Rocket Kapre – Fantastic Filipino Speculative Fiction

The Quarterly Bathroom Companion Comics Compendium is an independent comic/komik anthology which has an “underground” feel and aesthetic. (The first issue had a comic that starred a lamp post as its protagonist. No, not an anthropomorphized, talking lamp post. Just an ordinary lamp post for the reader to project his/her emotions on.) The second issue will be launched tomorrow, December 17, at Sputnik Fantastik, Cubao X, near the Gateway Mall, from 7pm onwards. I’m not sure who is in the latest volume, but it is co-edited by DJ Legaspi, Josel Nicolas (Windmills), and Mervin Malonzo (Tabi Po and our very own Alternative Alamat illustrator). Give it a shot!

Flipside Digital, my publisher for “High Society“, has just launched what I think is the first dedicated digital bookstore in the country. You can now buy a copy of “High Society” in ePUB format or screen-optimized PDF e-book format at Flipreads.com, as well as other Flipside Digital titles from the likes of Manix Abrera, Tweet Sering, Carljoe Javier, Ian Rosales Casocot, and Charlson Ong. Here’s the press release from the event:

Filipinos can now have easier access to eBooks through the online eBookstore,  Flipreads.com. Likewise, authors and publishers can now distribute their eBooks more widely and securely through the same website, which was launched on November 11 2011 from 4-7PM at the Celebrity Sports Club Grand Ballroom.

Flipreads.com is owned and developed by Flipside Publishing Services, a sister company of Flipside Digital Content. Flipside Digital Content, previously just a conversion house catering to four of the top six international publishers, is responsible for publishing and co-publishing more than 70 Filipino and Asian eBooks on Amazon, Apple iBookstore, and Barnes and Noble just in its first six months of operation. Most of these international eBookstores, however, are not available to the local populace. Filipinos can only buy from Amazon, albeit with an added cost of $2 per book.

Now, Flipside is making eBooks more accessible especially for Filipinos through Flipreads.com. Readers can download eBooks onto their Apple or Android devices. They can even download it onto their PCs or Macs. Whereas before, Filipinos could only buy eBooks legitimately if they had credit cards, but with Flipreads, they may use other payment gateways such as CashSense and, in the near future, Globe GCash, and Smart Money. Flipreads also serves as a secure distribution platform for Filipino publishers, authors, and other
content providers. Therefore, publishers can now sell their eBooks securely through Flipreads.com.

Authors can also opt to independently publish their titles through the site. Other institutions and entities can also distribute their digital materials safely through Flipreads. eBooks distributed through Flipreads can be made secure through the use of Adobe Content Server’s DRM. DRM stands for Digital Rights Management and is the means by which eBooks are protected from casual piracy. Alternatively, authors and publishers may choose to distribute their eBooks for free through the Flipreads site.Flipreads also hopes to provide a venue to publishers and authors to bring previously out-of-print titles back into circulation. Since everything is online, these titles will also be available to an international market.

For more information, email business@flipreads.com or call +632-5709255 or +63917-6206244

Convention-going komiks fans have known about Gerry Alanguilan’s Elmer for years,  but now it’s set to reach a wider audience through a second edition published by National Book Store itself. The second edition will be launched this Saturday, October 15, 2011 at Bestsellers, 4th Floor Robinson’s Galleria, Ortigas at 5pm.

According to Gerry: “This edition will be virtually the same as the previous Komikero Publishing edition, although it would have a new afterword, a sample of the script, and drawings previously available in the Elmer Limited Edition Box Sets. Because of my agreement with my publishers abroad, this edition will only be made available here in the Philippines.”

If you don’t have a copy of Elmer–or, heck, even if you do–this would be a perfect time to pick up what is, to date, probably the most critically renowned Philippine graphic novel. It’s won the 2011 Prix Asie-ACBD  Award, been included in a list of essential reading by the Association of Critics and Journalists Love, and been nominated for best comic book of the year award by two French festivals, and the “Best Graphic Album-New” in the Eisner Awards.

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.

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The launch for the sixth volume of Philippine Speculative Fiction took place last Saturday, with the inimitable Dean Alfar once again serving as master of ceremonies and all-around entertainer–the PSF launches usually turn into roasts for the editors and contributors (and being absent is no defense) and a grand time was had by all. I’ll have videos from the launch and the earlier launch of the crime issue of Philippine Genre Stories later this week, but first here are some photographs from the event.

In spite of the rains, (and some *ahem* premature storm warnings), the UView Theater of Fully Booked was jam packed–this photo is from early in the proceedings, and by midway people were lining the walls, in spite of the addition of the monobloc cavalry. The downside to that is the volume sold out minutes after the launch was over–if you want another print run, make sure you make your voices heard!

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I’ve just received word that the sixth volume of the annual Philippine Speculative Fiction anthology, edited by Nikki Alfar and Kate Aton-Osias, and published by Kestrel DDM, will be launched on May 28, 2011, Saturday, 5PM at the UView Theater, Fully Booked at Bonifacio High Street.

If you’re at all interested in science fiction, fantasy, and horror written by Filipinos, do try to come — it’s one of the rare times local authors, editors, and fans are gathered in one place. The launch also traditionally occurs before the volume sees widespread distribution, so if you want to snag a copy, this is the best time to do so. The launch itself is an informal, informative, and typically hilarious affair — you can check out some videos I took of last year’s launch to see for yourselves.

The anthology includes my steampunk (woodpunk?) story “On Wooden Wings”, which is set in the same world as the upcoming “Kataastaasan” comic. Here’s a complete list of the contributors to this volume (or you can go here for a text version):

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. Here are videos of the official launch, with Professor Nicole Revel PhD walking us through the site. (The first part of the professor’s talk traced the historical developments in the study and preservation of Philippine epics and ballads, but it’s a long segment and I’m not certain if the sound quality is good enough, so not posting it yet.)

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:

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The second issue of Usok is now live! I’ll post my introduction here, but you can also see it on the front page of the new issue itself. I hope you enjoy the stories and the art, and if you do, please comment and encourage the creators, because feedback is sweet ambrosia for writers and artists. For those who are looking for Usok #1, you can get a PDF of the illustrated edition in the Past Issues section of the Usok site.

Introduction: Hidden Selves

Kept you waiting, huh?

It’s been a long journey to get to the second issue of Usok, and while I’ve had to deviate from my original plans for the magazine, I’ve learned a lot about editing, working with creative people, and the speculative fiction scene in the Philippines, during the past year. There were ups and downs, but I have no regrets; sometimes the only way to get any solid data about an endeavor is to try it, to let your plans and dreams drum against the craggy shore of Reality. Usok will continue to evolve from here on out, and I hope you will all continue to support the magazine.

One thing I’ve learned is that it’s easier to find a unifying theme among stories that I’ve already accepted, than it is to assign a theme and wait for the stories to come in. Or maybe it’s just serendipity that all three of our stories in this issue (released days after Halloween) touch upon the theme of hidden selves, the masks we put on for the sake of blending in with “normal” society. It’s a common enough theme in speculative fiction, but it’s one of my favorites, and I hope you’ll find that each of these stories engages it in an intriguing way.

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The website is still a work in progress, but Charles Tan, of the Bibliophile Stalker blog and a few hundred (minor exaggeration) others,  has announced that the ebook version of his new reprint anthology, “The Best of Philippine Speculative Fiction 2009″ is now available for free download. You can choose from either the PDF edition or the EPUB edition. (If you have the Stanza desktop ebook reader you can export the EPUB file to different file formats–say, if you want a .mobi file for your Kindle/Kindle reader, although such conversions usually junk the formatting). The anthology has cover art Elbert Or, a cover design by Adam David, (who also did the PDF layout and design) qith the Web and EPUB layout handled by Dominique Gerald Cimafranca.

Sixteen stories from fifteen authors, selected by one of the most well-read and difficult-to-please critics in the country–all for free? What are you waiting for?

Charles is the co-editor (alongside Mia Tijam) of the Philippine Speculative Fiction Sampler, which was released in 2008.  I hope that this is the start of an annual compilation (and I hope that this isn’t the only yer a story of mine qualifies ^_^)

Here’s the full table of contents. Congratulations to Charles and all those involved:

• Summation 2009 by Charles Tan
• The Fires of the Sun in a Crystalline Sky by Francezca C. Kwe
• The Day the World Lost Its Gravity by Camsy Ocumen
• Strange Weather by Dean Francis Alfar
• The Sewing Project by Apol Lejano-Massebieau
• Lex Talionis by Paolo Chikiamco
• Isa by Marianne Villanueva
• Spelling Normal by Mia Tijam
• Daddy by Yvette Tan
• From Abecediarya by Adam David
• The Annotated Account of Tholomew Mestich by Elyss G. Punsalan
• Beats by Kenneth Yu
• Wildwater by Crystal Koo
• Moondown and Fugue by Alexander Drilon
• The Maiden’s Song by Kate Aton-Osias
• Capture by Gabriela Lee
• The Secret Origin of Spin-man by Andrew Drilon