Rocket Kapre – Fantastic Filipino Speculative Fiction

From the World SF News Blog, we’ve received word that Charles Tan, of Bibliophile Stalker fame, has won the Last Drink Bird Head Award for International Activism, in recognition for his efforts to bring writers from other literary traditions and countries to the attention of readers in North America, the United Kingdom, and Australia…

Last Drink Bird Head is a flash fiction anthology for the benefit of ProLiteracy.org, where editors Jeff and Ann Vandermeer sent an email to writers with “Last Drink Bird Head” in the subject line and the directions “Who or what is Last Drink Bird Head? Under 500 words.”

According to a post on Jeff Vandermeer’s site, the purpose of the Last Drink Bird Head Awards is to celebrate those in the genre community who enrich it with their time, energy, and words, often for causes greater than themselves. Finalists for this year’s award were chosen for efforts in 2008 and/or 2009.

Congratulations Charles!

EDIT: Aaaaand he takes home the prize. Congratulations Kyu!

Fantasy Magazine recently ran a flash-fiction-and0graphic contest and Filipino author and editor extraordinaire Kenneth Yu’s story has placed in the top three (with the help of Andrew Drilon’s artwork, which PGS veterans will be familiar with).  Fantasy magazine is now holding a poll (until November 1, US Time), and the winner will be determined by the voting public, so please do check the stories out here, enjoy the quality flash, then vote for your favorite.

And hey, while you’re at the site, check out the other excellent pieces of SF fiction available at Fantasy Magazine.

Dominique Cimaframca has uploaded a short slide show from a short workshop he gave for the College Editors Guild of the Philippines. The focus of the approximately twenty slides is flash fiction, and you get to read some samples of Dom’s work in that mode as well.

We’ve already mentioned START HERE–a project collecting artworks inspired by Typhoon Ondoy relief efforts that aims, in turn, to inspire others to help in rebuilding the Philippines–on the site before, and they’ve recently announced (via their newly refurbished site) that they will be having a one day free Sketch-a-Thon on on November 15, 2009, from 10am-7pm at The Forum, 4th Floor, Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street.

From the site:

The START HERE Sketch-a-thon is open to anyone who wants to share their visions of hope, creation and rebuilding through drawing and doodles. All drawings generated that day will be scanned and included in the START HERE online exhibit.

Professional artists will also be on location to accept commissions and money raised from that will also be donated to the survivors of the typhoons. Other donations and pledges will also be accepted throughout the day.

Dominque Cimafranca has launched a new website, aptly named Deadline.kom.ph (note the “k” in “kom”) which serves as an online deadline calendar for writer’s markets that are open to submissions. Here’s what Dominique has to say about the purpose of the website:

As the name says, this site is all about deadlines: whether it’s for a contest or call to submission for an anthology; whether it’s for short stories, poems, artwork, or novels; this is about deadlines, deadlines, deadlines. Why? Because sometimes nothing spurs creativity and kills procrastination more quickly and effectively than a looming immovable target.

Check back with the site from time to time to see what’s coming up soon, or better yet, subscribe to our feed.

If you have any deadlines for contests or anthologies that you want announced here, drop us a note, too.

You can also check out their FAQ here.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2009 Komikon Awards:

Best Graphic Novel / Anthology: Martial Law Babies by Arnold Arre
Best Comic Series: Cast by Jamie Bautista, Nautilus
Best Comic Magazine: Mangaholix by Groundbreakers, Inc.
Best Comic Strip Compilation: Pugad baboy by Pol Medina Jr.
Best Webcomic: Kubori Strips for the Soul by Michael David (www.kuborikikiam.com)
Best Cover: Cast issue 11 by Arnold Arre
Best Comic Creator/s: Arnold Arre
Best Cartoonist: Hazel Manzano, Callwork
Best Komiks Character: Michiko of Ninja Girl Ko!, Mangaholix
Best Comic Scene: Ces’ Poem from Will, Cast issue 10 by Jamie Bautista & Arnold Arre
Grassroot Award:
1st place: Life as Viciously Impossible by Daphne Martinez (Lambchild)
2nd place: Nurse Macho Origins by Mangaholix
3rd place: Kalayaan by Gio Paredes, GMP Comics

Comic Aid Award: Elbert Or and Japan Foundation Manila

And here’s Arnold Arre’s video acceptance speech–he couldn’t make it in person–half of which is actually a video of the popular artist making a few sketches, so check it out:

“On the Far Shore” is what I’m calling this series of interviews with the authors/editors of “The Farthest Shore” an anthology of secondary world fantasy from Filipino writers. The anthology is available here. Today we speak with Rodello Santos, author of “Queen Liwana’s Gambit“.

Could you tell us a bit about your story?

Absolutely. My story is about a young boy who wanders the countryside unsupervised with his best-friend, a chubby yellow rodent who shoots electricity. No wait, that’s Pokemon. Okay, now I remember. My story is about an old woman who bargained with dark powers in her youth and who must now face the consequences. It is based loosely on my own experiences pretending to be an old woman.

How did you hear about the Farthest Shore anthology?

Some of the voices in my head are psychic. Or perhaps I read it on Charles Tan’s Livejournal.

Prior to that, had you ever written a secondary world story before?

Yes, the majority of my stuff is speculative fiction set in secondary worlds. This world is far too boring.

How long did it take you to write the story?

That’s a tough question. The first incarnation of this story was written in 2006 for one of the weekly Flash Challenges at the Liberty Hall Writers’ Forum. For these challenges, writers are given a “trigger” and 90 minutes to write a story. The trigger can be a word, a picture, lyrics, or whatever. So, it took it me 90 minutes to write the first draft, then three years to complete the final revision.

What aspect of the writing did you enjoy the most?

The final draft. By that time, it just required some fine-tuning, and I could enjoy the story without having to make any major choices.

How do you know when a story is “ready”, that it’s time to stop making those minuscule corrections?

When I run face-first into the submission deadline (I can be a terrible procrastinator). I don’t know that one can ever stop tinkering with a story. If I do a few read-throughs and nothing leaps out at me, that’s one sign that it’s about ready. Of course, an author is often the worst judge of his/her own work. Getting feedback from other writers can be invaluable.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a list of some new books that will be available at the Komikon:

• ELMER COLLECTED EDITION by Gerry Alanguilan
• ELMER HARDCOVER SLIPCASE
• WHERE BOLD STARS GO TO DIE Written by Gerry Alanguilan, Illustrated by Arlanzandro C. Esmeña
• UNDERPASS featuring Sim by Gerry Alanguilan, Judas Kiss by David Hontiveros, Budjette Tan and Oliver Pulumbarit,
  Katumbas by David Hontiveros and Ian Sta. Maria, The Clinic by Budjette Tan and Ka-jo Baldisimo.
• THE FIRST ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF PHILIPPINE KOMIKS and CARTOONS by John A. Lent
  Published by Yonzon Associates
• Francisco V. Coching’s EL INDIO
• KOMIKERO COMICS #3 Created and Published by the Komikero Artists Group
• TRESE 3 Mass Murders by Budjette Tan and Ka-jo Baldisimo
• Manix Abrera’s “12?
• Lyndon Gregorio’s “Go Beerkada Rise of the Jhologs”
• Bayan Knights issue 3

Here are the indie participants at the indie tiangge for this year:

1. Leaf
2. RH Quilantang
3. Meganon Comics
4. Macoy
5. Gio Paredes
6. Josel Nicolas
7. I-North
8. Mel Casipit
9. CMYK
10. Silent Sanctum
11. Greepo Comic Group
12. Decaf
13. Atomic Underground
14. C-Shock Team
15. Revel Production
16. Kid Corva
17. Makurai
18. Milkusheki Monday
19. Kickbackers
20. Abono Comics
21. Lady Storykeeper
22. Bien del Rosario
23. Obvious Productions
24. Kame-Kame

See you later everyone! A copy of the schedule is after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

No, no, this is not some zombie-sequel–it’s been two weeks since the release of the Farthest Shore, and with the anthology being mentioned over at the Agony Column (thanks to Bibliophile Stalker, as always, fore the heads up) I thought it might be a good time to compile some linkage.

• Here’s a link to the Bibliophile Stalker’s Review of the Antho;
• As mentioned above, the newest bit of coverage comes from Rick Kleffel’s The Agony Column;
• Here are some other blogs/writers who helped plug the anthology:
  • Jeffrey Ford
  • World SF News/ Lavie Tidhar
  • Ian Rosales Casocot

When I was a child, I loved reading myths and legends from all over the world: Greek, Roman, Chinese, African, Norse, you name it… The exceptions were, you guessed it, myths and legends from my own country. The sad fact of the matter was that none of the folklore presented to me in school appealed to sensibilities already ignited by my early exposure to fantasy fiction–where were the grand battles, the horrific monsters, the contending divinities?

Of course when I grew older, I discovered that our myths and legends were more varied and interesting than I’d surmised from the sanitized, committee-approved versions of the old tales that were fed to school children. However, actually finding these stories, or at least those not studied in schools, can be difficult given that most of these tales form part of our oral, not written, tradition. Fortunately, there do exist quality compendiums of stories that shine a spotlight on lesser known tales, and the “Treasury of Stories” from Anvil Publishing is both one of the broadest in scope, and one of the most accessible to an English speaking audience. (I also note from the Anvil website that there is a textbook edition–if so, I envy those students.)

The collection, first published in 1997, was put together by E. Arsenio Manuel and Gilda Cordero-Fernando, and illustrated by Carlos Valino Jr. It contains thirty-three myths, legends and folktales from all across the Philippines, distributed amongst three broad categories: The Mythological Age, The Heroic Age, and Folk Tales from All Ages. With the exception of a few of the animal stories such as “The Monkey and the Tortoise”, all of the stories were new to me, even if some of the characters, like Bantugan and (ugh) Juan Tamad, were not; prospective readers leery of buying yet another version of “Si Malakas at Maganda” need not worry. The stories range from light-hearted romance (“Kimod and the Swan Maiden”) to an apocalyptic battle with enough bloodshed and heroics to satisfy a fan of Frank Miller’s “300” (“The Ascension Into Heaven”). Given the age of these narratives however, even the stories that focus on the relationship of a husband and wife are rife with morbid fates and cruel punishments; think Grimm’s Fairy Tales—the original versions.

Read the rest of this entry »