I got my copies of Maximum Volume, which includes my story “Little Places”, thanks to Charles Tan!
I couldn’t make it to the launch but I’m very proud to be in the inaugural issue of the series. š In the meantime, the second issue is calling for submissions!
MAXIMUM VOLUME: Best New Filipino Fiction 2014 (eds. Dean Alfar & Angelo Lacuesta), by Anvil Publishing,Ā has been printed and is on its way to the shelves, and my story “Little Places” is included in the anthology!
The official blurb goes: “MaximumĀ VolumeĀ is about creating spaces for emerging Filipino writers and new narratives.Ā Here is a bakerās dozen of the best contemporary writing, ranging from small personal tragedies to fantastic voyages of the imagination to our nationās past and present.”
Ruel S. De Vera has done a really niceĀ write-upĀ about it in the Inquirer. The launch is on 28 February 2014 at Powerbooks in Greenbelt 4 at 6pm. (I won’t be able to make it but that authors list looks superb!)
For the rest of the month, he fluctuates between drinking in bed till dawn and pacing the room in agitation. He thinks of every selfish, indulgent thing Lani has ever done and tunes it into high definition until itās bright and gaudy and unanimously declaring heās better off without her. He imagines her getting a new boyfriend and irretrievably getting her heart broken by him. Or sometimes she comes running back to Migs, a desperate ball of contrition, and he halves her open and holds her inside, in places she canāt even see.
Certificate, Cathay Pacific tickets to Tokyo, and 15 books from Pan Macmillan as awards
I think the nuttiest part of the whole thing is how much I didn’t expect it to happen. We weren’t told which place we had won – it was kept secret until the actual ceremony – so when the MC said I had won first place and she began reading the judges’ comments about my piece, I was in so much shock I really can’t recall much now of what she said. (I remember the word “odd” though, so that’s just about right.)
So yeah. I won the First Place in the Adult category of the 2013 Hong Kong Top Story Competition! š
From the City section of SCMP (Dec 19, 2013)
The following is a run-down of my SOMANYFEELINGS! during the award ceremony on December 18 in RTHK’s Broadcast House:
I’ll put up the pictures of the December 18 award ceremony my brother took with his big fancy DSLR when he’s back from his holiday in Japan. In the meantime, it’s just been sea to shining sea of excitement, and somewhere in it I seem to have lost my capability to talk about this in fully formed sentences, soĀ please let me direct you to all the linkable stuff so far:
And I’m totally looking forward to that consultation with a fiction editor from Pan Macmillan. š
So every year, theĀ South China Morning PostĀ andĀ Radio Television Hong KongĀ host theĀ Hong Kong Top Story Competition. I decided to join, and this year the theme is Celebration, 1.5k to 2k words short story. I pulled up a story I was working on before and had already sort of given up on, worked on it…andĀ ended up deviating quite a bit from the theme (to me anyway) that I thought, This isn’t really going to get me anywhere far. Then I sent it out anyway.
Anyway, I got a call the past Thursday evening from RTHK 3…and apparently I’m one of the winners! They said they’d tell me which place I got on the award ceremony (there’s your usual 1st, 3nd, 3rd, and a Most Creative Award); I’m just glad I made it to the awards list of the most visible and regular English writing competition in Hong Kong. UPDATE: I won First Place!!
The award ceremony will be onĀ December 18, 2013,Ā 6-7pm, atĀ Studio 1, RTHK Broadcasting House, 30 Broadcast Drive, Kowloon Tong.
Yay for going with your gut and somewhat deviating from the theme if you have to and sending it anyway!
The other thing!
Is thatĀ Shanghai Steam, the book that my story “The Master and the Guest” has appeared in, has been mentioned in the revised and updated version of Orson Scott Card’s Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction, which includes added sections by Philip Athans and Jay Lake.
From page 146 of “Critical Reactions to Steampunk”:
A handful of editors and writers are tackling the issues of classism, racism, and imperialism head on, including independent Hades Publishing anthology Shanghai Steam (2012), which offers a Chinese view of the steam-punk world.
We’re also listed on page 150 in “Recommended Steampunk Reading” under the heading “Anthologies, Short Fiction and Miscellaneous.”
Lotta thanks to editors Ace, Calvin, and Renee for making all this possible and keeping us updated!
1. I’m collaborating with Gabe Ostley right now for an 8-page submission to aĀ steampunk comic anthology; I’m writing the script, he’s doing the illustrating and the colors. Fingers crossed that we’ll get in and that the exposure there will get us somewhere. We’re working on a character concept we had shelved earlier this year and reviving it now for this one.
2. The TOC for Volume will be out soon! It’s great to see old comrades like Eliza Victoria, Tin Lao, and Kate Osias in the lineup as well. The book cover will be designed by Carina Santos, the granddaughter of Malang; can’t wait to see how it’s going to turn out!
3. I helped out at a fundraiser for Typhoon Yolanda / Haiyan last week at Fill In the Blank in Wan Chai doing door duty / name tags / money bagsĀ / karaoke nuisance and monopolizer. Given the short notice (one weekend), we got a pretty good turnout of 65 people on a Monday night, and raised 12,450 HKD, minus 4,400 HKD for the venue, for a total of 8,050 HKD.
With my buddies – L to R: Mel, Franz, Jae, Neil
With the organizers, a mix of people from the UP and La Salle alumni associations in HK
4. A week before that, I performed with Cyrus and Candice at Java Java in Sheung Wan for a 45 minute set. Good, relaxed crowd, had drinks later at Club 11 in Central.
I thought my friend was taking pictures of the whole band but the photos she took were very…loyal
5. I’ve been to a lot of farewell parties but this was by far the best one I’ve ever been. My friend Boon has gone back to New York, but a couple of days before he did that, his sister Dee threw a farewell party for him at the outdoor terrace of Pier 7 (above the Star Ferry) in Central. The fantastic part is that Dee, who plays the cello, and Allison, on violin, arranged around 30 pop songs for us to sing with them while they played right under the Central skyline. The terrace is public space and we had strangers coming over to see what’s going on and to join us.
Dee and Allison
Everyone gathered around the cello and violin
Right under the Bank of China!
I’ve been in Hong Kong for around six years but I like to behave like I’m still on my first. :p
Up on Amazon Kindle for 5.99 USDĀ and Flipreads for 193 PHP!
Darna encashes a check at the bank one morning; a god trapped in a statue is awakened by the intoxicating scent of the scholar studying his stone prison; human beings are homogenized for the sake of idealizing the species. The Philippine Speculative Fiction series showcases the rich variety of Philippine literature. Between these covers you will find magic realism next to science fiction, traditional fantasy beside slipstream, and imaginary worlds rubbing shoulders with alternate Philippine historyādemonstrating that the literature of the fantastic is alive and well in the Philippines. Stories from this series have been included in the Honorable Mentions list from The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror edited by Ellen Datlow and Kelly Link & Gavin Grant.
My story’s “The Mayorga Collection.” Excerpt below!
Maganda #
73, pastel on paper, 19 x 31.2 cm.Duma Armand
The Mayorga Collection
Description:
A WOMAN’S MOUTH. Whether it’s smiling, laughing, talking, or crying, it drops anchor in your mind. Who drew the cut of the lips, mapped out their texture and agonized over their color ā questions that are irrelevant when the art has surpassed the artist.
White background.
Ā *
ARMAND TELLS HIS brother to ask him an old question.
Armand is surprised to see a sadness sluice across his brother’s face like seawater through a shallow strait, but Armand ignores it. “Ask me again,” he says.
“Is she worth your immortality?”
Armand answers his brother differently this time.
Ā *
Maganda #54, oil on canvas, 68.8 x 82 cm.
Duma Armand
The Mayorga Collection
Description:
THE SKIES AND the waters part every morning and form a shattered horizon. Across the seashell opalescence of dawn, an angry red screams the separation of the two domains.
First off, it is always, always a good thing to get an email from Dean Alfar and Sarge Lacuesta that starts like this:
Dear Crystal,
I am pleased to inform you that your story, “Little Places”, has been accepted for publication in VOLUME One.
The publication is for VOLUME: An Anthology of Contemporary Fiction. I am totally psyched. Launch will be on September 2013!
Second, the EP of the band I’ve been playing regularly with for some time now (Cyrus Chow), is out! Fresh from the mixing studio in Sheung Wan and the record manufacturer in Kwun Tong is Rise. I was only a guest guitarist back then during recording so I only feature in one song, but the feeling of seeing your name in a CD jacket is still pretty amazing!
The band will be selling it for 60 HKD a pop; I’m not sure how the distribution is yet but there’ll be more info coming from here, I’m guessing.
We’ll be playing for the launch gig tomorrow at Backstage in Central at 8pm. Our set will be about 40 minutes long and we’re sharing the event with Ping Loong, another musician who contributed to Rise and is launching his own album as well. I have a sizable group of friends coming over to watch and celebrate with me so I’m going to be sufficiently tired by the end of the night. š
…all the way from Calgary!!
Shanghai Steam is published by EDGE and is available in hardcover, for Kindle, and for Kobo. It’s also currently nominated for this year’s Aurora Award in the Best Related Work – English category.
…of a lot of things! Moved flats, played guitar at a music festival and the party after, filed my taxes, the end of semester. Two things in particular!
Day 3 of Handover Hallelujah, The Wanch, 30 June 2013
I blogged about performing with Cyrus Chow at this music festival before! Sunday came around, my friends came over to watch. Pictures were taken, got my free Handover Hallelujah 2013 T-shirt, got to talk to John Prymmer, the owner of The Wanch (who said he liked my playing and the possibility of me playing more regularly there, AWRIGHT), and a great party was had with me and my friends afterwards!
Launch of Philippine Speculative Fiction 8
Woot! I’m in this year’s volume as well for my story “The Mayorga Collection” and the launch is on July 27, 2-4:30PM, at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf of EDSA Shangri-La Plaza in Manila. I can’t come this year either because I still have things to do in HK around that time, but it really is one of the most fun book launches there is, so drop by if you can!
Aaaaand I need to get some rest.
My story “Wildwater” was originally published as part of The Farthest Shore, with Joseph Nacino and Dean Alfar as editors. Afterwards Charles Tan reprinted it in 2010 as part of The Best of Philippine Speculative Fiction of 2009. Now UP Press has picked up on the original The Farthest Shore anthology for a print publication and if all goes well, the book should be out this July! Fantastic news!
Crystal Koo 