The Infinite Library and Other Stories
by Victor Fernando R. Ocampo
Woods in the Books is a beautiful little children’s bookshop in Tiong Bahru. It’s on Yong Siak Street, on the same row as Strangelets and BooksActually. They are currently one of the few places where you can still get copies of my book “Here be Dragons” so please check them out.
Lontar No. 6 (Founding Editor Jason Erik Lundberg; Poetry Editor Kristine Ong Muslim and Comics Editor Adan Jimenez; published by Epigram) became available in print (from Kinokuniya and directly from Epigram Books) from last 27 April, while the DRM-free ebook is available from Weightless Books.
It features works from Ken Liu, Eka Kurniawan, J Y Yang, Jennifer Anne Champion, Ng Yi-Sheng, comics from Budjette Tan, Alex Arellano & Kajo Baldisimo, as well as some amazing speculative poetry from Jonel Abellanosa, Ang Si Min, Russ Hoe, Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé, Christina Sng, Sokunthary Svay, Krishna Udayasankar, Brendan Walsh and Marco Yan.
Also part of this volume is my Filipino space-opera/family drama “Brother to Space, Sister to Time” which inspired the cover illustration by Sarah and Schooling.
Check out my Pinterest board for this story.
Lontar is the only publication that specializes in Speculative Fiction from and about Southeast Asia. It has published work from some of the finest writers of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Speculative Poetry. Please consider a subscription (from Weightless, link above) or supporting them on Patreon.
“A relatively new publication, LONTAR nonetheless publishes high-quality works by award-winning authors. Diverse and under-represented characters and settings are a mainstay of LONTAR‘s fiction, opening the genre to fresh themes and voices, and introducing readers to the rich culture and atmosphere of Southeast Asia.” —Tangent Online
Update: The “Trash” anthology is now available from Amazon.
It’s been a busy start to the year so I apologize that I haven’t been able to make any updates. Since January I’ve mentored 5 NUS start-ups, put up one of my own, and moved from a Digital Identity company to one deeply involved in Mobile Forensics.
So far I’ve been able to make 4 submissions (fingers crossed) and several older stories are just now coming out in print. One of my favorites is the publication of the longer version of “Panopticon” which first came out in Philippine Speculative Fiction Volume IX. It will be appearing in Trash (edited by Dean Alfar and Marc de Faoite), one of a trio of Southeast Asian urban anthologies to be launched in London on 11 April by the Malaysian publisher Buku Fixi.
Incidentally, this version includes the Spivak pronouns used to refer to the incorrigible, gender-fluid business expediter/assassin Pai Kia who appears in a couple of my stories (nb -This is one way to force readers to come to terms with the micro-aggressions of their own gender marking preferences).
Here’s a short excerpt:
“Hello again, Mr. Salazar,” Pai Kia greeted cheerily, as I climbed aboard the sleek red aircraft. E was still dressed in Cleopatra Wong’s tight white jump suit. “You clean up very nicely, uncle. I could fancy someone like you.”
I said nothing as our autogiro lifted up towards an indifferent brown sky, past the grid of wires that stretched over the slums like a garrote. The highway in the heavens was teeming with sky jeeps, floating hawker stalls, hover-cyclos, air tuk-tuks and giant advertising dirigibles. The latter’s Holosonic displays bombarded my head with hundreds and thousands of advertisements, factoids and subliminal purchasing suggestions.
I closed my eyes to escape, letting the lights of the airborne traffic blur into hazy constellations. Every few seconds, a small group of vehicles would peel away, puncturing the smoke-choked clouds like dying meteors.
“I don’t get it,” I asked. “If people pay to be here, why does it look like a retro-future dump? It’s like we went back in time, to some old Third World country.”
“Wah Liao, every time the same questions,” Pai Kia said. “Let me tell you all you need to know. Aiyoh, everyone has three possible after-lives. If you’re rich, you stay in the clean, ultra-luxe New Cities. If you’re poor, you just die, end of story. For everyone in-between, if you’re in the know and you’ve got something in the way of credits, you can pay soul-hackers like me to build an afterlife. But hey, as they say — no prawns, fish also can. Do you understand, lah?”
I nodded for some reason, even though eir answer made no sense.
“Of course, your level of comfort, your level of reality, depends on the size of your wallet. Ms. Esperanza has a very big wallet.”
I studied my strange companion, wondering how e really translated behind the HI. Was e even real? I couldn’t tell anymore.”
The Heat, Flesh & Trash set of anthologies will be launched on April 11, 2016 at Daunt Books 61 Cheapside, EC2V 6AX London, United Kingdom
Here are details of the books:
HEAT
(244 pages, ISBN 9789670954363, RRP £7.99)
Edited by Khairani Barokka & Ng Yi-Sheng
Featuring work by: Gabriela Lee, Zed Adam Idris, Vina Jie-Min Prasad, Rewat Panpipat (translated by Marcel Barang), Nikki Alfar, Joseph Ng, O Thiam Chin, Christine V. Lao, Alexander Marcos Osias, Catalina Rembuyan, Hồn Du Mục, Maf Deparis & Ivery del Campo, Diyana Mohamad, Peter Zaragoza Mayshle, Lee Ee Leen, Zedeck Siew, Bonnie Etherington and Julie Koh.
FLESH
(232 pages, ISBN 9789670954370, RRP £7.99)
Edited by Cassandra Khaw & Angeline Woon
Featuring work by: Teo Yi Han, Sokunthary Svay, Simon Rowe, Terence Toh,Tina Sim, Yeyet Soriano, Bridgette Ann Rebuca, Ari Abraham, Kate Osias, Nin Harris, Justine Anjanique P. Jordan, Shamala Hinrichsen, Damyanti Biswas, Kenneth Yu, Verena Tay, Joelyn Alexandra, EK Gonzales, Eve Shi and Benjanun Sriduangkaew
TRASH
(228 pages, 9789670954387, RRP £7.99)
Edited by Dean Francis Alfar & Marc de Faoite
Featuring work by: Zedeck Siew, Raymond G. Falgui, Lyana Shah, Dipika Mukherjee, Timothy Marsh, Richard Calayeg Cornelio, Ted Mahsun, Eliza Vitri Handayani, Michael Aaron Gomez, Tilon Sagulu, Alexander Marcos Osias, Nin Harris, Francis Quina, M. SHANmughalingam and Victor Fernando R. Ocampo
The Infinite Library and Other Stories 