[Blog Entry] More Work

More Work

Finally done researching for work, which means an end to my trips to the Philippine Star... not! Apparently, I still have to hunt for old photographs in the archives.

And then the Pulp Summer Slam is just around the corner so...

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[Plug] Call for Submissions: Philippine Speculative Fiction Vol.2

From Dean:

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 Preference will be given to original unpublished stories, but previously published stories will also be considered.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’ 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

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[Blog Entry] Powerbooks Sale, HaMC

Powerbooks Sale

Powerbooks will be on sale until the end of the month. The usual rates, 20% for most books.

HamC

Normally, you won't see me talking about music but for me this is too cool to pass off.

There's this Japanese band, High and Mighty Color, and they're more commonly known for performing the opening themes for Gundam Seed Destiny and Bleach.

Then I saw their MTV on Animax and it mentioned that they were known for mixing metal with pop music. It wasn't so evident to me when listening to Pride (Gundam Seed Destiny opening) and Ichirin no Hana (Bleach opening theme) but when I listened to their other songs, I thought "Hey, it's pop-metal!"

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[Blog Entry] Forced Vacation

Forced Vacation

Last Wednesday, when people were on half-day or had no work at all, we were... working. Yup, no rest for the wicked. What's funny was that eventually it turned into a half-day because the building we were occupying lost power, or rather the management turned off the power. So no work can be done anyway with the fax not working and the computers not running.

I come in on Monday, mentally psyching myself for work, work, work, when I arrive to a powerless office. Apparently, management forgot to turn on the electricity. Alas, it would not last long...

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[Blog Entry] Random Sampling, Summer

Random Sampling

I feel I just did a random sampling. The week before Holy Week, I had to text several people to coordinate a quick shoot and interview. Suffice to say, I got a variety of reactions. A few texted back. Some didn't. Others replied at awkward hours (can you say midnight?). There was one who replied something like five days later, during Holy Week.

This is why I don't like dealing with people.

Summer

Summer is probably my favorite time of the year. Aside from the fact that this is usually vacation season for those in school, it's also a period where the temperature actually matches my alien physiology. Whereas people are dying from the heat, it's just normal temperature for me.

There was also a blood moon last night, as if it was a portent of things to come. Hmmmm...

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