Category: writing

psf6 lineup revealed

From co-editor Kate Aton-Osias’s blog:

After several months of reading (and reading, and reading), intense discussions, emails and follow ups, Nikki and I are pleased to announce the Philippine Speculative Fiction 6 line up (in no particular order):

  1. Alternative Histories by Ian Rosales Casocot
  2. Strange Adventures in Procreation by Andrew Drilon
  3. Lament of the Counselor by Jay Anyong
  4. The Grim Malkin by Vincent Michael Simbulan
  5. A Smell of Mothballs by Mailin Paterno
  6. Ashland by Elyss G. Punsalan
  7. Carpaccio (or, Repentance as a Meat Recipe) by Arlynn Despi
  8. Eternal Winter by Maria Pia Vibar Benosa
  9. From the Book of Names My Mother Did Not Give Me by Christine V. Lao
  10. Hollowbody by Crystal Koo
  11. Offerings to Aman Sinaya by Andrei Tupaz
  12. On Wooden Wings by Paolo Chikiamco
  13. Prisoner 2501 by Philip Corpuz
  14. Resurrection by Victor Ocampo
  15. Simon’s Replica by Dean Alfar
  16. Break in at Batay Street by Francis Gabriel Concepcion
  17. The Big Man by Asterio Gutierrez
  18. The Bookshelves of Mrs. Go by Charles Tan
  19. The Impossible and the R.S.C. Gregorio del Pilar by Alex Osias
  20. The Kiddie Pool by Kenneth Yu
  21. The Storyteller’s Curse by Eliza Victoria
  22. Villainoguing by Joseph Montecillo
For those interested in stats (like me, haha) this year, we have 22 stories total, of which 21 will see their first publication in PSF6. There are 15 guys and 7 gals in the anthology and the story subsets include horror, sci-fi, 2nd world and urban fantasy.
The book is slated to be launched in March. Congrats to my fellow contributors! Can’t wait! :D

gratitude

Thank you to Elyss for making my day, haha!

Fiction writer Elyss Punsalan runs the monthly podcast site Pakinggan Pilipinas.

And of course you can always read “Reunion” here. :)

‘children’ in the philippines graphic

My short story, “Children“, is in the latest issue of the Philippines Graphic. Thanks to Angelo Ancheta for the tip! (I’ve forgotten to check, and the last e-mail I received from Mr. Salud was him saying he’ll talk with the Lit editor if my story has been accepted.)

Thanks to Editor Joel Salud and Literary Editor Alma Carpio for accepting my story for publication.

Congrats also to the winners of the Philippines Graphic’s annual Nick Joaquin Literary Awards!

weekend update

Shameless plug: My page and Usok interview are now up on Rocket Kapre. Thanks Paolo C. for all the hard work!

* * *

This week’s “weekend” started on Wednesday for me. I used up my accumulated days-off after working for nine straight days (!).

On Wednesday I was finally able to introduce Jaykie to my friend, Eula. Pancake House at Market Market + Girbaud (I bought a wallet for my father) +  Payless (I bought shoes!) + CBTL at High Street before heading home.

I like Payless. Shoes are relatively cheap and are arranged according to size. So you need only know your size and stay in front of that shelf trying things on.

I bought a pair of purple flats. I have a lot of purple things, but no purple shoes yet.

Jaykie bought leather shoes.

Payless gave us a huge-ass paper bag, haha.

Thanks Eula for the earrings!

Eula and her mom have an online shop by the way. They sell earrings, headbands, and bags. Check out Chic Collective. :)

On Thursday I went jogging in UP. I miss jogging here. I used to jog here all the time, back when I still lived in UP Bliss. Jaykie and I are planning to make a weekly habit out of it. (He wasn’t with me that Thursday though; he had class.)

I wasn’t too fond of Friday and Saturday. Too many blue notes. There’s that trip in February to either look forward to or watch with dread as it approaches. Ah, money. Ah, schedule. It’s awful to feel awful about a looming vacation.

Wish the following weeks are happier.

2010 reads

First off, good news in the writing department: after a minor rewrite, Expanded Horizons has accepted my story, “Intersections”. Sci-fi, this one. The editor’s looking at a February run date. What a way to start the year!

* * *

Anyway, I just want to share

The books and stories and poems I read (and loved) in 2010

in no particular order

  1. The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint
  2. “Jumper Cable: The Crossing” in the PGS: Christmas issue
  3. We Are All Welcome Here
  4. 20th Century Ghosts
  5. A Storm of Swords
  6. Lucky
  7. The Killing Joke
  8. Twisted 8 1/2
  9. Philippine Speculative Fiction V
  10. Hunger Games trilogy
  11. Scott Pilgrim
  12. The Unnamed
  13. Tales of Beedle the Bard
  14. The Society of Others
  15. All Over But the Shoutin’
  16. Video
  17. The River King
  18. A Clash of Kings
  19. Dot.bomb
  20. House of Leaves
  21. The Likeness
  22. Ender’s Game
  23. The Beauty Myth
  24. “We Heart Vampires!!!” from Strange Horizons
  25. “The Six Skills of Madame Lumiere” from Beneath Ceaseless Skies
  26. “The Cassandra Project” in Lightspeed
  27. “Beach Blanket Spaceship” in Clarkesworld
  28. “No Two Stones” in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly
  29. “What Sieglinde Serpentslayer Said to the King”in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly (poetry)
  30. “Kali Yuga” in Innsmouth Free Press
  31. December Lights
  32. “New York City as Temporal Measurement” in The Collagist (poetry)
  33. “Let Me Explain” (poetry)
  34. “Colosseum” (poetry)
  35. “Why You Should Never Marry a Poet” (poetry)
  36. Usok # 2
  37. “The Facts of the Case” in High Chair (poetry)

I’m sure I’ve read certain stories/poems that I just forgot to take note of, but this is more or less my list.

I should read more online pieces. Everyone should. There are some gems there.

stone telling

My poem, “Archaeology“, is in the second issue of Stone Telling, edited by Rose Lemberg.

I also joined the Stone Telling roundtable discussion conducted by Julia Rios. Included in the roundtable were Mary Alexandra Agner, Athena Andreadis, Lisa Bradley, Yoon Ha Lee, and Erika Peterson.

Julia Rios: Eliza, your piece ties together some of the strong themes of this issue in its exploration of the way people and places are buried and rediscovered, forgotten and remembered. Though tractors pulverize the land and turn people into rubble, the mother in your prose poem does not stay rooted in anger. Instead she comes to feel protective of every pebble. The world is in a constant state of flux, and all of us are part of that. To what extent should we preserve past things, and how can we continue to survive and create anew responsibly?

Eliza Victoria: That’s an interesting reading. I wrote the part about the mother to highlight the fact that if you don’t know where someone is, then they’re everywhere. And if they’re everywhere, everywhere is sacred. With the body embedded in the landscape, even a pebble cannot be dismissed.

To what extent should we preserve past things? I cannot say “completely” with determination – in the context of the personal this is considered unhealthy: consider the mother whose son has died and who keeps her son’s room the way it is when he left, like an altar – down to the bed sheets, the posters on the wall, the unopened gifts. One must not do this, one must “move on”. But in the context of the public sphere this is acceptable: we build monuments, we leave the blood streaks untouched, we show videos of the torture.

But I believe this: we must remember. And we must write what we remember, and write it accurately, in case the memory, or the physical proof, gets lost.

My deepest thanks to Rose and Julia and my co-authors.