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

A Win from the Margins #RequiresLove

Victor Fernando R. Ocampo1 Comment

With the whole Sad/Rabid Puppies and the RH/BS incident, it’s been a rough year for Speculative Fiction writers (and fans) who were hoping for some civility of dialogue in our chosen genre. Sadly, no sooner had the followers and admirers of Vox Day been given a Hugo drubbing and Laura J. Mixon won the Best Fan Writer award for “A Report on Damage Done by One Individual Under Several Names”, when prolific SFF author Sarah Hoyt denigrated Liu Cixin, the first Chinese winner of the Hugo for best novel (for The Three-Body Problem) as a “Chicom” writer (this is a derogatory and racist Vietnam War era term for Communist Chinese).

A part of me wonders how much of this bile is native to the genre (perhaps due to long-seated personal and professional rivalries) and how much is actually a reflection of the deep conservative/liberal divide in American politics. As an outsider who comes from the kind of country looked upon by the West as “savage” (check out the odiously yellow-peril “No Escape”), I am often astounded how dialogue can quickly degenerate into mud-slinging in the United States. We get our share of ugly fights too but rarely this rabid and self-damaging.

In her acceptance speech, Mixon said:  “There’s room for all of us here. But there is no middle ground between “we belong here” and “no you don’t,” which is what I hear when people disrespect members of our community. I believe we must find non-toxic ways to discuss our conflicting points of view.”

That really is the key to moving forward – Detoxifying SFF. Someone needs to call a giant time-out and put everyone in a corner until we can talk too each other like conscientious, responsible people. But I guess as a SFF writer myself, this may be just a naive fantasy I am spinning. Perhaps this is something that will never come true, perhaps the idea of peace in SFF is nothing but vaporware. But isn’t this an ideal that is worth striving for? I really don’t think any writer or fan deserves any of this poison.

I will end this by posting a link to the text and a video of Laura J. Mixon’s Hugo acceptance speech. I am so proud to have contributed a small part in getting this message through. As she said: “In the end, we don’t win this struggle with hate. We win it with curiosity, joy, honesty, persistence, resistance, and love.”

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

The Brave New World of Spec Fic Magazines: A Primer

Victor Fernando R. OcampoLeave a comment

Kristel Autencio of BookRiot  has written a really useful guide for readers who want to read SFF short fiction online (note: this includes the daughter genres of fantasy, adventure, and horror).

She talks about excellent publications like Strange Horizons, Apex Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Lightspeed, Nightmare Magazine and (the recently beleaguered) Tor.com and recommends several authors and stories found in each. Among them are John Chu, Mary Robinette Kowal, Ken Liu, Usman T. Malik, Nnedi Okorafor, Daniel José Older, Sofia Samatar and Kai Ashante Wilson.

Incidentally she includes three Filipino authors in the primer — Dean Francis Alfar for “L’Aquilone du Estrellas” (in Strange Horizons), myself for “Blessed are the Hungry” )in Apex), and Isabel Yap for “Have You Heard the One About Anamaria Marquez?” (in Nightmare).

Thank you so much for including me Kristel!

Here’s the BookRiot article : The Brave New World of Spec Fic Magazines: A Primer

 

 

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

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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.

20150605_140838

Me, Sophia and Dean @ Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

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