Rocket Kapre – Fantastic Filipino Speculative Fiction

Kevin Lapeña is the artist behind the awesome cover for Usok # 1 and he took some time to answer some of our questions, and shed some light on the process behind his art, both in general and with regard to the cover of Usok’s maiden issue.

So, tell me, when you were a little kid, were you the type who’d take a bunch of crayons and draw on the walls and floors?

Never! I was taught early on that drawings belong on paper (or whatever is the proper canvas), and not on walls, floors or furniture! (I was given tons of scratch paper to work with.)

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Over at the Bibliophile Stalker, Charles Tan turns his steely gaze on the first issue of Usok. You can check out the review here. Thanks for the review Charles, and I hope we can win you over in the future ^_^

Usok, Rocket Kapre’s webzine of Fantastic Filipino Fiction has officially launched!

What are you waiting for? Check it out here and tell us what you think.

With the first issue out the door, we are now open for submissions.

I hope to hear from all you writers soon (or at least as soon as you recover from NaNo ^_^).

Table of Contents:

* The Startbox by Crystal Koo

* The Saint of Elsewhere: A Mystery by chiles samaniego

* Mouths to Speak, Voices to Sing by Kenneth Yu

* The Coming of the Anak-Araw by Celestine Trinidad

* The Child Abandoned by Yvette Tan

~ Coverart by Kevin Lapeña

Psyched yet? I know I am.  See you all tomorrow at 11 for the launch! See issue #1 here!

EDIT: You can find Usok #1 here. Enjoy!

A lot can happen in six days—just take a look at Genesis (no, the rest day doesn’t count… as they say in Labor Law, ‘no work, no pay’).

Genesis is a particularly apt example, given what is set to take place  six days from now, on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 (at 11:00 a.m. Manila Time).  While I may not quite be able to mold life from clay (or women from pieces of calcium, much to my chagrin), in six days I will be able to present you with the very first issue of USOK, Rocket Kapre’s new quarterly webzine dedicated to bringing you a regular dose of quality short form Speculative Fiction.

In case you need help remembering that, let me break it down into simple numbers:

Six days from now…

Five short stories…

Two Quality Reprints…

Three All-New Tales…

Zero cost…

One Date, November 11…

Four letters: U S O K

See you then everyone!