Feb 16 – “Nardo” by Vince Torres

March 1 – “Last Stand at Ayala Center” by EK Gonzales

March 16 (part 1) and March 24 (part 2) – “Needle Rain” by Eliza Victoria

April 1 (part 1) and April 8 (part 2) – “Vinci’s Real-Life Pulp Fiction” by set editor Joseph Nacino

Mark your calendars!

While waiting for the stories, sit down, have a look around. And read.

These pictures were taken by J’s sister and George’s mom, VJ. The party was held at the North East Greenhills Clubhouse, headed by the deliciously named NEGA (North East Greenhills Association):

It’s weird/funny to see the letters around the neighborhood, like they’re taunting you. (NEGA! NEGA!)

It was a great party. Desserts!

These were delicious. (Understatement of the century.)

Photobooth!

With the birthday celebrant.

With the other boy. Hehe.

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In the meantime I’m at home trying to get my shit together. Step 1 of getting my shit together was applying for an NBI Clearance, which I did yesterday. An entire lifetime could be lived during an NBI Clearance application. I was told to go to Robinsons Otis because it was reportedly faster, but I was going to meet up with Eula anyway so I chose to go to Robinsons Galleria. If you’re planning to line up there, for the love of all that is holy, be there early. And by early I mean earlier than 5:30 a.m., because I was there before the sun even rose and I was number 364. Can you believe that? What time did people start arriving, 3 a.m? The NBI satellite centers process only 500 applications a day. (NBI Main processes 2,000.) Number 500 was handed out at Galleria yesterday before 7 a.m. Yep. So. Be there early.

They allowed numbers 201 to 399 to come in at 10 a.m., and numbers 400 onwards at 12 noon. Bring a book, an mp3 player, a friend to chat with. And food. And patience. And remember: 2 valid IDs, P115.

I finished the application at 5:30 p.m. And was told that I got a “hit” and could only get my clearance on Feb. 8. Feb. 8! I was too tired to feel angry at that point, so I just got on a bus and went home.

Check out the NBI website to find out where else you can go to get clearance.

Also, NBI? There has got to be an easier way to secure clearance. I mean, come on, man, I pay my taxes. I don’t pay my taxes just so I can sit inside a mall for 12 hours waiting for a lousy piece of paper.

I imagine my younger siblings lining up for this for employment and I die a little inside.

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Anywho, recommendations!

Lucifer – In Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, Lucifer Morningstar throws up his hands and says, “I give up!”, and hands the keys to Dream. Hell is Dream’s problem now, and good riddance. In The Kindly Ones we find him running a piano bar. But what are the other plans of the former Lord of Hell? Author Mike Carey tells us. And what a series! High concepts! I love this.

Room – Jack and Ma live in Room. It’s a very small room. Look. Five-year-old Jack believes Room is the world, and everything else (the shows on TV, the stories in their books) is fantasy. Old Nick brings them food and clothes and takes their garbage away. Jack has to stay in Wardrobe when Old Nick visits Ma at night. One day, Jack watches TV and sees a man taking the same painkillers her Ma keeps in a bottle. But how is that possible? How can the painkillers in Room appear in TV, which isn’t real?

At that point I felt real terror, and that’s when I knew what a gripping tale this is. Of course if you follow the news you’d know what the novel is based on. The knowledge doesn’t diminish the story’s power. Do check it out. I read it in two days.

Sherlock – And the most adorable picture ever.

That’s it, pancit!

Re-posting from Jovie Dayon:

If SOPA/PIPA passes, this is what will happen to you.

Photos found on the web (Flickr), user-generated content (Wikipedia, Reddit), images or files we even link to (9gag, music files as BGMs) will be reason to take down sites without warning with only 5days to plead your case. Guilty unless proven innocent it is.

No more file-sharing (torrents) VPNs and proxies will be illegal. Opensource will… be good as dead. No more free-flow of information Put it this way: if SOPA and PIPA passed 10 years ago, there would be no Google, YouTube, Wikipedia. Think about it for a bit.

Those caught hosting filesharing sites or downloading abroad can be extradited. DNS (under PIPA) will be filtered– like what China does with Facebook. Sites will definitely be limited. It’s a US bill with worldwide repercussions.

Join the blackout with Reddit, Wikipedia, Mozilla Firefox and other companies from 8am-8pm EST on Jan18 (7pm-7am PH time, Jan19). Don’t access Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, 9gag or Facebook. Post the banners on your sites. Spread the word. We’re all affected by this. The internet has no bounds.

While SOPA has been shelved temporarily, PIPA has not. PIPA is basically a mirror of SOPA, only it is being pushed through the US Senate. It is still pushing through. We won one battle with SOPA, but things are not over yet.

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/wikipedia-blacked-over-anti-piracy-bill-033057102.html

My favorite in the collection is Eliza Victoria’s “The Storyteller’s Curse,” about a writer receiving a gift that he never really wanted. This is the kind of formal ambition I really admire, juggling the different tropes of horror and metafiction to create a tight, tension-filled story. It has one of those double plot setups that can be challenging to maintain, but Victoria does it masterfully here. The convergence of the two narratives leads to a climax whose implications are as horrific as it is intoxicating. It has subtle nods towards the style of writers like Stephen King and Ray Bradbury, using gothic elements to tackle issues of artistic creation, survival, and choice. The last line was a sucker punch in the gut the first time I read it.

Thank you! And thanks to editor Kate Osias for posting the link online.

Buy the book! PSF VII coming soon!

Happy for the positive reviews Alternative Alamat is getting. We’re at #14 today on the Amazon Kindle Fantasy Anthology list!

Some reviews:

Deck Shoes (Catherine Batac Walder)

Kristine Ong Muslim on Goodreads

Bookish Little Me

One More Page

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It’s been a bit quiet here, huh.

Some highlights from the past week.

A (Board)Game of Thrones!

I have played this before but this is the new version. Thanks to Phil for hosting the game (and taking these pictures). We played two rounds. I was controlling the Lannisters in the first round (where the Tyrells won), and the Baratheons in the second (where the Greyjoys won).

The second round took forever, haha. Jaykie, who was controlling the Lannisters, almost conceded after losing so many troops. But I’m glad he didn’t because it was such a hilarious comeback No, actually, I wasn’t glad because if he had conceded I would have moved my troops and won two castles easy but anyway.

This goddamn Lannister ship

went to the Baratheon side on a whim and singlehandedly (well, with the help of the Tyrell ships) sank the Stark fleets and cut off Dragonstone from the rest of the continent.

It has to be the most entertaining gameplay I have ever seen that night. “For Lannisport!”

Thanks guys.

(This section should have a WARNING: GEEKERY tag.)

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Swensen’s last night, with the boyfriend, his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew. My happy place.

PSF7 stats and trivia:

14 males / 10 females

23 of the 24 will find its first home in PSF

1 story was written after an author realized she was broke (I have every faith she has recovered since then, folks!)

1 story is the last leg of a troika of erotica (it rhymes!) written over a period of 3 years

3 stories are from first time fiction authors

1 story’s idea was stolen from a pastor’s sermon

1 story is the last short fiction the author will be writing until he finishes his novel

0 stories were from time travelling Filipino Vikings (darn it, I was hoping with the numbers we would have at least 1!).

Manila Kingpin: The Asiong Salonga Story – The film’s trailer was exciting enough to quicken the pulse and generate interest, but I couldn’t say the same about the film, which was occassionally dry and dragging and awkward, and not helped at all by Jorge Estregan’s wooden performance. There are production errors, editing hiccups, (see this hilarious review on Radikalchick’s site) but it’s not all bad: Asiong is beautifully photographed and beautifully scored, sound quality is laudable, and you can see the amount of time and the level of craft and art it took to frame every frame.

And it’s great to see our action stars on the big screen again! Nakaka-miss.

Shake, Rattle, and Roll 13 – Couldn’t even remember which SRR I last saw in full, but I think this is worth watching. I loved the cast performance in “Tamawo”, but the episode could use more gore, more dreadful atmosphere, more rain, more menacing monsters, and better build-up. “Parola” is a strong story, probably the most psychologically complex story I’ve seen in SRR, but could use better special effects. “Rain, Rain, Go Away” could use a better title! But seriously the last episode, which deals with Ondoy, is horrific even without the supernatural elements. And it has moments of real comedy (it has the Eugene Domingo, after all, and the episode is directed by Chris Martinez) that do not destroy the horror. Now that’s something.

Estranghero Press’s science fiction anthology, Diaspora Ad Astra, is now live! Featuring my story, “Rizal“, as well as stories by Dean Francis Alfar, Alexander Osias, Carljoe Javier, Isabel Yap, Anne Lagamayo, and many others. Edited by Joseph Nacino and Prof. Emil Flores.

Philippine Speculative Fiction VI and Alternative Alamat are included in this list of Notable Books from 2011. Happy to have stories in both! PSF VI carries my story, “The Storyteller’s Curse”, while Alternative Alamat has “Ana’s Little Pawnshop on Makiling St.”

Katrina Stuart Santiago talks about Alternative Alamat, and five other books that she believes you must buy this year.

Buy, buy, buy! Read, read, read!

Booze, food, family, love, home and UFC on New Year’s Day. Happy New Year, everyone.

Planning, planning on making some changes. Wish me luck.