Usok: The Webzine of Fantastic Filipino Fiction

Hi guys! Been busy over at Rocket Kapre, but for those of you who still check BT, I’m proud to announce that Rocket Kapre has just launched Usok, a free webzine for Speculative Fiction by Filipinos. Issue 1 is now live, and we’re also accepting submissions for future issues. Come over and check it out ^_^ Here’s the Table of Contents for Issue 1:

Table of Contents:

* The Startbox by Crystal Koo

* The Saint of Elsewhere: A Mystery by chiles samaniego

* Mouths to Speak, Voices to Sing by Kenneth Yu

* The Coming of the Anak-Araw by Celestine Trinidad

* The Child Abandoned by Yvette Tan

~ Coverart by Kevin Lapeña

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.

Komikon Awards 2009: Nominees and Voting

While the Metro Comic Con takes places today and tomorrow, the Komikon (non-summer edition), which will take place in October has recently released its list of nominees for this year’s Komikon Awards.

The voting period will be from August 10 (this Monday!) to September 20, 2009. While some online voting mechanism is planned, physical voting ballots will be available in the following stores:

• Comic Odyssey (a) Robinson’s Place, Level 3 Ermita,Manila; (b) Robinson’s Galleria, Level 3 Expansion Mall,Edsa cor. Ortigas
• Comic Quest (a) Lower Ground Floor Bldg. A, SM Megamall; (b)2nd Floor Main Bldg., SM City North Edsa

Congrats to all the nominees! The list of nominees is a bit long, so you can find it after the cut. Good luck with the Comic Aid award guys… Lots of deserving folk there.

Metro Comic Con 2009: August 8-9

Don’t forget everyone, the 2009 Metro Comic Con will be held this weekend at Megamall. I’ll post a rundown of the schedule here, but you can find a more detailed description of each event here.

August 8, 2009 – Saturday

10AM – Ribbon Cutting

Onstage Activities
11-AM – Band Performance – Matilda
12PM – Suspended Animation Media
1PM – Creativoices Panel
2PM – PTK: Show me your desk Awarding
2:30PM – Craze Cosprsay product launch
3PM – Band Performance – Gupit Binata X
4PM – Indie Film Panel – Alessandro Productions
5PM – Indie Comic Panel
6PM – Pinoy Mainstream Artists Panel
7PM – Band Performance – Giniling Festival

Floor Activities
Costrip Day – Cosplay.ph booth
Toy Customization Contest – Cosplay.ph booth

August 9, 2009 – Sunday

10am – Opening

Onstage Activities
11am – Band Performance – Los Chupacabras
12pm – International Game Developers Association – Manila Chapter
1pm – Creativoices Voice acting contest
2pm – E-games
3pm – Band Performance – Gorgoro
4pm – Animax Cosplay Competition
7pm – Band Performance – Nexxus

Floor Activities
Comics Creation 101 – Conference Room SM Megatrade Hall.

Deadlines Ahoy! Shine Anthology (EDIT: August 2)

Just reminding everyone that the (previously extended) deadline for submission to the SHINE Anthology, “an anthology of optimistic near-future SF, edited by Jetse de Vries, published by Solaris Books” is fast approaching.The deadline was originally June 30, but this was moved to August 2.

Submission guidelines are here. Remember, Mr. de Vries has stated that he is very keen on getting submissions from beyond the United States. He’s been providing a lot of helpful tips with regard to what kind of stories he’s looking for, and I thought I’d index a few of them here, for those authors whose spirits are willing, but whose muses are weak (like myself *sob):

• Things to Keep in Mind When Writing A Story for Shine
• Crazy Story Ideas
• Optimistic Literature and SF Around the World
• Why I Can’t Write A Near Future Optimistic SF Story: the Excuses
• An Update on the Shine Submissions

Good luck everyone!

Waking the Dead Book Launch

(cover by Andrew Drilon)

Just received word that Yvette Tan’s first collection of horror (mostly) fiction entitled “Waking the Dead” will be launched on August 15, 2009 from 4-7 pm at Powerbooks Megamall. Yvette’s stories have been included in Philippine Speculative Fiction III and IV, Night Monkeys and A Time for Dragons, as well as magazines like Rogue, Uno and the Philippine Free Press. If you want a taste of her storytelling abilities, she has links to works that are available online at her site.

I wonder what she means when she says the stories are “mostly” fiction though… *shivers*

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

Jeffrey Ford Reviews Philippine Speculative Fiction IV

Awesome news for Philippine Spec Fic: Jeffrey Ford, world renowned fantasy author  (whose works have won and/or been nominated for the World Fantasy Award, the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Award, the International Horror Guild Award, the Fountain Award, the Edgar Allan Poe Award) recently reviewed Philippine Speculative Fiction IV, edited by Dean Alfar and Nikki Alfar, and found much to his liking, singling out in particular stories by Andrew Drilon, Noel Tio, Maryanne Moll, Charles Tan, Celestine Trinidad, Isabel Yap, Paolo Jose Cruz, Kate Aton-Osias and Adam David.

From the review:

I don’t know how many US readers and writers are aware of it, but there is a vital and growing SF/F community in the Philippines these days. Good evidence exists for it in this latest volume of the anthology, Philippine Speculative Fiction IV.

…

One need not delve too deeply into this Philippine literary phenomenon to quickly realize that there is a treasure trove of talent there. Volume 4 of the series is, in my humble opinion, the best yet in the series.

…

I’ve only touched on a representative handful of stories here. There were other pieces in the anthology that I liked as well as these. The book is well worth your time.

Congratulations to Dean and Nikki, as well as to all the authors-especially those given special mention. Now all you guys need to do is make the 5th even better right? No pressure.

If you want to show Mr. Ford some love, his website can be found here, and he keeps a livejournal account here. His excellent books and collections are also available on Amazon amongst other fine retailers (can’t recall if I’ve seen any here).

KOMIKON AWARDS 2009: Nominations Now Open

Every artist likes affirmation right? God knows a lot of our wonderful creators out there deserve more credit and accolades than they are currently receiving. If you want to support your favorite komiks creators, you might want to nominate them for the Komikon Awards–only the second in history–and wouldn’t you know it, nominations just opened yesterday (July 1); hurry though as the period for nomination is only until July 15.

Here are the details, taken from here. I also found an equivalent deviantart post here with a tad more detail, but I can’t seem to get into DA this evening.

The first ever KOMIKON AWARDS was held back in 2006 on the 2nd year of the Philippine Annual Komiks Convention. It is with great delight that we bring it back in a bigger and better venue and in celebrating the event’s 5th year. Once again, let us give recognition to those who continue to pour their heart, soul and income to a said “ailing industry” that still thrives to bring entertainment to future generations.

The categories are as follows:

Best Comic

This is for the ultimate… the chosen one. This is for the best among the rest. This means that the comic has achieved its ultimate potential; it’s all that and then some. This covers the mainstream comics, published and sold in the major local bookstores. This is for those that have reached the pinnacle of comic making; it’s up there, head and shoulders above the rest, looking down on us through a magnifying glass. This is for the comic that embodies all the things that made us love comics in the first place. The Best Comic award is divided in four categories:

Best Graphic Novel / Anthology*
Graphic Novels are defined as novels whose narrative is related through a combination of text and art, often in comic-strip form. On the other hand, an anthology is a collection of stand alone comic book stories collected in one publication by a group or one author. This award aims to honor the best comic book creator or group of creators for their exemplary work.
Best Serialized Comic*
A comic series published regularly in a magazine, newspaper or comic book publication.
Best Comic Magazine
This award is given to the best comic book magazine still seeing print be it a single story or made up of several.
Best Comic Strip Compilation

Here’s a step from the day-to-day print to more lasting impressions. One strip is never enough.

Best Comic Creator/s*

This award recognizes the talents of a solo artist or team of artists in making the best comic there is.

Best Cover*

A cover dictates how people see your comic. Sales also depend on the cover. And here we salute those covers that made us look and look hard. And the effort to it took to conceptualize, pencil, ink, and in some cases, to color the cover. The award shall go to the artist or group of artists that created such masterpiece.

[More award descriptions after the cut]