He will be loved....

I'm trying to keep the stress of creative blockage at bay, so I've decided to indulge myself with this fun little morale-booster that I picked up from Dean's blog.
You Google in the phrase- "I love (your name) because" and post what you find.

Here's what I got (I used Vinnie first, and then I tried Vin):

I love Vinnie because he's a brat, is funny, uses six dollar words, and puts up with Me. (I take umbrage at your insinuation of my alleged immaturity. But I forgive You.)

I love Vinnie because he is my best friend and he has a sexy lip ring and I might steal it. (Lip ring?! Hmmm. I'm more a nipple ring kinda guy I think.)

I love Vinnie because what's not to love? He's the coolest kid on the planet pretty much and I just love him to death (Ohh-kay. Can you feel the validation in the air? Layer it on babe. I'm hip-to-the-hop.)

I love Vin because he and I blend well when we make music (Ahhh, those videoke nights...)

I love Vin because he's sexy-homely and all pumped up, but not in that unreal Stallone-Schwarzenegger way (Yeahhh! I'm all real!)

I love Vin because he is hot, not because of his acting skills, but damn does he have a body (My body is a wonderland it seems...)

And for the sake of balance, I also tried a search for "I hate Vinnie because" and- there were NO MATCHES! Woohoo! As far as online reality is concerned, I have no detractors.

Alright, I feel soooo much better now.

Sidereal note:

I've just picked up the revised Exalted from White Wolf. I love this setting so much, it's probably the best RPG line in the market from the guys who gave us Vampire: The Masquerade and Mage: The Awakening. Exalted is an engaging and well realized epic fantasy setting, with an Anime twist. An unusual fusion, I'll admit, but it really works. Check it out at Comic Quest Megamall when you get the chance.

A Time to Write

My hours have been devoured by the great beasts of work/housekeeping/editing/ruminating. Though ruminating may not really count as a serious time-eater,I have been spending a fairly large chunk of time thinking about the stories that I've accepted for the anthology.

Lately though I've been struggling with a lack of focus where my own writing is concerned. Maybe it's the whole change of pace since moving out. There are old issues I have to deal with, as well as new ones I've discovered now that I've gotten a place of my own. It can get scary and confusing at times, but I treat it as part of the whole journey of self-realization thing. Then again, part of my restless inactivity may also be a reaction to the relentless heat that has sucked me into a state of extreme lassitude.

Oh well, no time to dwell on that now because one of the most exciting announcements for speculkative fiction fans has just come out, and there are new deadlines to meet! Dean has just made an open call for submissions to the second volume of the Philippine Speculative Fiction Anthology!

From his blog:

I am now accepting submissions of short fiction pieces for consideration for the anthology "Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol.2". Speculative fiction is the literature of wonder that spans the genres of fantasy, science fiction, horror and magic realism or falls into the cracks in-between.

1. Only works of speculative fiction will be considered for publication. As works of the imagination, the theme is open and free.

2. Stories must cater to an adult sensibility.

3. Stories must be written in English.

4. Stories must be authored by Filipinos or those of Philippine ancestry.

5. Preference will be given to original unpublished stories, but previously published stories will also be considered. In the case of previously published material, kindly include the title of the publishing entity and the publication date.

6. First time authors are welcome to submit. In the initial volume, there was a near 50-50 split of established and new authors.

7. Each author may submit only one story for consideration.

8. Each story’s word count must be no fewer than 3,000 words and no more than 5,000 words.

9. All submissions must be in Rich Text Format (.rtf – save the document as .rft on your word processor) and attached to an email to this address: dean@kestrelimc.com. Submissions received in any other format will be deleted, unread.

10. The subject of your email must read: 2nd Philippine Speculative Fiction Submission: (title) (word count); where (title) is replaced by the title of your short story, without the parentheses, and (word count) is the word count of your story, without the parentheses.

For example - 2nd Philippine Speculative Fiction Submission: The Last Siren 4500.

11. All submissions must be accompanied by a cover letter that includes your name, brief bio, contact information, previous work (if any).

12. Deadline for submissions is September 15, 2006. After that date, final choices will be made and letters of acceptance or regret sent out via email.

13. Target publishing date is December 2006/January 2007.

14. Compensation for selected stories will be 2 contributor’s copies of the published anthology.

Dean Francis Alfar, editor

Time to get writing!!

Dragon Anthology Final Selections

When I first sent out the call for submissions to the Dragon Anthology, I admit I wasn't prepared for the response that I received given the highly specific nature of my call. I was especially pleased that there were recognized and awarded authors who responded. I was kidding some of them that I would drag them out of the "serious writing" closet and expose them as fellow fantasists who enjoy genre fiction like everybody else. I also received excellent stories from previously unpublished authors, as well as some writers who appeared in the first volume of the Philippine Speculative Fiction anthology. In making my final selections, part of my agenda was to get a mix that reflected the range of stories that I received.

Here are the stories that will make up A Time for Dragons, pending final sequencing.

The Bridge by Yvette Tan
The Transfiguration of Zhang Bai Long by Elbert Or
Dragon Brother by Cyan Abad-Jugo
3:30 PM Appointment with Sir Galahad by Kate Aton-Osias
Dragon Eyes by Dean Francis Alfar
Moondown and Fugue by Alexander Drilon
Tholomew Mestich and the Tiles of Ganew by Elyss Punsalan
Capture by Gabriela Lee
Glass by Nikki Alfar
Johnny Tato and the Dragon of Pasig by Joseph Nacino
A Fishy Tale by Apol Lejano-Massebieau
The Clockwork Dragon's Heart by Vincent Michael Simbulan
Lex Talionis by Paolo Chikiamco-Recio
A Little Knowledge by Dominique Cimafranca
Gunsaddled by Alexander Osias
A Change of Guards by Oscar Alvarez Jr.
Fossil by Sarge Lacuesta

I am also in the process of sending out the appropriate letters to everyone who submitted and coordinating with the authors for final revisions. My sincerest thanks to everyone who invested time and effort to write, particularly to the ones who made the extra effort of sending in two submissions. I wish I had more room to publish all your stories. (Perhaps if I can manage a second volume.) If there's one thing this proves to me, it's that the concept of the dragon is still rich and filled with possiblity. There may not be new stories to tell, but even old stories can become fresh when written with a new perspective.

I just hope that publishers take notice and support the move to publish genre fiction written by local authors. As I've said in the past, there's no reason why the fantasy and science-fiction sections of the bookstores have to be filled with foreign books when we've proven that local authors are just as capable of producing quality work.

Building an anthology

A funny thing happened on the way to the Dragon Anthology....

As most of you who follow my blog know, I've moved out of the house, gotten a place of my own and started a new chapter in my life. On top of that I've also had to deal with the death of my grandmother. It's been a rocky two months, filled with new challenges and new routines. On a brighter note, I've also welcomed Andrew Drilon, who took his own major leap of faith into the unknown and joined me in my quest for independence. Lots of things have been happening to me, challenges that I've managed to hurdle with the help of my dear friends.

And now, life goes on and my first order of business is to put together the much delayed Dragon Anthology. My sincerest apologies to everyone who submitted and waited while I sorted out the sundry details of my life. For the Dragon Anthology, I have two announcements:

1. I've eliminated the Poetry category, due to the a shortage in submissions. I only recieved about 3 entries, and sadly, they're not enough to fill out an entire section of the book. Apologies to the few who submitted, for the time and effort they poured into their poems. Unfortunately, despite my desire to include a Poetry section in the book, it will not be possible right now.

2. I'll be announcing the final list of accepted stories that I've picked within the week. Out of the 40 stories submitted, I've chosen a good 16 for publication. I'll be posting the list here within the week, so watch out for that.

The mix of submissions was very interesting. As I went through my editing process, I noticed a few things of interest; major themes that came out from the large bulk of Filipino-written dragon stories submitted, themes which many have in common:

1. "Dragons Among Us" - these stories are set in the modern day, where the story largely deals with a dragon hiding among the general populace in a human guise.

2. "Dragons of Water" - for some reason, a large number of stories dealt with dragons that have deep ties to water, either as water-spirits, or as serpents lurking in the depths.

3. "Look! I'm Pinoy!" - these stories find our authors struggling with the familiar guilt of having to be overtly Filipino. This includes setting the stories in a blatantly Filipino milieu, having characters with strong Filipino names, peppering dialogue with Tagalog phrases, and including, of course, the ubiquitous carabao.

4. "Dragons Have No Future" - upon reviewing all the entries, it saddened me to note that virtually none of the submissions chose to deal with dragons in a science fiction setting. Perhaps, it's the strong ties that dragons have with traditional fantasy that influences almost all the stories into the magical mode.

I had a great time going through each and every entry, and I'd like to thank everyone who took the time out to write their stories and share their love of dragons with me.

Up Next: The Top 16 stories! Coming this week!