Month: October 2015

Do Something Amazing Today: Support a Good Writer You May Not Know

Victor Fernando R. OcampoLeave a comment

Update: As the news has become public now, we can say that she has just lost her husband and the father of her children.  We’ve just passed the 8,000 euro mark and continue to be humbled by your generosity and love for Rochita. Please help keep the momentum going so that we can reach our stretch goals!

Clarion West alumnus and British Science Fiction Award nominated Rochita Loenen-Ruiz has done so much to support new and underprivileged writers in the SFF and diaspora communities. She has personally helped me and many other emerging writers with craft, publishing and general-life advice, as well as providing us with her (always) unwavering support — particularly whenever the going got tough.

After I ran into troll trouble last year, I stopped writing. I would have never been able to start again if not for her.

Rochita

Don’t know Rochita? Here are some of her wonderful stories:

 Song of the Body Cartographer published in Philippine Genre Stories June 2012  59 Beads, in Apex Magazine                                                                                      Hi Bugan ya Hi Kinggawan, in Fantasy Magazine

She also writes a column for Strange Horizons on topics like Diversity, Antidotes to Toxicity and the Poetics of Struggle.

Unfortunately Rochita and her family recently suffered a great personal tragedy. It’s time for us — her friends and fellow writers — to give a little back.  Please help anyway you can by donating money, rewards, or by simply spreading the word about our campaign to Raise Funds for Rochita.

Apart from helping a great writer (and all-around wonderful human being) you will get the following rewards:

All donors will gain access to our downloadables microsite which includes a Xuya sampler ebook by Aliette de Bodard and printable coloring sheets by Likhain. As the campaign proceeds we’ll update this with more downloadables.

At the end of the campaign we’ll do a random draw for the following rewards, which have been contributed by their respective authors/publishers:

– Four audiobooks of THE HOUSE OF SHATTERED WINGS by Aliette de Bodard
– Two signed hardcovers of SORCERER TO THE CROWN by Zen Cho (US edition)
– A signed copy of SERPENTINE by Cindy Pon, with two brush art cards of the winner’s choice
– A one-year SHIMMER subscription (six issues in PDF, EPUB or MOBI)
– A one-year UNCANNY subscription (six issues in PDF, EPUB or MOBI)
– A signed copy each of THE KITE OF STARS and HOW TO TRAVERSE TERRA INCOGNITA by Dean Francis Alfar
– A signed copy of HERE BE DRAGONS by Victor R Ocampo, illustrated by Jon Jaylo
– A book bundle containing FISH EATS LION, LONTAR 2, and AYAM CURTAIN (donated by Victor R Ocampo)
– Three copies each of THE WEIRD, THE TIME TRAVELLER’S ALMANAC, and THE THACKERY T. LAMBSHEAD CABINET OF CURIOSITIES anthologies edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
– A copy of the BEYOND anthology of queer SFF comics edited by Sfé R. Monster and Taneka Stotts (donated by Gabby Reed)
– A signed copy of LIFE THROUGH CELLOPHANE by Gillian Pollack (may be sent via sea mail if shipping outside Australia)
– A signed paperback of MAKING WOLF by Tade Thompson
– 10 ebooks of ALTERNATIVE ALAMAT anthology of stories inspired by Philippine mythology (EPUB and MOBI; donated by Paolo Chikiamco)
– Original art of an ALPHABET OF EMBERS illustration by Likhain (donated by Stone Bird Press)
– A complete ebook set of the ANGELINK books by Lyda Morehouse (in EPUB and MOBI; donated by Cheryl Morgan)

Please check the site for the updated list of rewards. Do something amazing today. Help us Raise Funds for Rochita. Thank you!

My Reading at the Singapore Writer’s Festival 2015

Victor Fernando R. OcampoLeave a comment

Postscript:  BNSSV2 was reviewed by Angus Whitehead of  Nanyang Technological University, Singapore  in ASIATIC, Volume 11, Number 1, June 2017 and had this to say about this story: “Another dystopian tale is Victor Fernando R. Ocampo’s ambitious long “I am d 1 in 10” which is certainly distinctive, much of it written in SMS format: “THEY R COMING 4 me, my Dev/Null executioners, I got no more tym left so u, dear reader, have 2 fill in the gaps in my story”(39). and seems to successfully nod to the world of social media operating in an ever more constricting and hierarchical climate of fear, while ironically bemoaning via machine the loss of material text, print culture.“

I will be reading a short excerpt from my story “I m d 1 in 10” at Epigram’s book launch of the Best New Singapore Stories Volume 2 (edited by Jason Erik Lundberg) at the Singapore Writer’s Festival on Sunday, 1st Nov, 7-8 pm, in the Gallery at The Arts House (1 Old Parliament Lane, Singapore 179429).

Other authors reading include Joshua Ip, Gemma Periera, Jeremy and Tania de Rozario. Please come!

“I m d 1 in 10” is my experimental, epistolary story which I can only term as “Immigrant Speculative Fiction” It’s about what you have to sacrifice to move to “a better country”, it’s about fitting in with the crowd — sometimes at the cost of your soul, and the consequences of living with extreme cognitive dissonance.

It was written with Latin (representing the order of an officially-controlled public language) and an vernacular based on L337, IM and SMS speak, emoticons and a Filipino argot called Jejemon (which is what everyone actually speaks and writes with in private).

BNSSSV2”

Here’s a short excerpt:

They r coming 4 me, my Dev/Null executioners, I got no more tym left so u, dear reader, have 2 fill in d gaps in my story. I don’t know who u r, but if u value ur life, LISTEN 2 me.  I’m a dead man talking.

Listen n listen closely.

Life Hack # X: Speak their Latin or die.

“I signed up because I want only d best 4 my family” — d@’s d only safe answer if any1 asks u why u’re here. B very careful wot u say n remMbR, always remMbR:  “Optimum est pati quod emendare non possis”. Its best 2 endure w@ u can’t change. Ur f*cking life depends on it. N don’t ever speak ur mind. If u’re a resident of d New Cities, ur mind’s not urs, not anymore. So speak their Latin n b safe.

If they pursue conversation, stick 2 trivial topics. Rhetorical questions can n will give u away. U never know who u’ll be talking 2. Let suspicion breed ur confidence.  In d New Cities, d walls have eyes n every word is twittered by d wind. Speak only every1’s truth. Think b4 u speak, n never ever post what u really feel. HIDE URSELF FIERCE, HIDE URSELF DEEP.

(<_<) = J