Category: Filipino Speculative Fiction

My Writing Year – 2015

Victor Fernando R. OcampoLeave a comment

Posted on January 1, 2016

This year went as well as it could for me, writing-wise, as I didn’t really expect to publish much. Last year’s novel is unfortunately still stuck at chapter 4 (I’ve decided to shelve it for a while). The short film based on “Big Enough for the Entire Universe” is still stuck in post-production, with the release date moved to mid-2016. Lastly, the publication dates of six new short stories were also moved from the end of 2015 to 2016.

Despite all of these setbacks there have been couple of highlights:

  • My poem “Objets trouvés de Singapour” appeared in Vol. 14 No. 2 of the Quarterly Literature Review of Singapore last April 2015. This was a post-internet experimental poem where the text was mined from Singapore government slogans and local commercial advertising from the last 50 years. It’s also my first published poem.
  • “An Excerpt from the Philippine Journal of Archaeology (04 October, 1916)” (which first appeared in Likhaan Journal 8 by the U.P. Institute of Creative Writing in December 2014) is now being used as recommended reading material by the University of the Philippine’s Literature program.
  • “Blessed are the Hungry” (a Filipino space opera which first appeared in Apex Magazine issue 62, July 2014), was translated into Mandarin Chinese by Hu Shao Yan and was published in the March 2015 volume of Science Fiction World. I have been told that this magazine has close to a million readers, so this story is now probably my most read story ever.
  • “I m d 1 in 10”  (my experimental story inspired by Boethius’ De Consolatione Philosophiae which first appeared in the July 2014 issue of The Future Fire) was anthologized in the Best New Singaporean Short Stories: Volume Two by Epigram Books. Plus, I got to talk about my work at a panel in this year’s Singapore Writer’s Festival.

VRO Poster

Best of all, my first children’s book, the Romeo Forbes Award-winning “Here be Dragons” was finally released in 24 August, 2015.  Thank you to Gigo and Canvas, Jon, Rhandee, Danny and everyone who was involved in it’s almost 3-year long production.

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As usual there was not enough time to do all my writing projects. As a result, I have more work-in-progress stuff right now that I have ever had before — including three short stories, two flash pieces, a Line novelette, a Filipino translation and my second children’s book.

I mentioned earlier that the publication dates of six new short stories were delayed to this year. This means that I already have a substantial line-up coming for 2016 without having to do much.

Happy New Year to all my readers and thank you for all your support!

 

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

For #ThrowbackThursday

Victor Fernando R. OcampoLeave a comment

For #ThrowbackThursday, #TBT I am sharing the cover and the first page of Hu Shaoyan’s Chinese translation of “Blessed Are the Hungry” which originally appeared in the March 2015 issue of Science Fiction World. Western readers may find the cover artwork familiar (“Spring Day is Coming” by Liu Junwei) as it also appeared as the cover of Clarkesworld issue 105 later that year.

My First Children’s Book “Here be Dragons” Launching on 21 Aug

Victor Fernando R. Ocampo2 Comments

COVER - Here Be Dragons

After a much extended wait “Here be Dragons” is finally finished! This story was written over the course of one coffee-fueled night and finished just in time to meet the deadline. It was inspired by the work of Jorge Luis Borges and based on one of the stories that I used to tell my kids to get them to go to sleep. To my great surprise and delight, it won the Romeo Forbes Children’s Storytelling competition in 2012.

The illustrations that accompany the text were painted in oil by the remarkable neo-surrealist Jon Jaylo whose works have been inspired by Rene Magritte, Paul Delvaux, Gustav Klimt, Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dalí and William Bougereau.

Art by Jon Jaylo Inside the Library (18x18 inches)

Interestingly, I moonlight as an Art writer for catalogues and monographs. When I first met Jon during his first solo show in Singapore (Artesan Gallery), I did not tell him that I had submitted a story to the Romeo Forbes competition.   He had no idea that the person who did his show’s write-up wrote fiction nor that we would eventually end up doing a book together.

Alongside my English text is a translation in Filipino by four-time Palanca Award-winning author Raymund “Rhandee” Magno Garlitos who is himself an author of several children’s books (Chenelyn! Chenelyn!, Ang Bonggang Bonggang Batang Beki).

“Here be Dragons” joins the library of children’s books by the Center for Art, New Ventures and Sustainable Development (CANVAS), a non-profit , non-government organization dedicated to promoting Filipino Art and Culture. CANVAS also provides these books to kids in hospitals and schools in underprivileged areas.

Thank you so much to Gigo Alampay (the indefatigable head of CANVAS), Jon, Rhandee and the Romeo Forbes judges!

Pat, Isabella and Sophia. You all appear in the book in some form. This one’s for you.

Lastly, if you are in Manila on Friday 21, August 2015 please come down at 5 pm for the book launch at the Canvas Gallery and Garden, 1-C Upsilon Drive Ext., Alpha Village
Diliman, Quezon City, Metro Manila Philippines 1119

Update: Thank you to everyone who came to the launch! More pictures can be seen here: Here be Dragons launch at Canvas

Philippine Speculative Fiction 10 has been announced!

Victor Fernando R. OcampoLeave a comment

Editors Dean and Nikki Alfar have announced that the tenth volume of the much-storied Philippine Speculative Fiction series will be coming out towards the end of 2015. This is the publication that broke SFF and its sister sub-genres into the local mainstream literary scene and many writers — myself included — owe it a great debt of gratitude.

Philippine Speculative Fiction is like the Black Mirror of Philippine society. Each and every one is a study of the human condition — viewed through the lens of what is possible through Science Fiction or Fantasy. Some of the stories are purely for fun or entertainment, but many more consider fundamental philosophical questions about how we Filipinos conceive/perceive reality. Quite a few also explore alternative social visions — some nightmarish and scary, others hopeful and exciting. I honestly can’t wait for this latest volume to come out.

I am also very happy to announce that my Alt.history story “Mene, Thecel, Phares” will be part of this historic 10th edition. It’s a strange tale that may or may not be about our national hero Jose Rizal, Freikörperkultur, Uranian Poet-Assassins and Adolph Hitler’s mommy.

It is such an honour to be part of the amazing TOC below:

Philippine Speculative Fiction X

A Long Walk Home – Alexander M. Osias
A Report – Sarge Lacuesta
A Small Hope – Gabriela Lee
For Sale: Big Ass Sword – Kenneth G. Yu
Children of the Stars – Francis Gabriel Concepcion
Fisher of Men – Razel Tomacder
Hunger – Lakan Umali
IT Girl – AJ Elicaño
Lamat – Noel Tio
Marvin and the Jinni – Raymund Reyes
Mechanical Failures – Jose Elvin Bueno
Mene, Thecel, Phares – Victor Fernando R. Ocampo
Night Predators – Joseph Montecillo
Oblation – Richard Cornelio
Santos de Sampaguita – Alyssa Wong
Soulless – EK Gonzales
The Dollmaker – Joel Pablo Salud
The Last God of Cavite – Andrew Drilon
The Owl and the Hoopoe – Renz Torres
The Run to Grand Maharlika Station – Vincent Michael Simbulan
The Target – Eliza Victoria
Thunderstorm – Cyan Abad-Jugo
When the Gods Left – Kate Osias

Side note: Last January, when the call for submissions came out, I asked Pinoys abroad to submit as we made up 10% of the Filipino population. There were 23 acceptances so I was hoping for at least 2 to come from overseas. I am not sure who else is based abroad, but I guess that Alyssa Wong and I represent the diaspora.

Thank you once again to Dean and Nikki for more than a decade’s worth of hard work (as well as to all the other editors who made Volumes 1 to 9 possible)!

Untitled

Illustration from Rocket Kapre

Two New SFF Stories Coming Soon!

Victor Fernando R. OcampoLeave a comment

Very happy to announce that I have sold two stories in the last  two weeks. The first one is “Brother to Space, Sister to Time”, a family drama/space opera piece set in the last remaining Filipino space colony, very far away from mother Earth.

One of the things I really liked about this work was that I got to meditate on three important issues on the future of communication. It allowed me to explore questions like:

1. When you create a device that can communicate across interstellar space, aren’t you also creating one that can talk through time?

2. Is it possible to weaponize music to hack into someone’s brain?

3. What happens to a highly social group (such as Filipino society) when you can no longer communicated without tech mediation?

black_hole

The second story I’ve sold is my Pre-hispanic “woodpunk” story called “My Father is Made of Light” where the ancient Filipino household dieties called “Anitos” are really library automations of shell, silver and wood. Inside they carry an almost innumerable number of rontal (inscriptions on palm leaves) to instruct and advise children.

It’s set in a world where people mine the bodies of dead gods for fuel and is about a little girl’s fierce determination to save her parents from a seemingly impossible disaster.

Sadly, my post title is a bit misleading, both stories will take sometime to be released — late this year and in 2016.

Anito

Writers in Manila

Victor Fernando R. OcampoLeave a comment

Not quite the best pictures, but it was great to see old and new writer friends in Manila – Dean Alfar, Vida Cruz and Mia SN. Interestingly, Vida and I were in the TOC for Philippine Science Fiction Vol. 9, which was founded by Dean and his better half, Nikki. Mia is a very talented young artist/writer based in Australia.

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Me, Sophia and Dean @ Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

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Me, Sophia, Mia, Vida and Seb at Wooden Spoon

Introduction to Likhaan Volume 8

Victor Fernando R. OcampoLeave a comment

A big “Thank you!” to the editors of Likhaan Volume 8 — Gabriela Lee (Managing Editor), Rosario Cruz-Lucero (Issue Editor), as well as associate editors Heidi Emily Eusebio-Abad and Eugene Y. Evasco for the great intro to my story “An Excerpt from the Philippine Journal of Archaeology (04 October, 1916)” which I quote, in part, here:

“An Excerpt from the Philippine Journal of Archaeology” unfolds in the same way that an archaeologist sifts through the sand and dusts off the crust of soil stuck to a piece of ancient pottery. It adopts as its fictive mode an archaeologist’s report about a race of people whose remains are discovered on a slope of Mt. Pinatubo. Thus, one might mistake this piece of fiction as a handful of pages actually torn from a fieldworker’s journal. However the American archaeologists names allude to H.P. Lovecraft’s own fictional characters and an urban legend about Rizal’s kinship to Hitler.

And here is the very interesting cover –

Likhaan 8 Cover

 

“Blessed Are the Hungry” in Science Fiction World

Victor Fernando R. OcampoLeave a comment

I am so honored to announce that “Blessed Are the Hungry” (which originally appeared in Issue 62 of Apex Magazine) has been translated into Chinese by my friend Hu Shao Yan. It appears on this month’s edition of Science Fiction World! This magazine has a circulation of about 130K subscribers and a readership of close to one million people, I still can’t believe they accepted and published our work. I have been told that this is the first time they have published a story by a Filipino author.

For those who still have space on their Hugo ballot this year, please consider my little tale of a Filipino family on a Generation Ship for the Short Story category.

BlessedSFmagCN

Call for Submissions: ‘Philippine Speculative Fiction 10’

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It’s hard to believe that PSF is a decade old already. Pinoys abroad, we make up 10% of the Filipino people, let’s add our voices to this.

PSF Tile

From Dean and Nikki Alfar –

Call for Submissions: ‘Philippine Speculative Fiction 10’ – your atTENtion, please!
‘Philippine Speculative Fiction’ is turning ten this 2015! Yes, it’s been X years of eXtolling, eXploring, and eXpanding what Filipino writers have done, are doing, and can do in the realms of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and all things betwiXt, between, and beyond.
Editors Dean Francis and Nikki Alfar would love for you to be a part of this year’s landmark volume of this trailblazing annual anthology, which has repeatedly been shortlisted for the National Book Award, and multiple stories from which have frequently been cited in roundups of the year’s best speculative fiction across the globe.
First-time authors are more than welcome to submit; good stories trump literary credentials any time.

Submissions must be:
1. speculative fiction—i.e., they must contain strong elements and/or sensibilities of science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism, alternate history, folklore, superheroes, and/or related genres and subgenres
2. written in English
3. authored by persons of Philippine ethnicity and/or nationality
Submissions are preferred to be:
1. original and unpublished
2. no shorter than 1,000 words and no longer than 7,500
3. written for an adult audience
In all cases, these preferences can be easily overturned by exceptionally well-written pieces. In the case of previously-published work, if accepted, the author will be expected to secure permission to reprint, if necessary, from the original publishing entity, and to provide relevant publication information.

Submission details:
1. No multiple or simultaneous submissions—i.e., submit only one story, and do not submit that story to any other publishing market until you have received a letter of regret from us. But we don’t mind if you submit to contests.
2. All submissions should be in Rich Text Format (saved under file extension ‘.rtf’), and emailed to philippinespecfic@gmail.com, with the subject line ‘PSF 10 submission’.
3. The deadline for submissions is June 15, 2015. Letters of acceptance or regret will be sent out no later than one month after the deadline.
Editors’ notes:
1. Please don’t forget to indicate your real name in the submission email! If you want to write under a pseudonym, that’s fine, but this can be discussed upon story acceptance. Initially, we just need to know who we’re talking to.
2. If you’d like to write a cover letter with your brief bio and publishing history (if applicable), do feel free to introduce yourself—but not your story, please. If it needs to be explained, it’s probably not ready to be published.
3. We advise authors to avoid fancy formatting—this will just be a waste of your time and ours, since we will, eventually, standardize fonts and everything else to fit our established house style.

Authors of selected stories will receive PhP500 compensation, as well as digital copies of the book.

Please help spread the word! Feel free to copy this and paste it anywhere you see fit that happens to be legal.

Thanks,Dean Francis and Nikki Alfar, co-editors