The Infinite Library and Other Stories
by Victor Fernando R. Ocampo
The Quarterly Literature Review of Singapore (QLRS) has published my experimental poem “Objets trouvés de Singapour”. This was a post-internet piece where the text was mined from Singapore government slogans and local commercial advertising from the last 49+ years.
Signs from MyHomeTown.sg
“Another monster jumped from behind and the two rolled down the small mountain outcropping, with the aswang’s bony hands clutched around his throat. Pipit struggled to fight it off but was instantly mesmerized by the creature’s face. Despite the yellowed eyes and the pallid grey complexion, its features were almost comely, like that of a young maiden’s. ”
Check out the new mystery post on #whereghostwordsswell
The Aeta are the original people of the Philippines and they tell the country’s oldest stories. Despite this, there are not many stories about them. Sadly, this is a reflection of how neglected they are by modern society.
This week’s mystery post on #whereghostwordsdwell features an Aeta mother and her unborn child.
There are many secrets buried in the text and the empty spaces between words. See if you can find them all.
Picture from the blog “A Crucial Flight“
“Where Ghost Words Dwell” is a new, really interesting Exquisite Corpse-style writing project. As its about page declares: “The entries carry no author names and are extracts from works that have been published or are on their way to being published. They could also be alternate versions that ended up on the editing floor. To find out who the author is or what work the extracts are from, click on the highlighted links. Who knows, you may find a new favorite writer or a work you haven’t yet read.”
Many marginalized writers are also involved in this project so please check it out.
I am happy to announce that my Lovecraftian fantasy story (as told through footnotes), “An Excerpt from the Philippine Journal of Archaeology (04 October, 1916)” is scheduled to appear in Likhaan Journal 8 by the U.P. Institute of Creative Writing.
This work explores the deeply-rooted racism inherent in scientific circles during the American Colonial period. It also references the self-same Yellow-peril prejudice that H.P. Lovecraft held against those he disdainfully called “Asiatics”. In fact the text directly uses phrases borrowed from Lovecraft’s own private letters.
Regarding the setting, having hiked through Mt. Pinatubo a few times, the place names and descriptions I used are based on my knowledge of the area, while the geological assessments came from the research papers of local mining companies. For those interested in a little mystery, the next time you visit the walled city of Intramuros in Manila, take a look at the plaque on Sta. Lucia Barracks. It will tell you the ultimate fate of what the research team of Pölzl and Ashley unearthed.
Lastly, in keeping up my recent (unplanned – I swear) theme of Creatures of Philippines Lower Mythology, this work may or may not feature one or more aswang. As most Filipinos know an “aswang” is a demonic-looking bat-winged monster that flies off at night seeking to eat the liver and other viscera of unwary humans.
I believe Likhaan Journal 8 will be coming out this December 2014.
Picture above is a still from the NBC series “Grimm”, the episode “Mommy Dearest”
Over The Effing Rainbow has a review of Apex Magazine Issue 62. Thank you so much for the kind words!
“The other standout stories here for me are “Blessed are the Hungry”, in which Victor Fernando R. Ocampo puts himself pretty firmly on my map of SF authors to watch (read that story and Andrea Johnson’s author interview and tell me I’m wrong)…”
This piece actually started out as a longer work. However I ended up chopping it to meet the word count requirements for short stories. With so many people asking me to expand it, I am seriously considering making it into the novel I originally thought it to be.
If you haven’t read it yet here’s “Blessed are the Hungry”
Martin Luther King Jr. once said that “We must learn that passively to accept an unjust system is to cooperate with that system, and thereby to become a participant in its evil.” In this important essay, Filipino Speculative Fiction Writer Rochita Loenen-Ruiz asks what exactly is “resistance” and what it means, how it applies to the process of decolonization and to science fiction.
Since the publication of the first part of Translations, Mother Tongue and Acts of Resistance, I continue to think of resistance and what it means. I am also thinking of it in terms of how it applies to decolonial work and the process of decolonization, to science fiction and how I position myself in relation to genre as well as the work that I do outside of genre.
I am grateful for the conversations that I am able to have with thinkers and doers and also thankful for the access that I am given to work that is being produced by mindful writers inside and outside of genre.
I find myself thinking of acts of resistance and how the history of my country is one that is filled with these acts. Because we have been colonized and occupied time and again. Because our language, our culture, our ways have…
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Yay! Fish Eats Lion has a brand new cover and is now available in E-book form.
It only took a year and a half, but the ebook edition of Fish Eats Lion is now available!
Just published by Infinity Plus Books with a brand new cover, the anthology is now available at Smashwords, Amazon US, Amazon UK and Amazon CA, and will soon be up at the Nook, Kobo and iTunes ebook stores.
“Lundberg combines accessibility with a uniquely Singaporean flavor in his selections. SF readers looking to expand their horizons will enjoy visiting new worlds from an unaccustomed point of view.” —Publishers Weekly
“I doubt I’ll read a more engaging collection this year. […] There’s a rich optimism to be found here that speaks of lesser-known spec-fic writers rising to a challenge, and that challenge being more than adequately met.” —Pete Young, Big Sky
“Entertaining in this post-colonial era, it hints at how storytellers can become mythmakers, with the power to…
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The Infinite Library and Other Stories 