:
Deborah Brannon. The Pantoum.

Nin Harris. Visions of Courtly Life Translated into Contemporary Meditations: Muhammad Haji Salleh’s Sajak-Sajak Sejarah Melayu

poetry sales

  • Stone Telling will be reprinting my poem “Sodom Gomorrah” in their much-awaited Whimsy issue. My thanks to editor Rose Lemberg. The piece originally appeared in (the now sadly defunct)Writers’ Bloc (Rutgers).
  • Basement Stories will be reprinting my poem “Dreams After the Storm” in their upcoming fourth issue. My thanks to editor James Dent. I sent them an edited version of the piece that appeared in Rocket Kapre’s Ruin and Resolve anthology, which was published to help the victims of Ondoy and Pepeng.

Sooo I’ll just be here waiting for the contracts and editing notes. Will link to the pieces once they’re live on the respective sites.

:)

the weekend

Friday! Early lunch at Army Navy and Frutti Froyo c/o Jaykie and family. Burned calories in badminton (where I thought I would win against J, and then didn’t). Off to the mall to buy stuff for the boyfriend, puttanesca and pizza at Sbarro, then home. Got drunk on House (Season 5 and some of S6) and Pretty Little Liars. Slept. A lot.

*

Was finally able to watch Tangled with my mother and sister. I watched it in 2D, so I don’t know if it’s more exciting to watch in its intended format. I do agree with Roger Ebert’s contention though that colors appear dimmer in 3D. Not to mention that the 3D glasses are cumbersome and the illusion, albeit nifty, give me slight headaches. I’d like to avoid 3D now.

To be perfectly honest, I didn’t think much of Tangled when I first saw the trailer. Ack, another Disney re-imagining of a fairy tale highlighting love and cuteness – and it’s not even Pixar-made! I wasn’t excited about it. What else can you change about Rapunzel’s story to make it fresh and interesting?

I was so glad to be proven wrong. Thank you for the songs and the lanterns, Disney. If ever you felt the urge to translate this film onto the stage as a musical (and what a lovely musical it would make! Imagine the set pieces!), I’d see it in a heartbeat.

(And this should have won Best Song over Toy Story 3. Yes, I’m dissing Pixar for you, Disney. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME. I’m a horrible person.)

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Commercial break: My story, “Voyage to Bathala”, will appear in the March 19 issue of the Philippines Free Press, available in bookstands by March 16. :) Do buy and read?

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So I received payment for a story sale via PayPal instead of via a paper check, and I realized, instead of sending back the money and demanding the check, might as well use the funds to – what else? – buy books online. (The first PayPal payment I received was for a poem, and I used that to donate to Duotrope. It’s a very helpful site.)

I’m so 21st century. (I don’t buy things online. I don’t have a credit card. And I don’t even have an ebook reader. And I hate iTunes with all of my being. I’m still not so 21st century, it turns out.)

Books, old and new, are offered at reasonable prices at the The Book Depository, an online bookseller based in the UK, and they offer free shipping to the Philippines! (Exclamation points!!!) So I got Tana French’s Faithful Place, a book that’s already available here but only in (expensive) hardcover, and Lauren Beukes’s acclaimed novels Zoo City and Moxyland, books I can’t find here anywhere. All for around 26 dollars, or around a thousand pesos.

One story = three books. Not a bad trade. Hope the books get here safely, and soon.

*

I’ve been feeling rather sad these past few days for whatever reason, but the weekend was able to exorcise all the bad vibes. There’s no place like home.

free press + further story pimpage

I love that Philippines Free Press has already updated its website. New stories/poems every week!

Some recommendations:

“The Battle of Ayala” by Glenn Diaz

“Two Poems” by Allan Justo Pastrana

the divining that doesn’t reach the ear, as all hear,
from the gut, pure animal pain instead when the car

they’re in passes by—so what of the poor pig lying
near the gutter, writhing for being alive still, the throat

slit, from where too much blood gushed,
from what seems to be the only opening, like a window

alone that you lean to, pocket of air, the middle
you once dreamed about, that is as hollow as what a body

can be made of. That no one recalls the last word. That no-
body makes a sound—

* * *

Another thing I love: that friends and fellow writers are telling me that they enjoyed “Summer Evening“, with Tin Lao saying it’s “sick, a la Inglorious Basterds/Pulp Fiction”.

Go read! /whore