Filipina author (and Alternative Alamat contributor) Rochita Loenen-Ruiz has just been short-listed for the 2012 British Science Fiction Association Awards for her story “Song of the Body Cartographer”” (published in country’s very own Philippine Genre Stories). Congratulations, Rochita!
And the nomination couldn’t come at a better time, as I hope it introduces more people to Rochita’s fiction, and in turn, I hope those new readers will consider contributing to this year’s World SF Travel Fund. The fund was set up to enable one or two international persons involved in science fiction, fantasy or horror to travel to a major genre event — you’ll recall it was successful in bringing Charles Tan to the World Fantasy Convention in 2011. Rochita is one of the beneficiaries this year (alongside Csilla Kleinheincz, a Hungarian-Vietnamese writer) and it would be wonderful if she got the chance to attend a major United States genre convention, so do check out the Peerbackers page.