Intro: New Beginnings

When I was a child, short stories did not exist.

I don’t mean that literally–short stories have probably been around as long as story-telling has (I doubt that the first spinner of tales concocted Iliad-length narratives from the get-go). What I mean is that when I was a voracious young reader growing up in suburban Manila, I rarely gave any story that was less than 300 pages the time of day–and then, only if it was part of a series. What I loved, what I needed, from my fiction was that it serve as a gateway to another world– and at the time, the thicker the tome, the larger the gate.

When I was a child, I couldn’t find a single modern-day work of Fantasy or Science Fiction by a Filipino.

This was not to say that they did not exist, but they were beyond the sphere of awareness of a ten year old boy of the pre-Internet age. If I wanted my fill of genre stories (I didn’t hear of the “Speculative” umbrella until much later) then I had no recourse other than the SFF books that sold well in the West, which books were the only ones that made it to these shores, to our National Bookstores. Don’t get me wrong–it’s the work of Eddings and Card and Gemmell and Goodkind and the like that made me fall in love with Speculative Fiction, but I couldn’t help thinking about why there were no stories about aliens landing in New Manila instead of New York.

Now? While I still devour novels and trilogies (and will eventually get around to whatever it is the Wheel of Time is now) there are few things which I admire more than a well made short story. There’s something about the economy, the efficiency of a short story that makes it easier to identify and appreciate elements of good writing.

As for Philippine Speculative Fiction, works of the fantastic penned by Filipinos are making their way into local bookstores and international publications,  and gaining accolades in the process. Online distribution (written and audio) also provides an opportunity for a story to reach a wider audience than has ever before been possible.

It’s a good time to be a Filipino Spec Fic author… and that makes it a good time to start a Filipino Spec Fic Magazine.

Usok is my attempt to provide a home for quality short fiction, quality speculative fiction, quality Filipino fiction. Thank you for joining me for the beginning of what I hope will be a long, joyous, journey. That’s also the loose theme of our first issue–beginnings.

So without further ado: Kwentuhan na.

- Paolo Gabriel V. Chikiamco