Updates

hello 2013

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 lists A 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 recommends Lower 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.

Asimov's SF

And here’s J, channeling Bruce Lee in Bulacan.

J as Bruce Lee

More blather about 2012 to follow. But I’m grateful, grateful, grateful. Happy New Year, everybody!  :)

snoe in december

Back! And my Christmas weekend can be summed up in one photograph:

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J with a bag of bags of chips.

I got some gifts for myself. Thanks to Carina of Softly Sometimes, I discovered another local source of organic products and cosmetics, Snoe Beauty. A worthy addition to all of my Human Nature products.

I got Poudre Phenomenon, Rouge Deluxe in Vintage Rose, and Beso Balm. Don’t you just love the packaging?

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Poudre Phenomenon is a “completely translucent powder that sets foundation and mattifies skin. It will soften the appearance of skin imperfections and fits all skin tones. Oil -absorbing nutrient rich Bamboo Silk & high-grade ultra fine silica powder covers the pores without clogging. Witch hazel extract control excess sebum and protects against irritation. Sage extract to help shrink pores. Purefix- DC inhibits acne bacteria. It will stop inflammation and also acts as an anti-oxidant.”

I applied Poudre Phenomenon on my bare face and it lay translucent on my skin. I’m amazed it didn’t come off as espasol white, no matter how much powder I put on. I’m excited about the promise of oil control because I’m a commuter, but I haven’t tested it yet. Let’s see what happens during the summer.

Beso Balm is mentholated like HHN’s Tinted Lip Balm, but moisturizes much much better. Vintage Rose is a pink shade with a hint of mauve, for that fresh look. It’s a shade you can wear every day. See the other colors here.

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Order Snoe Beauty products online.

one more page reviews lower myths, the viewless dark, storm clouds

Well, if this ain’t the best way to cap off my week: Tina Matanguihan of One More Page reviews my three books.

Lower Myths is a good starter for Eliza’s works, if you’re into quick, fantasy reads with a local flavor. Of course, it could also be too short for you, but that’s why you’d end up looking for her other works just to satisfy that craving. :)

A Bottle of Storm Clouds is one of those books that you can’t help but keep on reading but you also don’t want to end just yet. I tried not to read this book too fast because I wanted to savor each story. There’s something interesting and entirely different in each story — some of them were creepy, most of them sad, but all had really good fantasy elements that stretched my imagination wider than it did before. :) I liked how Eliza hinged most of the stories with real human experiences like grief and sadness, family and friendship and love and even selfishness and life crisis.

The Viewless Dark…even if I read this in broad daylight, I still felt creeped out every now and then with the story. I liked how the story unfolded from the death of Flo and into flashbacks that pointed just to how exactly Flo ended up that way to what happened to Anthony’s family. I liked how vivid the setting was and how sufficiently creepy the “possession” they set up, until the final twist in the end which undid everything I thought I knew. And then Eliza wraps it up in a different way, giving it a poignant, almost hopeful ending.

Read the full post here.

‘party like it’s 1999’

It’s the end of the world and we’re still here, so I’m going to Bulacan for Christmas. Maybe The Hobbit tonight, maybe another poem tomorrow.

I might be offline until Tuesday night, but first, here are last night’s office shenanigans at the Hard Rock Cafe, starring the Mocha Girls.

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Got Revlon Colorburst in Sugar Plum at the office exchange gift! It’s a great shade. Here be my big face:

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Before I let you go, a couple of things:

Be with your loved ones this coming weekend. Take care!

visit the new flipreads!

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From their email:

Flipreads gets a make-over!

More powerful and user-friendly

Last year, on 11/11/11, we launched the country’s first operational ebookstore, Flipreads.com. In the months since, we have been providing ebook retail and distribution service through Flipreads, continually testing our platform and looking for ways to serve our clients and ebook providers better.

Today, 12/12/12, we are happy to announce the brand spanking new Flipreads.com! We didn’t just try to make it look prettier; we also added features more useful to buyers. Some of these features are:

  • A more powerful search function
  • The use of a shopping cart
  • A record of your downloaded ebooks
  • A new payment gateway, Payeasy
  • Integration with Readmill for the iPad

Download an ebook or two now. I have some books available there. Enjoy!

thursday never looking back

Happy to say that I will have three poems – “Notes on the Plagues”, “News About the End of the World” and “Sodom Gomorrah” – in Adam David‘s upcoming electronic anthology Thursday Never Looking Back, a collection that “seeks to gather, process, and perform” various “end-of-the-world scenarios”. The first poem has never been published, while the last two are reprints.

Adam’s aiming to publish this by December the 21st, so you’ll have some pretty things to accompany you before the end of the world. Cover design by Adam David.

thursday never