writing – Page 5 – Eliza Victoria

an article in katha magazine

I listed down my favorite local reads in the latest issue of the gorgeous Katha Magazine. Check it out!

‘fade’ for LONTAR: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction

I am happy to share that Fiction Editor Jason Erik Lundberg has acquired my story, “Fade”, for issue 4 of LONTAR: The Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction. The issue won’t be out until April 2015, but here’s how the story begins:

After waking up from a particularly disturbing dream, she turned to him and said, “I dreamt that the world was ending. The news anchor was talking about it, but no one listened to her, even when she started to cry. You were there. You didn’t listen to her. You said, I need to catch my bus to Baguio, and I tried to stop you because the world is ending, but you left anyway. And so I sat alone in the living room and watched the news anchor say, This is going to be our last broadcast, and the screen turned to static, and the light outside disappeared as though someone had flicked a switch and turned off the sun, and I thought, Oh this is it then, the end of the world, and you’re not even here.”

Rebecca woke up with her knees hurting and her fingers as cold as icicles, and the specifics of her life returned to her as the dream disappeared: weekend, hotel room, Baguio, memory, memory, memory.

My thanks to Jason.

upcoming stories

My story “Fortitude” will be included in the upcoming anthology Science Fiction: Filipino Fiction for Young Adults, edited by Dean Francis Alfar and Kenneth Yu.

Trivia: this is the first story I’ve ever written on a tablet. Sci-fi! (It was pretty difficult, though — I missed the feel of a keyboard. It was like I was sending a very long, hateful text to an enemy.)

Another story of mine, the short short “Stories from the City”, will appear in the second installment of Fast Food Fiction, a collection of stories each with a maximum word count of 500 words, and edited by Mookie Katigbak-Lacuesta and Noelle de Jesus.

My thanks to the editors.

new poems + mibf 2014

I have five new poems in Issue 23 of Kritika Kultura. You can read them here.
Visprint Inc. won’t have its own booth at the upcoming Manila International Book Fair (Sept. 17-21, SMX Convention Center, 10-8pm), but our books can be found at the Precious Pages booth! I will also be there for a book signing session on Sept. 20 (Saturday) from 11-12nn. See you!
From Visprint:

All Visprint titles will be sold at 10% off at the Manila International Book Fair, by our selling partner Precious Pages

Meet and greet your favorite Visprint authors at the Precious Pages booth at the following schedule:

Sept 19:
1PM – Paolo Chikiamco and Mervin Malonzo
2PM – Eros Atalia

Sept 20:
11AM – Eliza Victoria, Joselito D. Delos Reyes and Ferdinand Pisigan Jarin;
1PM – Jose Carlos Malvar and Karl R. De Mesa
2PM – Alan Navarra, David Hontiveros and Karen Francisco;
5PM – Beverly Wico Siy

Sept 21:
2PM – G.M. Bart Coronel

Adarna House has uploaded this printable ticket so you can gain free entrance. Black and white printouts are accepted at the gate.

an essay in esquire philippines

The essay’s about a past life reading I underwent. And I share space with the Eraserheads! How unlikely, and how cool.

Grab a copy.

usapang may-akda #1 at uno morato

uno morato 2 — Photo from Princess F. L-R: Adam, Mervin, me.

I was so happy to finally get the chance to visit Uno Morato in Quezon City, and to be a part of a creators’ discussion to boot! The first Usapang May-Akda, hosted by Adam David, featured Mervin Malonzo and me. We are all readers of each other’s work, and this definitely elevated the quality of our discussion about our influences and process.

Let me share with you Adam’s questions:

1) Influences on your horror work – even non-horror influences (ie, Rizal as influence on TABI PO), even extra-literary influences (news, creepy pasta). Question on process: how do you prep for working on your work?

2) Eliza’s very urban horror VS Merv’s very rural horror – also modern VS traditional? – care to elaborate on the whys and wherefores of the two? Why choose one over the other? Question on subject: why do you write about what you write about?

3) The human body as site for potential acts of horror, rendered to it and rendered by it – body horror: the sexual implications of, the sexual assault subtext of, the sadomasochist dimensions of, the horrific act as release of sexual energy – consumption (TABI PO) and possession (DWELLERS) as an unwilling owning of another’s body, as objectification of the body, as rape. Still a question on subject: why do you write about what you write about?

4) Talk about upcoming work! Solo projects, collaborations.

I really loved the questions, and the questions that arose during the discussion itself. You may listen to Adam’s audio recording here (English/Filipino) or here (Mervin cleaned up the audio to make it clearer). Warning: Laughter, in-jokes, digressions.

Maraming salamat kay Adam at sa Uno Morato, at sa lahat ng dumalo at naki-chika sa amin. Sa uulitin!

Usapang May-Akda #1 - Uno Morato — Mervin’s mural on Uno Morato’s wall.

uno morato 1 — Photo from Uno Morato on Facebook.

After the talk, the guys sat down to play Resistance. Do visit Uno Morato, read some books, have coffee, and play some games. I love the place.

chasing tales: talking fantasy on a saturday night

I spent a lovely Saturday evening with writers Erika Carreon and Carlo Flordeliza, the folks of MoarBooks, and lovers of fantasy stories. Many many thanks to Wina Puangco, Nico Pascual, and the rest of Team MoarBooks for having me at the first installment of Chasing Tales. I had SO much fun talking about writing, and listening to my fellow speakers talk about their process and writing goals. (And the books they are reading — I should make a list! I am very much interested in What Keeps Me Here by Rebecca Brown.) Thank you to the attendees for their enthusiasm and support! Such a smart bunch — I loved the open forum and the coziness of a small group discussing the things I love.