Top 10 Best-Sellers as of 2009/3/1

From USA Today's best-seller list (you can find out their basis here):

1. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
2. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
3. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey
   
4. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
   
5. The Shack by William P. Young
   
6. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
7. Promises in Death by J.D. Robb
   
8. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney
   
9. Montana Creeds: Dylan by Linda Lael Miller
   
10. Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

March 5, 2009 Links and Plugs

Almost 24 hours since I signed up for Twitter (charlesatan)...

• James Melzer on podcasting your novel in Do As I Say, Not As I Do.
• SF Signal on Non-Genre Books for Genre Readers.
• Suvudu's giving away free books for download.
• Sarah Monette is auctioning off her ARCs.
• The Week asks Is Writing for the Rich?
• Jeff Vandermeer at Omnivoracious on Awards and the Passing of Philip José Farmer.
• Gerard Houarner on Looking For Love in All The Wrong Places.
• Cory Doctorow on In Praise of the Sales Force.
• John Klima on New Online Fiction for March.
• Torie Atkinson compiles some of the SF Events in March.
• James Enge on The Nebulation: Short Stories.
• Amazon Releases Kindle for iPhone App.
• Jessica Faust on Quotes on Books.
• Jay Lake/Eric T. Reynold's Footprints anthology TOC.
• John Joseph Adam's By Blood We Live cover mock-up.
• Butch Dalisay on The Fastest Path to Publishing.

Now out in paperback!

Escapement by Jay Lake

2009/03/05 Tabletop RPG Podcasts

Every Thursday, I post links to various podcasts that deals with tabletop RPGs.

Tabletop RPG (Mostly)

General Discussions/Reviews/Everything Else

• Pulp Gamer episodes: Hey! That's My Fish! (The Game Kennel), An Introduction (Myriad Games), Session Impressions: Bananagrams (Myriad Games), Gamer Angel: Game Gatherings (Myriad Games), Game Gab: TempleCon 2009 (Myriad Games), Table Talk: We Didn't Playtest This At All (Myriad Games), Influencing Others (Family Night).
  
• The Podge Cast episodes: Nerd Rage!
  
• Fell Calls! episodes: Ugly Monkey Faces.
  
• 
• Bear Swarm! episodes: Gritty or Heroic.
  
• Game On! episodes: Flights of Fantasy.
  
• Order 66 episodes: No Medal For You Chewie!
  
• 3.5 Private Sanctuary episodes: Pathfinder Playtest.
  
• Animalcast episodes: RPG Pitch II.
  
• Fear the Boot episodes: Fear the Con 2 Information.
  
• The Tome Show episodes: PC/DM Resources.
  
• Gamer's Haven episodes: We've Been Nominated?
• The Butcher Block episodes: A Taste of Turn Coat (2, 3, 4).
• Canon Puncture episodes: Taste the Change, CPS GMs Day 2009.
• Geekson! episodes: Episode 107.
• Master Plan episodes: Ryan's Rules of Playtesting.
• Narrative Control episodes: Episode 21.
• Ninja vs Pirates episodes: Designing Limits.
• OgreCave Audio Report episodes: Autumn Madness.
• Role Playing Public Radio episodes: Inauguration 2009 on the National Mall.
• Wapcaplets episodes: Grimm RPG, Cold of Cthulhu.
• This Human Death episodes: Transhumanism.
• Trapcast episodes: Dreamation and Railroads.
• The Adventuring Party episodes: Int, March 2009.
• Radio Free Hommlet episodes: RPGA Members Meeting from DDXP.
• Kore RPG episodes: Lettin’ It All Hang Out (Bloopers and Music).
  

Interviews

• Atomic Array episodes: Master Dungeons.
  
• The Game's the Thing episodes: Deadlands: The Flood w/ Matthew Cutter.
  

Actual Play Sessions

• Heroic Cthulhu episodes: Nailed (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), Haunted House Redoux (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), Nailed Redoux (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), Crunchy Sheets (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), Not NPH (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9), Longest Fight Ever (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), Rules Discussion (1, 2).
  
• Gamer's Haven episodes: Deadlands Reloaded - Enough Room to Die (4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4).
  
• D&D Podcast episodes: Penny Arcade/PvP (3).
• The Walking Eye Podcast episodes: Misspent Youth Actual Play (4).
• Small But Vicious episodes: Small but Vicious Roleplay in WFRP (2).
• Role Playing Public Radio episodes: 4E Dungeons and Dragons - The New World Campaign Game (4).
• Return to Northmoor episodes: Actual Play of Session 5.
• The Gutter Skypes! episodes: StarBlazer Adventures! - Character Creation and Game Prep Session (2).
  

March 4, 2009 Links and Plugs

Lonely but alas, there's much to be done...

• Congrats to the Spectrum Awards winners.
• Mark Chadbourn claims that Solaris Put Up for Sale.
• Darwin's Evolution interviews Anne Bishop.
• Matt Fraction and Michael Chabon on writing comics and genre.
• Jim C. Hines on Kindle Text to Speech.
• Check out the TOC of Mythic Delirium #20 (I won't mention the name Neil Gaiman).
• Check out Brain Harvest: An Almanac of Bad-Ass Speculative Fiction with story lengths optimized for mobile devices.
• Tim Pratt on MetaMetaMeta.

And because the gun is loaded (and pointed at me):

The Little Sleep: A Novel by Paul Tremblay

Chiming in on Solaris's Sale

The news that affected me the most yesterday was Mark Chadbourn's announcement that Solaris is up for sale. Now for me, Solaris is an imprint that gave us impressive anthologies such as The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction and Poe.

Larry chimes in on the subject so I won't speculate. Instead, I'll narrate another similar event last year.

Solaris's parent company is Games Workshop, the guys that produce Warhammer and Warhammer 40K (yeah, it's a gaming company). Until last year, Games Workshop had a Black Industries line which produced games not in their main niche (miniatures). They brought back the Talisman board game for example as well as produced the Warhammer 40K RPG. Interestingly enough, both games went out of print quickly and had fans clamoring for more. Now this isn't really an instance where one or two games was keeping the business afloat at the expense of other failing products. A lot of the forthcoming products from Black Industries was for the Warhammer 40K RPG and its other products were holding their own. Anyway, long story short, Games Workshop shut it down. Here was the official statement last year:

"As a result of the continued and impressive success of our core novels business, which we have built around 40K and Warhammer, we have decided to focus all of our efforts on growing this part of our business. Black Industries has seen fantastic success, most recently with Talisman and Dark Heresy. This change does not take away from that achievement rather it allows BL Publishing to focus on producing the best novels we can. This is a purely commercial decision and will enable us to carry on the huge growth that we have recently been experiencing with our novels."

Now I'm not saying they made a bad decision. Producing books (especially mainstream novels) tends to be more profitable than producing games. Less manpower involved and presumably higher profit margins.

But if Games Workshop shut down what was a successful company line to concentrate on their core brand, the sale of Solaris (and I was surprised at the quality of the titles it was producing albeit one that wasn't necessarily mainstream--anyone remember the Wizards of the Coast: Discoveries line?) shouldn't be so surprising (and let's face it, the publishing industry last year is very different from the publishing industry today).

Essay: Filipino Secondary Worlds

Every Wednesday, I'll have an essay or a feature on any topic that catches my fancy!

One of the reasons why I dislike the term "speculative fiction" is that to most people, it's jargon. When I mention fantasy, science fiction, or horror, people immediately have a preconception (whether true or erroneous) of what the said genre is. Having said that, the term "secondary world" is even more precarious. Outside of the genre, people have no idea what it means and perhaps the ironic thing here is that it's probably the most common type of fantasy.

I bring up the issue of secondary worlds because there's a recent call for submissions for local authors. It's even aptly titled The Farthest Shore: Fantasy from the Philippines based on Ursula le Guin's famous Earthsea series (which happens to take place in an archipelago and guess what, that's exactly what the Philippines is). Unfortunately, some prospective writers aren't sure what secondary worlds is (I even got an email asking me to explain it). And honestly, the guidelines doesn't tell you much (or rather, concrete examples would have been better). Well, to the uninitiated, secondary worlds are settings which don't take place in the "real world." That's everything from Middle-Earth to Narnia to your weekly D&D game. World building is another term that gets lobbied with it ever since readers got a taste of Tolkien. Most likely, if your story takes place in a magical world or in an alien setting, it's most likely a secondary world.

When I first got into the fantasy genre, I was actually reading secondary world fiction although I obviously didn't call it that (nor was I aware there was such a term until two years ago). Terry Brooks, Raymond E. Feist, Robert Jordan, R.A. Salvatore--all of these authors usually write in such a sub-genre. For the most part, fantasy for a time was probably synonymous with secondary worlds. Personally, the only reason I see the need to make a distinction is due to the recent proliferation of urban fantasy (in the mainstream sense of the word) which doesn't usually qualify.

As far as local literature is concerned, Ibong Adarna and Florante at Laura is classified as secondary world since they don't take place in the real world (and definitely not the Philippines with its medieval Europe vibe). More recently, the works of Dean Francis Alfar and Vincent Michael Simbulan take place in a recurring secondary world. When it comes to the former, there's Hinirang which is a re-imagined Philippines and has a heavy Spanish colonialism tone to it. Examples of such stories include "The Kite of Stars", "Terminos", and "The Middle Prince". Vincent Michael Simbulan on the other hand has been working on his Forlorn setting which is a fantasy/science fiction world that is experiencing its own Ragnarok. He isn't as prolific as Alfar but a few locally-published stories take place in that cosmology such as "The Wail of the Sun" (Philippine Genre Stories Vol. 1) and "The Last Stand of Aurundar" (Philippine Genre Stories Vol. 4). Even Alfar has written a Forlorn story entitled "In the Dim Plane" (Philippine Genre Stories Vol. 4).

Not all secondary world stories however have to be as grandiose or as epic as those mentioned above. Dominique Cimafranca wrote a riveting action/adventure story entitled "Twilight of the Magi" in the Philippine Genre Stories: Christmas Issue. In my Philippine Speculative Fiction Sampler, "The Singer's Man" by M.R.R. Arcega is quite the emotional piece.

Perhaps an interesting discussion is whether secondary worlds can be "Filipino" if they don't take place in the Philippines or if they don't have Filipino characters. I think Ibong Adarna manages to qualify as a good example since there's nothing claiming that the characters are Filipino yet there's a quality about it that is distinctively ours.

March 3, 2009 Links and Plugs

It feels like the Ides of March...

• There's a correction to the Nebula Final Ballot.
  
• Over at the Shine Anthology, I got to talk about Finding Hope in Philippine SF.
• Amazon Reverses Stance on Text-to-Speech Feature.
• Nick Gevers interviews Lou Anders.
  
• Richard Dansky interviews Haris Orkin on game writing.
• Here's a video of Paul Tremblay.
• Thousands in scramble for free books after Amazon supplier abandons warehouse.
• Judith Berman on The Pity of the Wolves: Joseph Campbell, part 2.
• Greg van Eekhout on Bookstores I Have Loved.
• Janet Reid on Query Letters and Things to Skip in a Query Letter.
  
• Melanie & Steve Tem on Ripple Effect.
• JF Quackenbush on Writer as Lifestyle Syndrome: The New Literary Disease.
• Here's a site on Forgotten Bookmarks.

Check out this month's issue:

Clarkesworld #30 March 2009

Interview: Dean Francis Alfar

Every Tuesday, I'll have an interview posted.

Dean Francis Alfar is a Filipino playwright, novelist, and writer of speculative fiction. His plays have been performed in venues across the country, while his fiction has been published both nationally and abroad (The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror, Rabid Transit, Exotic Gothic 2).

Hi! Thanks for agreeing to do the interview. First off, I want to talk about the term "speculative fiction". Why did you choose that term as opposed to fantasy or science fiction?

Hi Charles, thanks for having me. While there is a long tradition of the fantastic in the Philippines, especially in terms of folklore and heroic tales, modern literature of the imagination is relatively young, with only sporadic examples in the previous decades. Realism, of the domestic and social sort, is dominant, and has been dominant ever since we fell under the influence of the Americans in the past century. Non-realist stories have traditionally been regarded as somehow less valid, less serious or less relevant to the Filipino reading experience.

When I decided to put together an anthology of fantastic fiction, I opted to use the term “speculative fiction” at this point in time as an umbrella term that covers non-realist genres including fantasy, science fiction, horror, magic realism, slipstream and things in between – stories that do not necessarily conform to the mode of realism (but may use elements of realism as desired) but also articulate the human condition through the lens of the fantastic. I needed an inclusive term that would welcome the different types of stories, being as open and unrestrictive as possible in terms of genre. .

What made you decide to push for speculative fiction in the Philippines?

I have always loved the fantastic. I am a fantasist at heart. At one point I realized that everything I loved to read – fantasy, scifi, horror – all of these came from outside my country. There was very little of these genres in the local bookstores. At the same time, I recognized the love we Filipinos have for the wondrous, for the supernatural. I wanted to provide a venue for the types of stories that I loved to read and to encourage writers young and old to fall through the trap door into other worlds. In 2005, I sounded out a call and was delighted with the results. Stories came in from across the archipelago and from Filipinos around the world. That was the year the first volume of Philippine Speculative Fiction came out from Kestrel, my micro press. We released the fourth volume last month, and along the way the series has been a finalist for the National Book Awards and gained a co-editor – my wife and writing partner, Nikki Alfar. Putting the book together is a highlight of our year, in the tradition of The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror series from Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling, Kelly Link, Gavin Grant and Jim Frenkel (which will be sadly missed).

You've certainly made a name for yourself locally as well as abroad. How did you about establishing yourself?

I don’t know about “making a name” but I sure am trying to get more stories out. My spec fic writing began right after I read a story by Christopher Barzak (“Plenty” in YBFH 15). I loved the story and was inspired to try my hand at submitting to the market where his story first appeared – Strange Horizons. “L’Aquilone du Estrellas (The Kite of Stars)” was my first submission, and my very first pro sale. I was stunned when it was accepted and absolutely floored when it was reprinted in YBFH 17. It was as if the impossible had occurred. A nobody Filipino made it to The Book, alongside icons like Ursula Le Guin and Stephen King! It was (and still is) huge for me (spec fic fan boy that I am). Fueled by that, I wrote as much and as well as I could, and in the subsequent years produced a novel (Salamanca, Ateneo Press, 2006) and enough short fiction published in various venues locally and abroad to come up with my first collection (The Kite of Stars and Other Stories, Anvil Fantasy, 2007). Much of my work appears in Filipino publications such as The Philippines Free Press, Story Philippines and The Digest of Philippine Genre Stories. During this period, I also set up the LitCritters, devoted to reading and writing spec fic. I’ve also been a vocal advocate, encouraging young writers to explore the fantastic in talks, conferences and workshops.

What was one of the biggest hurdles you had to overcome?

Fear of failure – locally, going against realism; internationally, rejection, of course. In the case of realism, it simply became a matter of believing in what I was writing and getting published. In the case of rejections, it was accepting the fact that rejection is part of the process, that one lucky break does not a career make – and continuing to submit while collecting rejection slips with pride.

I also continue to struggle with time. Nikki and I have two young daughters. And I manage three businesses (I’m very hands-on, office every day). I need to juggle writing time with the demands of family and business. It’s tough, and there are days or weeks when my writing output is zero especially with an infant, but it makes every completed and published story absolutely worthwhile.

You started out as a playwright. What was it about plays that appealed to you? What made you eventually decide to transition to writing fiction?

I started writing plays in the late 80s. The challenge of telling a story chiefly through dialogue was a heady rush. On the writing side, I loved the fact that only the spoken words carried the burden (when performed, of course, other aspects such as direction, acting, set design, etc. become vital parts of the whole). I loved the layering of subtleties in an exchange of words.

I was initially afraid of writing fiction, primarily because as a young man I did not enjoy reading Filipino realist fiction. I found it didactic, poorly written and predictable. I thought, wrongly, that if I wanted to write prose I had to write that way. But along the way, I found works by authors like Nick Joaquin whose sensibilities and use of words were above par. Ultimately though, what made me take the step was the yearning to have something I’d like to read. So I began to write stories that I’d want to read myself (and I don’t always succeed).

What were some lessons you learned in writing plays that applies to fiction?

Shifting gears from plays to fiction, one of my biggest advantages was my ability to write dialogue. Because it had been my focus earlier, it allowed me to pay attention to other aspects of the narrative form that were new to me. Thankfully, I also had a sense of story structure, permitting me space to play around in. Much of what I knew was complementary and really helped me out. Later on, the learnings I had from writing short fiction would come in handy when I attempted to make sense of the novelistic space. Writing in different ways is always helpful.

Who are some of your favorite authors or what are some of your favorite books?

It changes, but my perennials are Jeffrey Ford, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Kelly Link and Salman Rushdie. For books, I love historical non-fiction as well as odd books that make me think.

What in your opinion are some of the mistakes new writers make? What were some of the mistakes you made?

One of the biggest is that by simply being disciplined, you’ll get published. Just because you finish and polish a story doesn’t mean that the market will snap it up. Another is giving in to writerly despair, being affected by rejection. The third mistake new writers make is two-fold – not reading enough and not writing enough.

Personally, I have made all those mistakes and more. What I’ve learned are important: keeping things in perspective, having goals, having the ceaseless attitude of someone who needs to learn more, and actually writing and submitting to markets. And that it better to write than engage in debate.

Before you started making a push for speculative fiction, one of your thrusts was Filipino comics. What made you decide to produce Filipino comics?

I love comics! I grew up with everything from the Claremont/Byrne X-Men to the Morrison Doom Patrol. By the time I was an adult, I enjoyed the non-superhero comics more – books like Berlin by Jason Lutes and Acme Novelty Library by Chris Ware, stuff by Adrian Tomine. In the Philippines, there were a number of locally produced superhero stories but very little of the kind I was looking for. I wanted stories that did more than present costumed cosmic fistfights.

A group of friends and I, all writers and artists with a love of comics in common, got together and put out an anthology, Siglo: Freedom. It contained 10 stories describing the Filipino experience of freedom across 10 decades of Philippine history. It was a National Book Award and we went on to produce Siglo: Passion. We expanded the page count, invited non-comics people and challenged them to make comics exploring passion in the context of the Filipino condition, again across the history – and into the future. Siglo: Passion also won a National Book Award.

But as much fun and gratification I had helping put together and edit those two books, I felt I wanted to pursue something else. Comics, I decided ultimately, was not for me. Its future was safe in the hands of better creators like Gerry Alanguilan. But I remain supportive of the medium that I still love.

As a comics writer, what does it feel like, dependent or collaborating with an artist to produce your final text? How is that different from writing plays or writing fiction?

Since I could not draw to save my life, I was a pure comics writer. I needed to collaborate with an artist to get my vision across (and I’ve been fortunate to work with such talent artists like Arnold Arre and Carlo Vergara). It’s a partnership and often the results are wonderful. But there is a lack of autonomy. I prefer to write fiction or plays because I can be a full dictator when I’m doing writing, in full control editorially.

In your pursuit of your many projects, whether comics or prose, you ended up establishing your own imprint. Could you talk more about Kestrel, why you established it and what kinds of projects are under it?

Kestrel is my design agency. Under its auspices, I published my comics output. In the recent years, Kestrel publishes the Philippine Speculative Fiction series and not much else. There is a big dream of one day being able to publish more, but with the state of the economy and the rising costs of publication, distribution and marketing it remains a dream. I am looking into digital media though.

You're one of the Filipino writers/businessmen in the country. Could you talk about that relationship, how one relates to the other?

I cannot live off my creative/fiction writing in the Philippines. It is simply impossible. Every creative writer has to have some other source of income. In a nutshell, having a business allows me to pay the bills and affords my small family a modest life. And when I can eke out time, either through scheduling or via guerrilla-writing, my being an entrepreneur allows me to tell my stories. Thankfully, my businesses are something I enjoy spending time on. They keep my mind sharp and I continuously learn.

Did you ever consider writing poetry?

I am a poor poet. I simply do not have the knack or the”ear” for poetry. My efforts are always good for a laugh.

Going back to your fiction, could you talk about your Hinirang setting? Could you tell us more about it, how you ended up collaborating with friends on the world, and whether you're write more Hinirang stories in the future?

Hinirang is a reaimagined Philippines set during the time when the country was a colony of Spain. “Hinirang” comes from the Tagalog phrase “lupang hinirang” (“land longed for”) from the Philippine national anthem. It was created as a shared setting among friends, envisioned to be populated by a diverse cast whose stories were told by short stories and comics. Much of my early prose is set in Hinirang, where I was free to spin fantasy into the narrative. “Terminos”, which appeared first in Rabid Transit: Menagerie (edited by Christopher Barzak, Alan DeNiro and Kristin Livdahl) is a good example. I do have a more Hinirang stories in mind, so I have not left that world completely. It is a rich setting filled with potential – and it is uniquely Filipino.

Several years ago, you disliked science fiction. Why? Is that still the case?

Sad, but true. Years ago, my exposure to scifi left me cold. I was never a fan of idea stories and demanded more from the texts I read. I have to admit that my reading then was quite limited. But the solution was in broadening my reading horizons. Recently, I fell in love with science fiction again, thanks to authors like Ted Kosmatka – one of the finest scifi authors alive, I tell you.

Every year, you publish the Philippine Speculative Fiction volumes. What made you decide to to create such an anthology?

Basically to provide a venue for the stories I love to read. By encouraging writers to write speculative fiction, Nikki and I help grow the collective Filipino body of work.

What's the work dynamic between you and your wife Nikki when editing the anthology? Like do both of you have to like the stories?

As editors and readers, Nikki and I have different but overlapping poetics. We read the submissions apart and make notes and fashion short lists. Then we wrestle with each other until we come to an agreement on which stories make the cut. After that, Nikki does the heavy lifting editing-wise, coordinating with the authors for recommended improvements. Meanwhile, I focus on the production side, commissioning the cover, managing the story pages’ layout and coordinating with the printer. We both work on the launch event, while I handle the marketing and distribution.

What do you look for in a story?

Above all, it needs to be well-written. It must have some element of speculative fiction. I also tend to make the occasional oddball choice – because once in a while a story comes along that does not necessarily conform to what I think makes a “well-written” story but works superbly anyway. In those cases, I lay down my poetics and take a good look at it. If it works, it works and in it goes. The first three volumes of Philippine Speculative Fiction generated 12 Honorable Mentions in the YBFH, so I think in terms of story selection, Nikki and I are getting there.

It’s important to us that we encourage new authors as well. We are happy to publish first-time authors next to multiple award-winners. A good story trumps literary credentials any time.

How would you describe the landscape of speculative fiction in the Philippines?

With optimism. Speculative Fiction is being produced and read and enjoyed today by a growing audience. The Digest of Philippine Genre Stories, Story Philippines, Philippines Free Press, Philippine Graphic and other periodicals, as well as university folios, provide venues for the literature of the fantastic. Publishers are producing single author collections of speculative fiction and are looking for novels. Writers are exploring the vistas of fantasy, science fiction, horror and other non-realist genres with imagination as their only boundary, slowly articulating who they are as Filipino writers of the marvellous in their current socio/political/cultural milieu - wrestling, perhaps inevitably, with issues of personal /authorial and national/post-colonial identity as they contribute texts and locate themselves (or define space for themselves) in Philippine literature.

And all the ten dollar jargon aside, we’re having fun doing so. Speculative Fiction is relevant to the younger audience who are open to the fantastic – and are not writing it themselves.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Read a lot. Write more. Submit, submit, submit.

Anything else you want to plug?

Philippine Speculative Fiction IV is out. If you’re abroad and want to purchase a copy, drop me a note at deanalfar@gmail.com and we’ll work something out.

My story “Remembrance” appears in Exotic Gothic 2 edited by Danel Olson (Ash-Tree Press).

Anyone Know How I Can Get in Touch...

Anyone know how I can get in touch with the author Johanna Sinisalo?

Philippine Speculative Fiction IV Launch Link Compilation

Philippine Speculative Fiction IV edited by Dean Francis Alfar & Nikki Alfar

• "The Secret Origin of Spin-man" by Andrew Drilon (blog entry)
  
• "Press Release" by Leo Magno
• "Revenge of the Tiktaks" by Noel Tio
• "Breathing Space" by Maryanne Moll
• "Mang Marcing and The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" by Vincent Michael Simbulan
• "The Rooftops of Manila" by Crystal Gail Shangkuan Koo
• "The Day that Frances, the Copywriter, Became God" by Monique Francisco
• "A Retropsective on Diseases for Sale" by Charles Tan
• "Sky Blue" by Celestine Trinidad
• "All We Need is Five Meals a Day" by Jose Elvin Bueno
• "The Sewing Project" by Apol Lejano-Massebieau
• "Dreams of the Iron Giant" by Joseph F. Nacino
• "Breaking the Spell" by Rochita Loenen-Ruiz
• "The Dance of the Storm" by Isabel Yap
• "Dino's Awesome Adventure" by Carljoe Javier
• "Beats" by Kenneth Yu (blog entry)
• "Hopscotch" by Anne Lagamayo
• "First of the Gang to Die" by Paolo Jose Cruz
• "Haya Makes a HUG" by Erica Gonzales (blog entry|photos)
  
• "The Paranoid Style" by Sharmaine Galve (photos)
  
• "The Maiden's Song" by Kate Aton-Osias
• "Parallel" by Eliza Victoria (blog entry|photos)
  
• "A League of Champions" by Ronald Cruz (photos)
  
• "From 'Abecediarya'" by Adam David

Other blog entries:

• Paolo Chikiamco
• Inquirer.Net Video
• Catching the Duma Virus.
  

March 2, 2009 Links and Plugs

Clarion South Needs Help.

• Punktalk interviews W. H. Pugmire.
• A Maze of Books interviews Lisa Mantchev.
• Apex Books is looking for cover art for Apex Book of World SF.
• James A. Owen on The Drawbacks of Accessibility.
• Jennifer Pelland on Writing Ugly.
• Joshua Palmatier on Men Writing Women.
• Rich Horton on Yearly summary, plus Hugo nomination thoughts.
• Locus Online Analyzes this year's Nebula Nominations.
  
• Lucius Shepard on Playboy.
• Diana Rowland on Be A Writer.
• Editors Unleashed on So You Want to Make an E-Book.
• William Shunn on Formatting Text in Interesting Shapes.
• Richard Dansky on They've Made a Little List...
• A Newbie's Guide to Publishing on Confident or Delusional?
• Sarah Zettel on Still the Same Old Story?
• John Ottinger III on March is Women’s History Month.
  
• Dick Award Judges Announced.
• Ideomancer is open to submissions.
• I just want to remind people that the Shine anthology will soon be open to submissions (so start writing!).
• If you're submitting to Fantasy Magazine, be sure to use their New Submission Tracker.

Celebrate with Eugie Foster:


Returning My Sister's Face: And Other Far Eastern Tales of Whimsy and Malice by Eugie Foster

Book/Magazine Review: Eclipse Two by Jonathan Strahan

Every Monday, I'll be doing spoiler-free, bite-sized book/magazine reviews.


When I read Eclipse One more than a year ago, I knew I had to get Eclipse Two. I'm a fan of original anthologies, those with a theme or otherwise, and Jonathan Strahan editing the book was a big plus. Having Ted Chiang on the cover didn't hurt either.

Eclipse Two however is a very different beast from its predecessor (and whether that's good or bad depends on your preference). I'm more of a fantasy fan than a science fiction fan and this anthology focuses more on the latter. That doesn't make this a bad book, mind you, but whereas I found each and every story from Eclipse One thrilling, it's not so unanimous this time around. But I think it's also unfair to pin it to the sub-genre. There were several science fiction stories that I really enjoyed after all. However, there were some that were mediocre or lacked impact. Nancy Kress's "Elevator" for example, while it had good characterization, confused me, specifically who the prophetic voice was addressing. If it wasn't for the didacticism in Kress's writing, I would have been absolutely lost.

Still, there were a couple of engaging stories here, such as Margo Lanagan's "Night of the Firstlings" which I think is an impressive way of retelling a familiar Bible story, and Ted Chiang's "Exhalation" which involved some creative world-building and reminded me of Isaac Asimov's "The Gods Themselves."

The ones that truly excited me however were lumped up in the middle. "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" by David Moles takes into account our modern culture of MMORPGs and pushes it to the next level. Cyberpunk might be outdated but Moles takes the best elements of that sub-genre and resurrects some of its best themes. All the while, the author grounds his story with complex, sympathetic characters. It's not perfect, mind you, but still quite engaging.

"The Rabbi's Hobby" by Peter S. Beagle is impressive and it all boils down to the author's characters. Their voices feel authentic, whether it's the teenager struggling with his Hebrew or the unconventional rabbi, and one is drawn in by the details that one forgets the literal and symbolic coming-of-age ritual in the piece. What's commendable is how the speculative element is seeded and manages to subtly sneak itself into the narrative as if the other alternatives were out of the question. This is a fairly traditional piece but a well-written one that it's simply a pleasure to reread.

"The Seventh Expression of the Robot General" by Jeffrey Ford is relatively short but I feel that it's of the appropriate length. Right from the get-go, there's this sense of retro science fiction that's compelling and piques your interest. Ford's strength however is his focus on the implicit rather than the explicit, and in this case it's the mysterious "seventh expression" of the protagonist. This is one of those stories that remind you science fiction can be fun and enjoyable and that it doesn't always have to be always serious or political.

Despite some of my minor complaints, Eclipse Two is nonetheless a keeper and includes several well-written stories. Some of the stories alone, such as "Exhalation" or "The Rabbi's Hobby," is worth the price of admission alone.

Book/Magazine Review: Genesis by Bernard Beckett

Every Monday, I'll be doing spoiler-free, bite-sized book/magazine reviews.

Genesis gives off the vibe of old school science fiction as it's one of those novels where a central idea is distilled into its core philosophies and tackled in the narrative. The usual problem of such books is exposition: just look at Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination where one needs to get over the prologue before the actual story starts. Here, it's integrated transparently as the protagonist is engaged in an exam of sorts thus giving her the perfect excuse to prattle on about her world's history. The text is actually quite functional--it doesn't have the charm of more literary texts and is quite direct and blunt. Strangely enough, at least for me, this didn't detract me from the story. Again, it hearkens to the days of classic science fiction and this one is quite Asimovian.

The book can be divided into four parts, each one representing an hour of the heroine's test. Honestly the first part was the most tedious as it's really a long prologue and gives us the background of the conflict. The other three parts, on the other hand, is well conceived and this is where the recurring theme starts to surface. What I enjoyed about Genesis is that this is very much a philosophical text and there are inferences by Bernard Beckett to the Classics such as Plato and Aristotle, or even the very inclusion of characters named Adam and Eve. Some might interpret this as a cheap trick and to a certain extent, I don't think it was necessary to name the characters as such. Still, it gives the narrative a richer reading, especially considering the concepts and subject matter it tackles.

Overall this was a quick and interesting read. By the time one reaches the end, it becomes evident that there are certain elements that the author deliberately omitted in order to heighten the impact of Genesis. Beckett is reminiscent of the styles of Clarke and Asimov and while that may not have as much appeal as it did several decades ago, it's still a worthwhile technique to employ. I wouldn't say the book grabbed me by the balls but I have no regrets dedicating the time to read this book.

Book/Magazine Review: The Bridge by Zoran Zivkovic

Every Monday, I'll be doing spoiler-free, bite-sized book/magazine reviews.

Ever since I started reading Zoran Zivkovic last year, there's an element of his writing that seemed familiar but I couldn't quite pinpoint. Thankfully, the afterword by Slobodan Vladusic mentions an author that I've read previously but forgotten: Kafka. In terms of writing style, Zivkovic and Kafka are similar in the sense that there's something impersonal about the tone in addition to the inclusion of the speculative element which the reader tends to shrug off as "normal". Vladusic has an interesting discourse showing how the two authors are different but for me, the biggest difference between Zivkovic and Kafka is that the former's writing is charming while the latter is alienating.

The Bridge at first glance feels like a formulaic Zivkovic narrative. It's divided into three parts, each one seeming like an independent story yet when read as a whole, a unifying thesis surfaces. Another recurring aspect is the bizarre hook that reels you in from the start: encountering a doppelganger, a deceased acquaintance, and an unborn child. Again, it's not particularly new and if you've read a lot of the author's previous works, this might all sound repetitive. In fact, perhaps one weakness is that the said narratives are too stretched out. Zivkovic in my opinion works best when his stories are short and brief. Sustaining the reader's interest is tricky and while the author has done so in previous works, it doesn't work quite as well here as there were a few times where I felt it's one eerie scene after another without much reward.

Despite my criticisms though, a deeper reading of The Bridge reveals that this is more than a simple concept story. It's actually rich and can be read on multiple levels. For example, the so-called bridge appears multiple times, whether literally or metaphorically. The three disparate stories are also interlinked and keen readers will spot the clues and the details which kindles one's sense of wonder in terms of world-building. And for all my complaints of Zivkovic's style, readers who are unfamiliar with the author's work may find his technique a treat.

I appreciated the fact that in this PS Publishing title, there is no introduction and instead we get an afterword. It's refreshing as I've found some introductions to spoil the story or prepare you to read the narrative in a certain way. Here, it's a matter of trust in the author's skill to condition the reader for the afterword.

Just when I thought I had Zivkovic figured out, I read The Bridge and it dispels any doubts that the author is a one-trick pony. While reading this book on the surface level is quite valid, the richness of Zivkovic is that there's usually something underlying in his text and amplifies one's engagement with the narrative.

Philippine Speculative Fiction IV Book Launch

I always look forward to book launches--especially speculative fiction anthologies--mainly because this is the most common way of connecting with fellow writers and fans. During the informal ceremonies, there was a point when I felt "old" (I'm 26) since some of the cute contributors were in their teens. Anyway, it was great seeing acquaintances and people I'm more likely to meet online rather than face to face.

I just finished reading the anthology and there were a few stories that caught my attention:

• "The Secret Origin of Spin-man" by Andrew Drilon
• "The Sewing Project" by Apol Lejano-Massebieau
• "Beats" by Kenneth Yu
• "The Maiden's Song" by Kate Aton-Osias
• "From 'Abecediarya'" by Adam David

It's reading stories like these that make me want to compile them and start projects like The Philippine Speculative Fiction Sampler. With the release of Philippine Speculative Fiction IV, there's around 34 speculative fiction stories that's been published this year so far (I'm keeping track of them here). In the coming months, new books that will have speculative fiction elements include A Time for Dragons edited by Vincent Michael Simbulan, a short story collection from Yvette Tan, and a book compiling four gothic novellas by Karl de Mesa.

Unfortunately, this good news is limited by the fact that readers outside of the Philippines won't have access to these texts (and it's not just "international" readers but includes ex-pats and Filipinos not residing in the country). Again, it makes me want to assemble a "best of" anthology for publication (in some form) next year.