Here are videos from the joint PGS Crime Issue and PSF6 launch. First up is the PGS Crime launch in its entirety, split into two parts.

Don’t let Kyu’s modesty fool you, PGS is a very important part of the local genre scene, and I’m personally thrilled to see it online and reaching a wider audience.

Next up we have the opening segment of the PSF6 launch, which consists of Dean telling the crowd what they’re in for, followed by an impersonation of Butch Dalisay which I am told was spot on. Enjoy!

This year’s Taboan Literary Festival will be held from February 10-12, 2011 at the Royal Mandaya Hotel in Davao City. The festival is open to the public and will feature panels, a book bazaar, and film screenings. Speculative fiction writer Dominique Cimafranca is the conference coordinator, and here are a few delegates who will be familiar to readers of Philippine speculative fiction: Carljoe Javier, Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, Sarge Lacuesta, and Vlad Gonzales.

For those who are in the Davao area (or who can manage to make the trip) this looks like a great event for readers and authors. For those who can’t make it, you can still get a taste of the works of the delegates on the Literary Works page  of the Tabaoan 2011 site. Carljoe Javier’s piece on “the “Post-Apocalyptic as the Neo-Western” seems like it could be of interest to genre readers.

One year ago, 9/9/09, Rocket Kapre officially launched. In celebration of our first year anniversary, here’s a new installment of one of our most popular features: the Rocket Round Table. For this batch, the question – to coincide with the anniversary – is: “What is your favorite first line in speculative fiction?” Prose and graphic novels/comics were fair game (movies and television were not), as were local and foreign works – I only asked that the respondents include any first lines from Filipino-made spec fic that stood out for them. Feel free to add your own in the comments!

Thanks to all those who took time to participate in the round table, and for all those who have supported Rocket Kapre in its first year. Here’s to many more to come!

[Warning: Some language may not be safe for work, or children, or adults who like to pretend they're as innocent as children.]

ELBERT OR – Comic book creator, university lecturer, graphic designer, freelance writer, entrepreneur (he’s part of Brain Food, which gives speech and writing workshops) Elbert is a jack of all trades and master of… well, lots. He currently runs Global Art and the Komiksabado Comics Workshop.

Happy first year, RK! How time flies!
I owe much of my interest in current Philippine SF to Dean Alfar’s “Kite of Stars,” and its first line/ paragraph which grabbed firm hold of me and has still not let me go:

The night when she thought she would finally be a star, Maria Isabella du’l Cielo struggled to calm the trembling of her hands, reached over to cut the tether that tied her to the ground, and thought of that morning many years before when she’d first caught a glimpse of Lorenzo du Vicenzio ei Salvadore: tall, thick-browed and handsome, his eyes closed, oblivious to the cacophony of the accident waiting to occur around him.

I wish I could say though that memory allowed me to remember each word, but I admit only to committing the first eleven words. But the blame lies solely on me and my poor memory.

Here’s to the next ten years for Rocket Kapre!

* * *

CATHERINE BATAC WALDER – Catherine is based in England and works as a research group administrator at the Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London. From 2005 to 2007, she moved across Norway, Finland and Portugal for a European MPhil. scholarship. Her fiction appears in Big Pulp, Demons of the New Year, Philippines Graphic, Ruin and Resolve Anthology, Expanded Horizons, and Philippines Free Press. She blogs at http://deckshoes.wordpress.com/

“Just when the idea occurred to her that she was being murdered she could not tell.” – The Small Assassin, comics adaptation of a tale by Ray Bradbury

“At some time near dawn, on March 25, 1913, there came a loud knocking at the front door of the Uyterhoevens’ home in the Dayton View section of Dayton, Ohio.” – The Chess Garden by Brooks Hansen

“At first glance, the picture looked like any other in a family album of that time, the sepia shade and tone, the formal poses, the men in solemn Sunday suits and the women, severely coiffed, in long skirts and billowing blouses.” – Fade by Robert Cormier

““I can do this,” I told my squirrel.” - Speed Dating and Spirit Guides by Rod M. Santos

“In the tiny lifeboat, she and the alien fuck endlessly, relentlessly.” – Spar by Kij Johnson

“My name is Kathy H. I’m thirty-one years old, and I’ve been a carer now for over eleven years.” – Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

* * *

G.M. CORONEL – A Marketing Management graduate of De La Salle University in 1985, he is a first-time author with no literary background to speak of other than a genuine love of reading and a passion for writing. Coming across back issues of Writer’s Digest a few years ago started his writing career. Some previous personal encounters with the paranormal convinced him to pursue the horror genre. He believes that stories to tell and experiences to share are best put in written words. He is the author of Tragic Theater.

“The night wind howls like a wounded dying animal.” (Trese Murder on Balete Drive) — This is a very compelling first line and it engages the reader’s interest in the story.

* * *

DON JAUCIAN - Don regularly reviews books for several publications, both print and on-line. He is the resident bitch of the film blog Pelikula Tumblr. His book dump is http://chinoisdead.livejournal.com

The Ascension of Our Lady Boy – Mia Tijam (PDF of Expanded Horizons #14, which includes the story.)

“Let us begin with my earliest memory as a lady: Daddy had complained to Iyay who was my yaya(and his yaya before and his mama’s yaya before that) that I was lacking something strong in my bones and in my hips.”

Tijam’s Lady Boy is hands down one of my favorite spec fic stories. It effectively combined Philippine culture, gay-isms and the whole ‘triumph of the heart’ thing. I like how the first line promises a wonderful story, equal parts whimsical and endearing, like Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros and it really delivers.

Visitors – Luis Katigbak

“When they first arrived, they transformed themselves into everything we ever secretly wanted to be.”

Stories of ‘encounters’ are never amusing. They mostly run as dubious paranoiac rants but in a few words, Katigbak manages to brush off the fluff usually associated with this tripe. ‘Visitors’ is beautiful, a different approach into the Wonderful World of Alien Mysteries; humanized and hopeful.

Brigada – Joey Nacino

“When the news came, Captain Fernando Tabora of the Philippine Navy was meeting with the two-man salvage team at the top of Manila Hotel.”

I’m a sucker for post-apocalyptic stories and Manila Hotel underwater is just too awesome to ignore. Just like the head of Statue of Liberty chopped off in Cloverfield!

Flicker – Ian Rosales Casocot

“Something had apparently come to live, or stir, in the house down the road, that old mansion on the corner before one turned left down Mango Street, which led toward the coconut groves that bordered the farthest end of the village.”

Suburban horror stories always fascinate me and Casocot’s ‘Flicker’ definitely sustains the tension from the first sentence to the last. It is eerie, ominous and it’s refreshing to see a horror story devoid of hysterics and cheap scare tactics.

[More after the cut]

* * *

MEANN ORTIZ -  The co-Editor in Chief of NewWorlds.ph, a website that caters to Filipino enthusiasts of science fiction, fantasy, and pop culture.  She believes books are like the sirens of Greek mythology, for she often cannot resist their enchanting call, and she finds herself virtually shipwrecked upon the shores of a bookstore.

My favorite first line from a foreign work is:  “There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.” from Neil Gaiman’s award-winning The Graveyard Book.  I love it because it’s short but unforgettable, and it brilliantly sets up the rest of the story.  It’s the kind of opening that makes you stop to think about what may happen next, and then compels you to turn the page.

My favorite first line from an Filipino SF work is not so much a line as the work’s entire opening paragraph:  “The night when she thought she would finally be a star, Maria Isabella du’l Cielo struggled to calm the trembling of her hands, reached over to cut the tether that tied her to the ground, and thought of that morning many years before when she’d first caught a glimpse of Lorenzo du Vicenzio ei Salvadore: tall, thick-browed and handsome, his eyes closed, oblivious to the cacophony of the accident waiting to occur around him.”  This one’s from The Kite of Stars by Dean Francis Alfar.  I love this opening because it puts the reader right into the action.  It’s not as wonderfully vague as the one by Gaiman, but after that kind of glimpse into the heart of the story, how can you possibly stop reading?

* * *

TINA MATANGUIHAN – Tina is a web content developer by day (or night, depending on her shift) who would rather debug than write code and while dabbling on other projects with her spare time. She’s an avid reader who’s recently started to love reading spec fic. Every November since 2004, she turns into a manic novelist and cheerleader for the Filipino National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) community. She’s planning to write her first fantasy novel this year and she hopes to get hit by inspiration soon.

Our story opens where countless stories have ended in the last twenty-six years: with an idiot — in this case, my brother, Shaun — deciding it would be a good idea to go out and poke a zombie with a stick to see what happens. - Feed by Mira Grant

Rush Hour. So many armpits, so little deodorant. -  Tall Story by Candy Gourlay

* * *

ELIZA VICTORIA - Eliza has won a Palanca Award for her poetry, has been named as a finalist at the Philippines Free Press Literary Awards, and has had her works accepted in many publications, including Expanded Horizons,  the Farthest Shore, and Demons of the New Year. She also writes for the Philippine Online Chronicles.

It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen. - 1984, George Orwell

No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. – The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson

* * *

ELAINE CUYEGKENG -  Librarian and writer. Alas, at present, she has no familiars, but lives with her partner in a little brick flat in Melbourne. “The Widow and the Princess of the Dwende” is her first short story under Usok (in the upcoming second issue).

“The night when she thought she would finally be a star, Maria Isabella du’l Cielo struggled to calm the trembling of her hands, reached over to cut the tether that tied her to the ground, and thought of that morning many years before when she’d first caught a glimpse of Lorenzo du Vicenzio ei Salvadore: tall, thick-browed and handsome, his eyes closed, oblivious to the cacophony of the accident waiting to occur around him.”- “The Kite of Stars,” Dean Francis Alfar.  Ok. So I cheated (or Dean cheated). It’s an opening line that’s also an opening paragraph. But it’s absolutely perfect, the way Dean uses it to frame and set up the story. He establishes both Maria and Lorenzo as characters, parallels their desires: Maria for Lorenzo, Lorenzo for the stars. It’s unapologetically romantic. And it neatly leads to the complicated chain of events that sets Maria on her journey. It’s a beautifully constructed opening line, and I would kill to one day have Dean’s skill.

“Lyra and her daemon moved through the darkening hall, taking care to keep to one side, out of sight in the kitchen.”-The Northern Lights, Philip Pullman.  Not only does Philip Pullman establish the key difference between our world and Lyra’s — the presence of daemons — but it draws you into the story, the narrative, and what Lyra and her daemon are doing. What are they up to? Who are they hiding from? It’s a succinct and clear first line — the way a YA story should be. But there’s so much going on and it just pulls you in.

* * *

PHIL CORPUZ – A full-time dataminer and part time game master, he wishes he could reverse that situation. When not chugging away at the data mines, he writes for the Philippine Online Chronicles, plays various tabletop games, and indulges in various bits of geekery.

For the longest time, my favorite was William Gibson’s opening to Neuromancer, “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.” It just sets the scene of his technological crapsack world so effectively and efficiently. Two lines did roll in recently that stuck in my mind for sheer, jarring cheekiness, Dan Simmons’ Olympos (“Helen of Troy awakens at dawn to the sound of air raid sirens.“) and Neal Stephenson’s Anathem (“‘Do your neighbors burn one another alive?’ was how Fraa Orolo began his conversation with Artisan Flec.“).

* * *

SHARMAINE GALVE - Reads a lot.  Writes a lot.  Gets published sometimes.  A serious hypochondriac who spouts medical terms.  Slaughterhouse Five is one of the novels I have read a lot ever since I bought it in a bargain bin and wanted to see what the big deal was about Vonnegut.  It espouses my major views: the silliness of war and time.

* * *

KATYA OLIVA-LLEGO – A geek neophyte, her poetry and fiction pieces have been published on Expanded Horizons, Scifaikuest, Moon Drenched Fables, and Static Movement.

(1)”The night when she thought she would finally be a star, Maria Isabella du’l Cielo struggled to calm the trembling of her hands, reached over to cut the tether that tied her to the ground, and thought of that morning many years before when she’d first caught a glimpse of Lorenzo du Vicenzio ei Salvadore: tall, thick-browed and handsome, his eyes closed, oblivious to the cacophony of the accident waiting to occur around him.” – The Kite of Stars by Dean Francis Alfar.

It’s actually the entire first paragraph of the story, but I couldn’t really cut it anywhere before the period and call it a first line. I loved this because it promised a story of adventure and love, and it delivered.

(2)”Life is a stick with a death on each end.” – Messenger by Julia M. Sidorova (Clarkesworld Magazine)

When I read this line, I asked: What, how, and why. I’m thankful for the engaging first line because it made me read the story to the end. The story was beautiful and thought-provoking, and the emotions induced by it will probably stay with me for a long time.

* * *

KM REYNALDO – Tine is an English major in bardo. Prose pruner by day, brain soup cook and wannabe-yogini by night, she is often found spaced out in her imaginary apartment on the top floor: http://mirageode.wordpress.com/

• “My father lost me to the Beast at cards.” – “Tiger’s Bride” by Angela Carter
• “I do not know what manner of thing she is. None of us do. She killed her mother in the birthing, but that’s never enough to account for it.” – “Snow, Glass, Apples”by Neil Gaiman
• “MYTHICAL! Ha! I’m as real as the waves, as this sea you cannot even begin to know or imagine. What dumb silence echoes in those empty heads of yours that you are so quickly enticed? One song and you are asleep. Another and you are mine. And the sea’s. who, then, is the myth? Whose lives are so quick to end?” – “A Song in the Wind”by Maria Elena Paterno
• “If you wish to find the woman who sells dreams, go to the most run-down part of the city.” – “The Forgotten City” by Vincent C. Sales

These are just the stuff I found online as I currently have no access to my library

* * *

FIDELIS TAN – Fidelis’ work has been published in Heights, Philippine Speculative Fiction vol. 5, Love and Heartbreak, After the Storm: Stories on Ondoy, and various indie komiks. She is a regular contributor to the Philippine Online Chronicles (www.thepoc.net).

“The door to Dr. Hannibal Lecter’s memory palace is in the darkness at the center of his mind and it has a latch that can be found by touch alone.”
-From Hannibal Rising, Thomas Harris (a book which I didn’t really like compared to the other Hannibal books, but it has a nice first line )

[inverted] “Carl Conrad Coreander, Old Books” [Fidelis sent this to me properly inverted, but sadly WordPress won't register it.]

- From Neverending Story, Michael Ende.

“True! –nervous –very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?”

- Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar Allan Poe

* * *

TIN LAO – Tin is a lawyer who used to write for a newspaper, dabbles in poetry and prose (that wants to be poetry). Her fiction has been published in Philippine Speculative Fiction Volume V.

Here’s an opening line that hooked me immediately, from Kij Johnson’s Spar:

“In the tiny lifeboat, she and the alien fuck endlessly, relentlessly.”

* * *

MACOY TANG – Creator of excellent indie komiks such as Ang Maskot and School Run, and a writer for the Philippine Online Chronicles. Blogs at mababang langit.

You just can’t get any better than “Once upon a time.” sorry if everybody else says that too

* * *

CHILES SAMANIEGO - wrote things that were published in Story Philippines, the Digest of Philippine Genre Stories, Philippine Free Press, Parole (the UP Portia Society’s literary folio), Usok, Ruin and Resolve, and Weird Tales Magazine.

progris riport 1-martch 5, 1965

            Dr. Strauss says I shud rite down what I think and evrey thing
         that happins to me from now on, I dont know why but he says its
         importint so they will see if they will use me. I hope they use me.
         Miss Kinnian says maybe they can make me smart. I want to be
         smart. My name is Charlie Gordon. I am 37 years old. I have
         nuthing more to rite now so I will close for today.

I’d like to thank everyone who participated, especially Dominique Cimafranca who was impressively prolific during the RP612fic period. We generated over one hundred and fifteen stories over the Independence Day weekend–here are a few of my favorite stories:

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t point to Adam David’s essay on freedom, over at the Philippine Online Chronicles.

The rest of the stories run the gamut from science fiction, to horror, to fantasy (from the fantasy that means “magic” to the fantasy that means “how I wish this were true). Some are meant to be read alone, others in sequence (although there was a limit to how I could arrange them in anything but the reverse chronological order of a Twitter search.) Some aren’t stories in so much as hopes, dreams, or ideas and that’s fine too.The usual disclaimer applies: these stories are meant as fiction, and are not to be taken as allegations of actual facts, nor as statements of actual intent.

And now, beneath the cut, are the rest of the stories. (2009′s stories are here.) Enjoy, and see you all next year!

The latest online spec fic anthology from Estranghero Press has now gone live. Go check it out! From the site:

These are the Filipino horrors: the garden-variety demons from hell with plastic forks and spongy tails, the ones in your head that come out to play at midnight, the spirits that make up most of your lives like a Frankenstein monster. We’re letting out all of these things that haunt our days in 2010.

“Demons of the New Year: Horror from the Philippines, edited by Joseph Nacino & Karl de Mesa” is published electronically to make this collection of stories available to a wider international audience. Through this anthology we will be able to show the world that the Filipino writer can create horrors that can scare with the best of them.

How different is your experience writing a story without speculative fiction elements, as opposed to writing Spec Fic?

Yeah, I know, it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue does it? On to the answers then, and many thanks to the authors who found the time to sate my curiosity.

MARIANNE VILLANUEVA [Blog]

==Marianne is the author of several short story collections, and has been a finalist for the Philippines’ National Book Award. She teaches creative writing for the UCLA Extension Writers Program, and her latest short story collection, “The Lost Language”, was released by Anvil last year.==

Very interesting question!

I’m not a writer of speculative fiction, but I do like to “play” in the genre occasionally –  as I also like to play in the “crime” genre, or poetry, or anything.  Because experimenting is what keeps writing fun!

It always starts, for me, with an emotional trigger.  It’s when I find I can’t end my story properly that I start turning to more non-traditional elements.  Then I go back and start again, but with the non-traditional elements as a fixed part of the story.  Then I see if I can finish it.

So, it’s always how to end that bothers me.  And I’ll try anything, ANYTHING, to see how I can get to the end.  And if I have to throw in some speculative fiction elements along the way, so be it.

ADAM DAVID [Blog]

==Adam is an indie publisher, published author, opinionated blogger. He was recently awarded the Madrigal Gonzalez Best First Book Award for his book, The El Bimbo Variation==.

Nothing really significant as far as authorial mindset is concerned. I used the same amount of braincells when I wrote *snip* as when I’m writing my 365 Stories book, the same amount when I wrote the El Bimbo Variations when I’m writing my terribly irregular essays on komix kritisism. The language is different in various levels, as well as in their little textual effects and affectations, but all those things are only merely decoration – or at their highest level, gilding – for the real substance of the thing, which never changes no matter the medium, whether audience or producer, critic or buyer: art is something you work on.

CARLJOE JAVIER [Plurk]

==Carljoe is the author of “And the Geek Shall Inherit the Earth” and is currently working on his next collection of essays. His stories have been published in Tales of Fantasy and Enchantment and Very Short Stories for Harried Readers, amongst other venues. He is also the editor of Metakritiko, the arts and culture section of the Philippine Online Chronicles.==

For the fiction without speculation, I don’t know how this will sound, but there really isn’t much difference in the process for me. I draw on the same general materials (my life, experiences, things I see and read).  My academic training has been in realist fiction (I only got to take a scifi/fantasy class at the MA level) so I guess I just take the tools that I’ve learned from that, mash them up with stuff I’ve read and what I’ve learned from friends, from listening to people who write specfic and try and come up with stuff that’s my own. The problems in writing are the same, finding time, staying focused, ignoring people who pop up and IM you.

NIKKI ALFAR

==Nikki has managed to earn two Palanca Awards, a National Book Award, a citation in the international Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, and a spot in the Ateneo Library of Women’s Writings. Her fiction has been published in print and online, in venues both national and international. She is a proud founding member of the LitCritters literary criticism and writing group, and is working on her first collection. She is also co-editor of Philippine Speculative Fiction volumes III, IV and V.==

I think I’ve published exactly one story that wasn’t, at least marginally, speculative fiction; and that was waaay back at the start of my writing career, when I was consciously trying to be mainstream in order to get printed. That said, my writing does tend to fall into work that is ‘spec-fickier’, if you will, and pieces that are less so. I don’t intentionally start out with the notion that “This piece will be more realist” or not, but I have noticed that my narrative tone in the more ‘real-world’ pieces is almost a replica of the way I naturally speak, whereas the more fanciful stuff tends to be, well, fancier.

Again, that’s not deliberate, nor is the more high-falutin’ tone necessarily harder. (It’s just one of them voices in my head, only not the everyday one.) So I don’t THINK it’s all that different for me–I don’t like to listen to music at all when I write, and Google is always my BFF–but my eight-year-old daughter does claim that I’m more fun to play with when I’m engaged in writing something more fantastical.

DOMINIQUE CIMAFRANCA [Blog]

==Dominique is a Davao based teacher and author, and a self-proclaimed geek–before it was fashionable. A fellow at the 2006 Siliman National Writer’s Workshop, a finalist in the 3rd Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards for his story, Leg Men==

Strangely enough, I don’t actually distinguish between writing specific and realist fiction.  It may be because of my relative immaturity as a writer, but I really see the story in terms of the characters and the plot, and possibly the theme.

When I write, I try to get into the head of the main character, and I try to determine his or her reaction to the situation.  I like to think that I’m Chestertonian in my outlook (see the chapter “The Ethics of Elfland” in “Orthodoxy”) and so every situation has its own “strangeness.”  And I think that’s only right, because otherwise, it ain’t worth writing about.

ISABEL YAP

==Isabel has been published in Philippine Speculative Fiction IV (and has a story in the upcoming 5th volume), and has placed in various writing contests here and abroad. She is also one of the English editors of Heights, the literary publication of the Ateneo de Manila University.==

Intriguing question.  The best way for me to answer is to explain my writing process.  When I write, I’m always reading something at the same time – meaning in my computer interface there’s a window that contains the Word file I’m working on, and in one or two other tabs I’ve got Wordpads of other people’s stories that I like, and am trying to emulate for that piece (admittedly fanfiction, more often than not).  It’s the “feel” of the story, rather than the genre of the story, that affects what I write.  So if I’m trying to write something bleedingly sad (whether spec fic or not), I’ll be reading a bleedingly sad story.  If I’m trying to write something more on the lighthearted side, I’ll be reading something similarly lighthearted.  I don’t often listen to music while writing, but when I do it’s usually the same playlist of instrumental videogame music.  Haha.

So, generally no difference when writing something I would consciously dub spec fic, and otherwise.  It’s the story’s mood rather than content that affects how I write it.

Writing poetry is very different from writing prose, though.  I think speculation can very easily translate into poetry – meaning, poems can very easily become fantastic without anything marking them particularly apart from non-”spec fic” poems.  In fact I don’t know if any poems can specifically be called speculative.  (Though I did once write a poem about zombie choirboys.  It was actually workshopped.  It was  hard to explain the dramatic situation – most of the other fellows kept thinking it was one huge metaphor, and I couldn’t explain that it was just…that.)

MIA TIJAM

==One of the co-editors of the first Philippine Speculative Fiction Sampler, Mia has been cited in the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror and been published in Philippine Speculative Fiction and the Digest of Philippine Genre Stories. She’s also as  adept at creative non-fiction as she is at fiction.==

Writing Speculative Fiction makes a writer from the realist tradition write a “fictionalized” story.

Because “realist” fiction, I do find, for most writers are really non-fiction/lived/witnessed stories being passed off as fiction (and right onto the lap of New Historicism). Because writers are really a very shy/sensitive lot so we don’t have the thorns or flowers or this quaint thing called courage (synonymous to stupidity sometimes) to set ourselves up for a firing squad of Judge Dredds on shooting-spree-enzymes so we write/publish these “real” stories under “fiction”. (Or in some cases, some writers just haven’t lived enough so they “imagine” a slice of life’s peachy pie via the talent in fantastic maneuvering of language and literary devices.)

Writing these stories then with “speculative” elements makes the whole writing a matter of crafting fiction. It’s no longer just an exercise in re-telling or translating experience into words unto a text. You craft it into what was essential and yet more; a separate if not generated entity altogether from what is nonfiction/lived/witnessed. It is then really transformed by the imagination.

As for what is “real” or “speculative”, refer to the treatises on the psychoanalytic and post-structuralist perspective on literature. Lacan, especially, had a lot to say about the “real”. Because “real” can be “weird” and can be familiar and yet not known or known yet unfamiliar. We can all go etymology-on-doobie here by incorporating “uncanny/heimlich” or “wyrd/fate” into this quasi-monologue. And the “new weird” can just be too goddamn weird that it elicits “What the fuck?!” reactions. And sometimes not in a good way because the stories are just absurd. Onto the next weird that will be given life therefore doomed to die? Or be killed.

Anyway, I began writing stories in the realist tradition to write life’s crap out. (Requirements and reading materials also have a lot of influence. But that’s Creative Writing Programming for us during our time.) And then it all just got boring because it’s life’s same shit on a different page. Onto my punk-ass venturing into the genres and the in-betweens via the nurturing of Banzai Cat’s Library then.

As for the “healthy helping of the weird” that you see in my published stuff, especially in the past two years, that’s my way of fucking the forms. It’s play! Because the whole block narrative is boring me. And genres can be constricting in their prescriptions. As the Kung Fu master in Kung Fu Panda said, “Know the forms but be formless” hahaha. You slide (or flow) through the whole lot. Charles is calling your label of “healthy helping of the weird” as “slipstream”, by the way. It can also be called Chopsuey when seen in bad writing, you know.

As for the speculative stories being “real” because it can suspend that disbelief of the reader, that’s really up to the crafting of the writer. Or we can all say “Amen” to Cauldwell’s Theory of Identification—- because the reader can identify with the text, usually a character or the theme. Or maybe the writer just has hypnotic juju powers. Or maybe has Baron Von Munchausen or Don Quixote genes.

As for the “writing process”, it takes reading/research for some and sex/drugs/booze/whatever music for others. Sometimes it takes  idolatry or a broken heart or some catastrophe or even a thwarted orgasm. The writing blocks, according to Charlson Ong, happen because people don’t have discipline. According to Carlos Aureus, the blocks are there because you’ve set your expectations too high and your skills can’t reach them yet, so lower the expectations.  But really, all it takes are: FAITH, LOVE, TIME, AND DR. ENERGY. And that is if you don’t write then you and your reality don’t make sense.

And holy shit if you don’t change your vocabulary/articulation/language for each story because that would just make it all static. On good days you call it “trademark” or “voice”, just like cliche being called as trope.

But the task, dear boils and gels, is to make the “truth”—- in the real speculative—- believable.

As mentioned on the Philippine Genre Stories blog, Fully Booked, in cooperation with Pelicola, has published the stories, comics, and films which made it to the respective shortlists of the 3rd Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards.  While I assume the respective winners have already been selected, you can help determine the winners of the People’s Choice Award in each category by voting for your favorite at the links above. Congratulations to all those who made the short list!

For your convenience,  here’s the shortlist in each category:

PROSE SHORTLIST:

1. Babymakers by Laura Jermina R. Abejo
2. Leg Men by Dominique Gerald Cimafranca
3. Cherry Clubbing by Kenneth Yu
4. The Sweet Stranger by Michael A.R. Co
5. A Kind of Flotsam by Christelle Rhodamae Mariano
6. Won’t You Be My Friend, Mr. Faceless Creature of Evil? by Karlos de Mesa
7. The Street Child and the Dwarf by Diabelle Joy M. Pazcoguin
8. Filipina: The Super Maid by Irene Carolina A. Sarmiento
9. Remembrance by Dean Alfar
10. Pursuit of the Litaniera by Elyrose G. Punsalan

(Comics and Film categories after the cut)

COMICS SHORTLIST:

1. Traffick by Alarice A. Francisco
2. Raisinhead: A Tale of a Modern-Day Tiyanak by Christian Oliver A. Cruz
3. The Revolutionary by Kevin Justin T. Ang
4. Hunger by Jeremiah D. Faustino and Norman Jim Faustino
5. Mekanix by Romir Sucaldito and Jhem Manalang
6. (Love) at Last Sight by Heubert Khan Michael
7. Douglas by Genevieve Go
8. I See by Manuel Abrera

FILM SHORTLIST:
1. Lost and Found by Jethro Trogo and Gharawi Usman
2. Squatters in Mars by Rommel Sales
3. Anak ng Tikbalang by Desiree Ann Samson
4. Blogog by Rommel Tolentino
5. Black Worms by Khavn dela Cruz
6. Panibugho (Jealousy) by Alvin Yapan
7. Takot Ako by Jules Dan Katanyag
8. Kumot ng Panaginip by Jedd Chris Dumaguina
9. Embrace by Ronnie Sapinoso
10. Kulob by Camille Jensen Hirro and Liezl Ortacio

• Dominique Cimafranca shares his presentation on Online Literature for the Tabaoan Writers Conference (yes, he does mentions us ^_^). The conference is ongoing at the moment, so do check Dom’s blog for coverage (he has Day 0 and Day 1 impressions up on his site.)
• Speaking of writers getting together, Ian Rosales Casocot has posted a call for submission of manuscripts to the 49th Silliman University National Writers Workshop.
• Ruin and Resolve contributor Catherine Batac Walder tells us she’s got a story out in this week’s Philippine Graphic. It’s entitled “Hey Soldier”. Congrats Catherine!
• In further congratulatory news, I’ve read that (via macoy’s blog) it seems that Gio Paredes’ Kalayaan indie superhero series might see some U.S. distribution.
• Via Yvette Tan’s, we’ve learned of Filipino Scares, a tumblr site with short (flash-length) horror stories.
• Over at the Philippine Genre Stories blog, Kenneth Yu has a post on ongoing local writing competitions, and another on a workshop for online writing from Luis Katigbak (the first is on the 15th).
• Kenneth also informs us that the launch of Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol. V will take place on April 24, 2010, 3 p.m. at the UView Theatre of Fully Booked at Bonifacio Global City.

Events:

• For those looking for a twist on typical Valentine’s fare, science writer and curator of the upcoming Mind Museum (and friend of the site) Ms. Maria Isabel Garcia dropped us a line to let us know of When Love Falls an evening of love and science on February 12, where psycho-analyst Dr. Agnes Bueno will discuss love gone awry. You can see the poster here.
• I think we’ve mentioned it before, but let me remind everyone that KomiksTrip, the first UPLB comics convention, is taking place on February 13.
• Speaking of comics, the Renaissance Project, a comics/komiks event for the benefit of Filipino artists who have fallen on hard times, seems to be pushing through on February 20 21 at the SM Megamall Megatrade hall.

Reviews:

• Some reviews of interest over at Metakritiko (which I’ll be leaving soon, unfortunately. Although I’m sure you’ll all be pleased with the new man at the helm ^_^). I take on Lola by J. Torres and Elbert Or  (it’s also been reviewed by Ruel de Vera)
• Also on Metakritiko, Fidelis Tan reviews Underpass. You can actually read her favorite story of the lot (by the Trese pair of Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo here or here). Also on the channel, Mighty Rasing reviews Legion and Marrianne Ubalde praises Kapitan Sino.