Rocket Kapre: Fantastic Filipino Fiction

We have lift off ladies and gentlemen.

After months of planning, I’m proud to announce the official launch of Rocket Kapre Books and rocketkapre.com.

Rocket Kapre Books is a digital publishing imprint dedicated to bringing the very best of Filipino-made Speculative Fiction (Fantasy, Science Fiction and other works of a fantastical nature) to a worldwide audience by means of affordable and accessible ebooks (stories contained in digital files that can be read from computers, smart phones or ebook readers).

Rocketkapre.com endeavors to serve not only as the online headquarters for the imprint, but also as a home for creators and fans of Philippine Speculative Fiction, incorporating an active blog that will showcase interesting links as well as generate exclusive content such as interviews, contests, writing tips and original fiction.

So come on over and join the fun! For launch day we’ve got a round table discussion of our favorite Filipino-created fantastical stories, a preview of the ambitious Mind Museum going up at the Fort, and an interview with Kate Aton-Osias regarding the upcoming Farthest Shore anthology. And hey if you want a more complete explanation as to why I put up Rocket Kapre, you’ll find that there too.

Hope to see you there! And please, spread the word: feel free to use our banners and promotional comic strip to get the message out: there’s a new home for Fantastic Filipino Fiction.

9/9/09: The Future of Pinoy SF Wants You

Are you ready to soar?

Sorry if that was a bit dramatic but it got your attention didn’t it? And while there is a time for circumspection, for earnest modesty, this is not one of those times.

Some of you might remember these posts and the promise I made to establish a digital publishing house for Philippine Speculative Fiction. I’ve been hammering away at that dream for half a year now… and I’m about to take the first major step at making that dream a reality.

On 9 September 2009, our new imprint will launch its website/blog dedicated to all things relevant to the readers and creators of stories of the Philippine Fantastic. Our aim is that the site can serve  as a launching pad for great Filipino SF, and also a venue for a greater understanding of the magical, speculative and scientific aspects of our culture and heritage. But most of all, want we want the site to do is create a community, and for that we need your help. We want to hear what you guys want in a site that aims to be something akin to the io9 or Tor.com of the Philippine Fantastic.

Tell us: what kind of topics would you like to cover? What kid of features or posts would keep you coming back? Here’s a list of things we’re working on:

• A free online zine with SF short stories from Filipino authors old and new
• Interviews with creators/writers/artists
• Reviews of Filipino created books and komiks
• Roundtable discussions on important issues or interesting questions
• Reviews of non-Filipino created media that would interest Filipino SF readers
• Articles exploring our myths, legends, culture and history
• Silly–but sincere–fan speculation about our favorite local characters (I’m working on a post pitting certain cast members of Trese ant the Mythology Class against each other)

If you have content you want to see on the new site, please let me know in the comments section (which will be moderation free). On September 9, at 9:00 a.m., we’ll post the address for the new site here (those of you who’ve already seen it please don’t make the URL or the imprint name] public–it’s not quite ready for prime time yet -_-).

Hold on to your seats everyone. Not sure where this journey will take us, but I promise you we’re going full speed ahead.

Komikon Awards 2009: Online Voting

I’ve mentioned the on-going voting for the 2009 Komikon Awards, as well as the nominees, but for those without easy access to participating comic book stores (which is, let’s face it, everyone outside of Metro Manila) you’ll be pleased to know that you can now vote for your favorites online via two methods:

The first is through a poll on deviantart which is accessible for deviantart users. It’s not all that difficult to register on deviantart, so don’t look on that as an obstacle.

You can also vote at the official Komikon website–look for the drop down awards menu at the top of the site. Registration (on the Komikon site) is required, as is to be expected to avoid a scenario where the winners are determined solely by dint of which nominee has fans with the most free time. One difference between the Komikon site and deviantart though is that on the Komikon website, you can see the current tally of votes before casting your own.

Voting is until September 20, so I urge everyone to take the time to familiarize yourselves with the nominees before voting–try not to just vote for the nominees already familiar to you @_@. Consider it as practice for the research we’ll all (well all of above 17 that is) have to do for May 2010.

Market! Market! Mad About Books Bookfair 2009

Found myself at Market! Market! this evening, and caught an announcement for a Book Fair of sorts there next week from 27 July to 1 August; I’d be a bit more excited if there were a Fully Booked or Powerbooks or Different Bookstore there… but hey, they might participate anyway, and any book fair is reason to celebrate. Besides, maybe Buy-the-Book will have further reductions on their secondhand books.

There are a few other activities as well, including book donations for Children’s Hour for those more interested in giving than receiving. Anyway, here are the details, courtesy of an image pulled from PH Best Deals:

The Farthest Shore: Partial List of Stories

Slightly old news (and somewhat self-serving I know, but hey, I would have posted this regardless) but Joseph Nacino and Dean Alfar have announced “after much deliberation” the list of stories accepted for the “Farthest Shore” the upcoming anthology of Filipino secondary world fantasy (which you might remember from here). In no particular order, the stories and authors are as follows:

1. Balancing Darkness- Rodelle Santos
2. Hindsight- Paolo Chikiamco
3. Rite of Passage- Dominique Cimafranca
4. The Just World of Helena Jimenez – Eliza Victoria
5. Spelling Normal- Mia Tijam
6. Emberwilde – Nikki Alfar
7. Light – Kate Aton-Osias
8. They Spoke of Her in Whispers – Bessie Lasala
9. In the Arms of Beishu – Vincent Simbulan
10. Wildwater- Crystal Koo

Two more stories will be added, one from each of the editors, to bring the total number to twelve. “The Farthest Shore” is intended to be released in digital/online form sometime late August.

I’m really excited for this one, even setting aside for the moment that my story will be in it. Still, it’s good to know that all that toil and research was not in vain.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/navinography/ / CC BY 2.0

Twitter Fiction: Book View Cafe and Thaumatrope

Wow, we’ve been making a lot of good twitter fiction haven’t we? Book View Cafe recently launched its third Twitter Fiction contest to celebrate the release of Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff’s ebook Laldasa: A Beloved Slave. The goal was to write a complete story in 126 characters (down from 140 due to the hashtag) with the theme of “You got mystery/romance in my science fiction!” When the results were in, four stories from three of our local Spec Fic authors garnered Honorable Mentions:

Kenneth_Yu: @bookviewcafe I felt her kiss first, then her blade. Smiling, she switched her machine off as I died. Virtual reality leaves no blood.

luckychan13: @bookviewcafe She thought she had found love again, years after her divorce. He turned out to be one of her ex-husband’s clones.

blissery: @bookviewcafe “A new form of the old hate,” he says sadly, touching his hand. “It’s not because we’re both men, it’s because we’re robots.”

luckychan13: @bookviewcafe We were rejects; leftover embryo from fertility treatments. We were not supposed to be born. –And now someone’s killing us.

Congratulations to our wonderful authors! Next time, we shoot for #1 ^_^

While we’re in the mood to write some tiny fiction, it would be remiss not to mention that Thaumatrope, the site/magazine for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror fiction under 140 characters, has re-opened for submission of stories until 31 July. You can also submit serials. General guidelines and payrate can be found here.

RP612Fic: Celebrate Independence Day with Six Word Stories

Most of the time I don’t realize that a long weekend has arrived until I realize I’m not the only one in the house anymore–but tomorrow, June 12, is Independence Day… something worth celebrating regardless of how you may feel about what we’ve done with that independence.

While wondering what I could do to commemorate the occasion,  I stumbled across an admittedly dated–but still awesome–collection of six word stories over at Wired magazine, and I got to thinking: why not do some six word stories tomorrow to celebrate? And I knew just the place for it:

So, if you’re on twitter, and you want to do a six word micro SF story, tag it #RP612fic so I can track them down for posting here later. If you’re not on twitter, but still want to participate, just send the stories to me and I’ll post them when I do a round-up post on Saturday morning.

No real rules, though obviously I’d love a good spec fic micro story more than anything else; I don’t think it needs to be tied directly to independence: any story about/involving the Philippines or Filipinos should do.

As for me, I’m trying to come up with 24 that I can release every hour via Hootsuite – here’s a sample tweet:

#RP612fic Makati’s secret: the statues are alive.

I’ve already got contributions from @ekmisao and @blissery but there’s always room for more. C’mon–it’ll be fun! (and you can honestly say at the end of the day that you finished a story–always a good thing right? ^_^)

(Image of old school Philippine soldiers from Filipiniana.net – click the pic to see a translation of the Declaration of Philippine Independence)

Call for Submissions: Philippine Speculative Fiction V

(I’d vote for a Voltes theme for the cover if Beerkada hadn’t done that already ^_^)

That time of the year again eh? Maybe I’ll actually get to send something in this time ^_^ Note the editorial change–well, not really a change so much as an evolution I think since I’m assuming Dean will still be involved in some capacity.

Here are the details, courtesy of Notes From the Peanut Gallery:

Editors Nikki Alfar and Vin Simbulan are now accepting submissions of short fiction pieces for consideration for the anthology “PHILIPPINE SPECULATIVE FICTION V”.

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. However, if you have a Young Adult story that is particularly well-written, send it in.

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. Kindly state also in your cover letter that you have the permission, if necessary, from the original publishing entity to republish your work.

FCBD 2009: Fully Booked Details

Got an email reminder from Fully Booked about their upcoming time-delayed Free Comic Book Day. Please note the benefit to cosplayers and the different opening time for the brand new Eastwood Mall store:

Dear Fully Booked Customer,

Free Comic Book Day is coming up! Drop by any Fully Booked branch this Saturday, May 23 and enjoy the following:

• One free comic book, no purchase required!
• An additional free comic book if you come in costume
• 20% off on all graphic novels and comics, including manga, humor titles, children’s graphic novels and comics, and graphic novel encyclopedias!

Comic giveaway starts at 10AM in all branches, except Eastwood, where it starts at 11AM. First come, first served. Good until supply lasts.

See you there!

All the best,
The eZine Team

I hope I have better luck nabbing a comic than I did at Comic Odyssey @_@

On a tangential note I’m saddened that the sci-fi workshop was canceled for today, to reset to a better time. Will let everyone know when I receive word on that–I’m glad that the organizers were prompt in sending out word this morning of the cancellation.

Deadline Reminders: Palancas and New Genre Review

A couple of deadlines coming up for you writer-folk out there, both falling due on April 30:

THE 2009 CARLOS PALANCA MEMORIAL AWARDS FOR LITERATURE:

Of course the big daddy of Philippine literary honors is counting down to the traditional April 30 deadline. Not so traditional is the fact that the Palancas are now (except Novel and Dulang Pampelikula) allowing submissions through their website as stated in their rules:

18.    All entries (except Novel and Dulang Pampelikula) submitted through the website should be in Rich Text Format (RTF) or in a Word Document File and should be sent as an attachment together with scanned copies of the following: (a) duly accomplished Official Entry Form, (b) notarized Authorization Form, (c) Consent, if applicable, and (d) the author’s full résumé. The time of transmission should be NOT LATER THAN 12:00 m.n. of 30 APRIL 2009. An entry will only be considered submitted if official confirmation is received through the website or by the CPMA administration. An envelope containing the original signed requirements listed in Rule 17(a) (b) and (c) above should then be sent to the CARLOS PALANCA FOUNDATION, INC. by mail or courier and postmarked not later than 30 April 2009.

Note the above emphasized caveat though – you still have to send the other requirements to them by 30 April 2009.

NEW GENRE REVIEW:

Adam David sent me this rather unique reminder (click for a larger view) that the deadline for submissions to New Genre Review is fast approaching–so if any of you have been holding out, better throw your hats in the ring by the 30th.