Rocket Kapre – Fantastic Filipino Speculative Fiction

Looks like there are quite a few events going down this Saturday. This one is for you budding writers out there (not necessarily of genre fic) and comes from Writer’s Block Philippines via a Facebook friend (thanks RE!):  Discussion on the Writing Profession with Butch Dalisay – “Everyone’s invited to a discussion on the WRITING PROFESSION with Butch Dalisay on January 29, 3 to 5 pm, at NBS Shangri-la Plaza Mall. Learn how to improve your craft and how to earn a living from writing with BBC’s Rico Hizon, award-winning film director Pepe Diokno and National Book Store’s Miguel Ramos. See you there!”

Can’t really put it any better than Gerry does: “Save your money! Buy comics at Sputnik on January 29, 2011! Let me vandalize your stuff! You know you want to!” The event is at Sputnik at Cubao X and will be held this Saturday, January 29, from 9PM-2AM.

I’ve got another review up on Filipiniana.net that may be of interest to readers and writers of Philippine speculative fiction–not that you’d know it from the title. “Over a Cup of Ginger Tea: Conversations on the Literary Narratives of Filipino Women” is a collection of essays/articles by Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo that revolve around the written works of Filipino women. Two of these articles, “Released by the Story: Gilda Cordero-Fernando’s Modern Tales” and “Genre Fiction: Pinay Style” are great reads for those interested in non-realist (not necessarily speculative) and non-”literary” works of fiction by Filipino women writers. Hidalgo’s writing has a warmth that makes the book easy reading, and, as I say in the review, I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in what Philippine literature is capable of, especially literature produced by women, as well as those curious about areas of literature which have been neglected in the local literary scene.

You can read the full review here.

The lineup for the next volume of the annual Philippine Speculative Fiction anthology (this time edited by Nikki Alfar and Kate Osias) has been announced. I’m happy to say that my story, “On Wooden Wings” (set in the same world as the Kataastaasan comic) made the cut. Here’s the entire table of contents, as announced at Kate’s blog, Wishcatcher (head there for more statistics on the stories in this volume):

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

Congratulations to all the authors, and to Nikki and Kate!

There’s an interesting event taking place this Tuesday (January 25, 7pm) at the Starbucks Drive Through (on 32nd and 7th streets) at Bonifacio Global City Taguig: a discussion with “Storyweavers” such as award winning novelist Criselda Yabes, a visiting foreign publishing executive Nick Wallwork, and–of most interest to Rocket Kapre readers I’m sure–none other than Dean Alfar.

Here’s the entire blurb/invite from Facebook:

We’ve been on break for a while but we’re back. We’re bringing more Dialogues at several more Starbucks cafes this year and we’re starting with a celebration of some of the best sort of people to have over for a cup of coffee: storytellers.

See you on Tuesday!

This morning, on the first day of the “Songs of Memory” international conference on epics and ballads at the Ateneo de Manila, the university launched the online version of its Philippine Epics and Ballads Archive. I’ll have more about the conference in the next week or so, but I wanted to get the word out early about the new site, because anything that helps promote and facilitate access to the stories of pre-Hispanic Philippines is something worth celebrating. The interface may be a bit clunky at the moment (the copyright PDF file is popping up on every page I access with Firefox, although Safari has no issues) but that’s a small price to pay for access to this in-depth archive, previously only available through a visit to Ateneo’s Katipunan/Loyola campus–not something convenient or feasible for many.

Here’s an image explaining the icons that appear on the left side of each page, as seen in Dr. Nicole Revel’s powerpoint presentation at this morning’s launch:

As you can see, the archive is more than just a repository for transcriptions of the epics and ballads. I’ll go into more detail after the cut:

Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a new review online for Dean Alfar’s award-winning spec fic novel “Salamanca”, this time by speculative fiction author Jay Lake (author of books such as Mainspring and Green). He seems to have thoroughly enjoyed the book, so give the review–and Salamanca of course–a read if you can. Congrats to Dean as well for another positive review.

The kindle edition of one of the best books available for writers of science fiction–or anyone at all interested in science–is on sale right now on Amazon.com: Michio Kaku’s “Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel” for the criminally low price of USD1.99 (region dependent  assume). Even if you’re not one of the lucky folks to get a Kindle this Christmas, it’s worth downloading the Kindle for Desktop so you can read this. Mindblowing stuff from a scientist who is a true genre fan, and who is adept at making complex ideas comprehensible. I don’t know how long the book will be on sale, so best grab the opportunity now.

Launched at last year’s Komikon, the Sulyap Komiks Anthology contains samples of the works of a handful of our most successful Philippine independent comics creators: Rommel Estanislao Jr., Macoy, Gio Paredes, Tepai Pascual, Mel Casipit, Josel Nicolas,  RH Quilantang, and Ian Olympia. The creators will have a pair of signings over the next 2 weeks: they’ll be at Powerbooks Greenbelt on January 22 from 4pm onwards, and Powerbooks Mall of Asia on January 29, also from 4pm. Free sketches and giveaways also await visitors, so do come down if you’re in the area.

[Image source: Flipgeeks]

Over at the PGS blog, Kenneth Yu has an interview up with Alex Paman, a past PGS contributor and the author of the book “Asian Supernatural”. Here’s an excerpt:

2. Why do you think you are drawn to or are interested in the supernatural?

I grew up listening to family ghost stories when I was a kid, and our houses in Quezon City and in Naic, Cavite were said to be haunted. I was also a fan of science fiction, fantasy and horror, and already wanted to become a comic book artist early on. It was a natural inclination to want to draw these iconic creatures and collect them for reference.

I enjoy researching the supernatural, because it touches upon an emotion and a state of mind that doesn’t follow logic or common sense. These beings defy what we define as real, and are usually seen when one is alone or mentally distressed. What if there really are worlds and beings that we can’t define or understand? I think Asians and Pacific Islanders are culturally conditioned and wired to believe that they’re real, and the fact that our ancestors thought they existed gives us a remote window to our own past and what we feared in daily life.

Paman gives some very detailed answers, particularly with regard to the lengthy process the book went through before it was picked up for publication. Check out the rest of the interview here.