So… RP612fic 2011. Let’s crunch the numbers.
427 stories. Four hundred twenty seven stories were contributed this year (and that’s not even taking into account the forty-nine sent on the 8th for Philippine corals blog action day) and as someone who laments the lack of Philippine alternative history fiction–that brings a smile to my face. Some may quibble about the definition of “story” here, but even counterfactuals can make the reader stop and think about what actually happened, what could have happened, and all the space in-between–and that’s part of what I’d like people to do on Independence Day.
An even better number: 56. Fifty six people–poets, bloggers, Palanca winners, film makers, comic creators, anime fans–contributed stories this year (65 if you include those who only sent in on the 8th) and as someone who believes we need more writers–especially spec fic writers–that brings a smile to my face.
But best of all, for me, was seeing the somewhat amused bewilderment with which non-contributors met the deluge of strange tweets with the #RP612fic hashtag, many retweeting some of their favorites. That means we were successful at raising awareness, whether that be awareness of Independence Day, Philippine alternative history, Philippine microfiction, or all of the above. That’s a good thing, and I’m grateful to have Twitter as a platform for this sort of campaign.
That being said Twitter is not the most stable place to host 400+ stories for any length of time, so I’ve aggregated the RP612 contributions for 2011 in this post (at least, those in the public timeline and/or by my Twitter contacts). I’ve done this via screen capture (except for some tweets that weren’t on the public timeline) because it was easier than transcription, but EK Gonzales has graciously created a word file of contributions as of noon of June 13. You can find that here.
I’ve blacked out some of the non-story tweets (upon review I realized I missed a few) and I’ve left in some of the praise/compliments and highlighted them in green, because I need affirmation. As with any twitter search, it’s reverse chronological, so if you want to read from start to finish (again, with a few exceptions), head to the bottom of the post first, and read upwards.
Before we get to that though, I’d like to give a shout out to all the contributors, and list them here so that you can add to the people you follow on Twitter if you so desire Once again, thank you everyone, and I hope you had as much fun as I did. See you all next year!
1. adamfuckindavid
2. aeditor91
3. ageofbrillig
4. aghostworld (via email)
5. alexeivee
6. allify
7. almeldiel
8. amosias
9. Anitero
10. Andreal
11. Apil (via email)
12. Beerkada
13. biaxident
14. brilums
15. Budjette
16. charlesatan
17. chemikhazi
18. chinosingson
19. clickmomukhamo
20. DeanAlfar
21. dcimafranca
22. diveabout
23. Ekmisao
24. elizawriteshere
25. Et_Al_Crazy
26. Francis_d_twit
27. freakypencils
28. headpointernext
29. isangboses
30. jpedrovaldes
31. jpxv
32. KaEnchong
33. Kannibal
34. Kate Aton-Osias (via email)
35. Kenneth_Yu
36. kennethgyu
37. komikero
38. layangabi
39. lengthofwords
40. listenshadow
41. luckychan
42. lyzalust
43. magnetic_rose
44. marcosumayao
45. melanchoholik
46. miithinks
47. mitchcerda
48. moyzie01
49. nerveending
50. nobbiekenobi
51. Plsburydoughboy
52. shinkaide
53. skipdlc
54. smirksweetly
55. stormberry
56. tinlao
57. transparentboy
58. Transparentboy
59. umichii
60. unlawyer
61. voltaire
62. wagmagalit
63. wulffrick03
64. yvette_tan
65. zekemachine
Here are a few tweets that aren’t listed when you search the twitter public timeline, either because they belong to friends-only feeds (EK and Lyza) or the search is just broken (Joseph’s since his later contributions show up.)
Ekmisao #RP612fic Dimension portal discovered at Bilibid. Exits to Makati Central Business District.
Ekmisao #RP612fic Jose, talked into reason by friends, begins training as internist in Germany. He has no time left to write.
Ekmisao: #RP612fic Kyubei: has no one told you that Corazon made a contract with me?
Ekmisao #RP612fic “Come join us, Senor Ibarra,” Elias pleaded. “No,” Ibarra declared, “I shall come with -you-.”
Ekmisao #RP612fic after losing control of mafia family Vongola,Giotto runs to Philippines.10 mafia generations later…
Ekmisao #RP612fic new comic series by @Budjette Tan is worldwide phenomenon
Ekmisao #RP612fic 2020: McArthur stepped out of the spacecraft. “People of the Philippines,I have returned.”
Ekmisao #RP612fic Yukishiro Enishi escaped arrest by running to Philippines; took on identity of jeweler Simoun. #rurounikenshingeekery
Ekmisao #RP612fic Mrs. Rizal hugged her son. “I am so, so, sorry, Pepe, but the crops failed this year. We cannot send you to Manila to study.”
Ekmisao #RP612fic Jose Rizal sighed and shelved the draft. No one would want to read a self-pub. What was he thinking?
Ekmisao #RP612fic “Patawad, Florante,” wika ni Laura, “ngunit hindi kita mahal.”
Ekmisao #RP612fic “What the–where’s the Ibong Adarna?!”the prince demanded. “Tonyo!” a lola cried out to a boy,”Just what bird was the tinola?”
Ekmisao #RP612fic Phillip was not to be king of Espanya,Magellan was told just before setting sail.
Lyzalust #RP612fic Ninoy’s lifeless body was flashed onscreen. “Finally,” Marcos said, “we are safe.” That night, zombies started flooding EDSA.
Lyzalust #RP612fic “I’m a creature of the night!” The Manananggal said as they hauled him into the police car. “Sorry kid. Curfew. It’s Martial Law.”
Lyzalust #RP612fic Following the Eraserheads’ 17th Grammy win, the President decided to change the national anthem to ‘Ang Huling El Bimbo’.
Lyzalust #RP612 The only way to keep the country’s tourism alive: they started training psychologists specializing in dealing with suicidal tarsiers.
Lyzalust #RP612fic Pacquiao won his 100th fight, ramming his opponent with fists of steel. “So that’s where all the military funds went…”
Lyzalust #RP612fic “We have a better solution than the RH Bill,” The Aswang delegate said. “Let us adopt your babies.”
Lyzalust #RP612fic Once the Robinsons Malls established itself in the global arena, there was a hike in snake population.
Lyzalust #RP612fic Ondoy devoured the entire archipelago – except for Siquijor, which was kept afloat by witches. [#MissingCampLookout
]
Lyzalust They believed EDSA would drive Marcos away- until they saw Imelda in her true form, all 3,000 of her feet ready to kick them dead. #RP612fic
Fredjordan One Sunday morning, a young man logged off from all his social networking sites and started a revolution. #RP612fic
It’s entirely possible that I (or, more likely, Twitter search!) missed a tweet or a tweet-er, and if so, let me know in the comments!
Hey Pao! There’s also this, which I think ought to be included in the list above by @fredjordan–
@fredjordan : One Sunday morning, a young man logged off from all his social networking sites and started a revolution. #RP612fic
Ah, I saw that one in EK’s transcript so thought the timeline would pick it up. Thanks Tin!
This one was missed: #RP612fic The journalists assembled themselves from the grounds of their massacre. They would tell their story to all who will listen.
But 427 distinct tweet stories. WHOA.
I got listed twice. AWESOME.:))